One of these days we’ll actually get back to writing and discussing football at Redskins Park. One of these days they may give you a reason to do just that. Today was not one of those days. Why? Well, because it’s a day that ends in Y.
Anyway, here’s defensive coordinator Greg Blache’s defense of owner Dan Snyder. First note: Blache is paid handsomely by Snyder, so we would expect him to stick up for his owner. Blache’s beef is with ex-Redskin John Riggins who blasted Snyder — again — on Showtime’s Inside the NFL.
Second note: Blache has not taken questions from the media since Oct. 4 and did not do so again today. It’s a bit lame. I also think it’s funny how fast the Redskins released the transcript from Blache’s comments; let’s just say it was a little bit quicker than normal. And part of what Blache did is make Riggins’ comments a bigger deal. Can’t say that anybody was going to write about them before Blache spoke.
Anyway, first let’s get to Riggins’ comments:
“This is a bad guy that owns this team. I’ll just tell you that upfront. Bad guy. And if the commissioner is worried about potential new owners and saying some of these guys shouldn’t apply, he might want to police his own inside guys.”
“It’s driven all by his ego and everything has to come from him. And I just don’t think you can be successful in those situations and when you are dealing with someone with the mindset of a child and yet owns a franchise in the NFL.”
“Let me put it to you this way Cris, this person’s heart is dark.”
And now Blache’s three minute, 44-second defense of the guy who pays him a large amount of money:
“Hey, guys. I just wanted to come in here today real quick. This morning when I came in I turned my computer on, and I was looking at ProFootballTalk and I saw a comment that John Riggins had made about Mr. Snyder, and it really bothered me the more I sat there at my desk. Because there’s been a lot of criticism of him over the last few weeks, and this is a man I’ve known for six years — since I’ve been here.
“And in the six years I’ve never seen John Riggins here. I’ve met him once at the Beach Blitz down in Virginia Beach; never seen him down in the building. So to hear such a vicious criticism of somebody I consider not just my employer but a good friend … bothered me. As much as I hadn’t been talking to the media, I felt like this was something I needed to do. Somebody needed to stand up and set this record straight, because this person … the comment that was made was “dark heart”? That’s totally, totally untrue. And the problem is the fans don’t get to know Mr. Snyder like we do, and so they get an impression of things that are written and things people say.”
“Let me just tell you something: for a person that’s been here for six years, that’s gone to him for things that I needed in my family — there’s times that he’s come to me, when he’s heard about issues in my family, and offered his assistance — it’s unsurpassed. He’s one of the most generous, kind individuals you could ever meet.
“My wife and I are involved in hospice, and there’s been countless times he’s come and helped us with issues and stuff with hospice. So to see that, and get the feeling that that’s what everybody on the outside is getting to hear about this person, I just felt like it was time for somebody to stand up and set the record straight. And I decided that I was gonna do it, and I was gonna do it today.
“Because it’s enough. I mean, it really is. We’ve had criticism from other people outside the building saying what Dan Snyder is and what he isn’t. They don’t know Dan Snyder. And that’s the problem. Do I agree with everything Dan Snyder does? No. Just trust me, because he and I, we work together, and I’m not gonna tell you that this is a utopia. But there’s no utopias in football. There’s no utopias in life. But at the same time, enough’s enough.
“And on every story, there’s one person’s side, there’s the other person’s side, and then behind it all there’s a third side, and it’s the truth. And I just felt like it was time for somebody to come and just throw a little truth out there. Because we keep hearing these other sides, these other factions, and to be quite candid, the third side, the truth, is that this person?
“All he wants to do is win. That’s all he wants to do. He’ll spend his money, he’ll spend his time. He wants to win. He’s here for the people, for the fans, for the Washington Redskins. There’s nobody it pains more when we are unsuccessful than Dan Snyder. “There’s nobody that cares more about the fans than Dan Snyder. There’s nobody that wants to win here more than Dan Snyder. And I just think that it’s time it be put out there, it’s time that you guys understand, that everything that’s wrong with this organization is not Dan Snyder. And it’s so easy for the people that have access to the microphone everyday to point fingers and shuffle it on someone else but at the same time, I’m in a ton of those meetings when decisions are made.
“So a lot of the things that are wrong right here, you can’t go back and say, ‘Well, that was so-and-so’s fault’ because I was there when the comments were made. Just to set the record straight, all right? I just think it’s wrong. I wish the best for Mr. Riggins and all his endeavors or whatever that he does.
“But for me, that was enough. For me to wash my face in the morning and feel like a man, or to talk to my kids about doing the right thing, I needed to come here and make this comment today.
“I got no other interests in it. I have a contract for next year so it’s not like I’m trying to dig something up and if they send me home, the way coaches contracts are writ, they gotta pay me anyway. So quite honestly, this is unsolicited but from the heart and something that I just felt I needed to do.”
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