This was a bizarre week, even for a team that once nearly hired Pepper Rodgers as an interim coach and one that used to hold press conferences to say they were misquoted in their own releases.
And today just topped it off. Maybe Greg Blache has a legitimate personal reason why he no longer wants to be interviewed by the media (the NFL mandates that all coordinators speak at least once a week). It’s odd because he’s told us a few times that he has largely enjoyed the once-a-week sessions. He stopped talking to us once before, but that was because he was irked by some stories. That’s fine.
Perhaps this time is different.
But the timing makes it odd. Sherman Lewis comes in one day… Blache decides to stop speaking the next.
As if this place couldn’t get any stranger. The conspiracy theorists will have a field day with this one. They must love this franchise.
So on Wednesday, we have to grill a coach about a consultant who was hired to help revive his offense, a coach who has to know that it doesn’t look good for his future, a coach who was now emasculated in front of the league. Then on Thursday we have the bizarre scene of Blache getting in front of the media, speaking for little more than a minute, then walking off the podium. We expected a statement as to why he no longer wanted to perform one aspect of his duties as a coordinator (yes, we all know his job is to coach, but part of his job is dealing with the media). Instead, we got a short overview of the Tampa game, a few words on the Carolina game and a great big thank you for coming. Then secondary coach Jerry Gray stepped up a minute later as the new voice of the defense.
Imagine what kind of week it would have been had the Redskins lost to Tampa Bay.
Funny, but when the Redskins hired Lewis as a consultant, one GM, completely speculating, said it might be to get someone on the staff who knows this offense, so he can be a playcaller if Zorn is fired. Then Blache would assume the head coaching duties. But it’s hard to imagine Blache wanting any part of that after hearing that “personal reasons” are precluding him from talking to the press even once a week. One thing a leader has to do is face the heat. Blache basically said that last week himself, when he threw himself under the proverbial bus.
The season has 12 more weeks remaining. It feels like it’ll take forever.
