On New Years Eve, Washington Redskins General Manager/President Bruce Allen was kind enough to disclose his formula for winning in his first presser since training camp: “It’s good players, good coaching, good chemistry, that is the winning formula,” he said. But no mention of a competent front office structure. In fact, Allen went on to defend the “quality structure” Washington has in their front office.
“Our personnel department is a hard-working group that evaluates players,” declared Allen. “I’d love to talk to everybody and show them all the grades that they put on all the players who were in the NFL. I’m not going to do that. That department is a responsibility that I take very serious and it is my responsibility to make sure that we listen to the right people, listen to their grades, evaluate the talent properly, involve the coaching staff in it and do the right thing.”
Bruce Allen, the direct extension of Owner Daniel Snyder, went on to explain that it’s on him to find the winning formula for this team. Allen says that he will absolutely do anything to find a winning formula, including evaluating himself. But he continued to stand there, and field questions, in all his pomposity instead of exiting the building.
Allen did, however, come up with a nice idea for himself moving forward — mowing the lawn outside Redskins Park. “If it meant mowing that lawn out there every Tuesday, I would mow the lawn every darn Tuesday,” exclaimed Allen. “I want the Burgundy and Gold to win. That is my job and my responsibility is to try and figure out how to do that.”
The problem with this organization is everything that Bruce Allen said — ‘figuring out a winning formula.’ The very fabric of the Washington Redskins is their ineptitude of simply knowing what to do as a franchise. They have no organizational philosophy and Bruce Allen is hoping to find one under a rock somewhere.
Bruce Allen doesn’t even know how to properly explain why he doesn’t talk more often as the team’s general manager. “There’s one voice during the football season and that’s the voice of the head coach,” he said. “I can’t know everything he has said to you at a press conference. He could say we’re going to run a wing punt formation this game and I’m going to say we’re not. He’s going to say he is.”
What the heck is wing-punt formation? Part of Bruce Allen’s job is studying personnel, right? Incredible how well versed he is with football jargon. I’d definitely want him running my organization.
You know, while Bruce Allen trotted around the subject of finding his winning formula, he basically dismissed the possibility of structural changes inside the team’s front office. Instead, he was kind enough to define the roles in this current structure.
“Doug Williams works across with pro and college,” explained Allen. “He has a keen eye for talent and is involved in all pro personnel meetings, as well as all college meetings. A.J. [Smith] is a consultant. He lives in Del Mar, Calif. He’s somebody I’ve known for a number of years – we worked together 30-some years ago. When he got let go of the Chargers, I said, ‘If you have a few weeks a year and you want to come out, please do. Give us some insight into it.’ And so he’s sat in some meetings, and we’ve utilized his wisdom and experience.”
Many have speculated Bruce Allen making A.J. Smith, at the very least, the main player personnel guy. Instead, Allen explained how modern-day technology has benefited him in communicating with people from a long distance, like A.J. Smith. “You know, the technology today, if you’re in Hawaii, you can watch the game tape as quickly as I can watch it here at Redskin Park,” he said. “And, because we have telephones in Hawaii, we can have a conversation immediately after the game.” That’s some Earth shattering news right there. I honestly did not know that.
But hey, let’s end this on a high note. Bruce Allen did find a positive about this organization during his presser: “I do think our Charitable Foundation does a fantastic job,” he said. “We’re winning off the field, but we’ve got to start winning on the field.”
Although all 32 ball clubs in the National Football League does weekly charitable work, Washington’s holds more weight. Bruce Allen did say he loves the fact football has scoreboards. However, I was unaware of the fact that charitable work comes with a scoreboard too.
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