The Commanders have had a horrible week, and are attempting to cease it from getting worse

If you recognize a Washington Commanders fan, verify in on them, and allow them to know you care.

As a result of they, and their franchise, have had a horrible, horrible week.

The place do we start?

We are able to start with the standing of their beginning quarterback. After the Commanders misplaced to the Tennessee Titans over per week in the past, head coach Ron Rivera was requested what units the opposite groups within the NFC East aside from the Commanders. His response was fast and to the purpose.

“Quarterback.”

Rivera walked these feedback again the following day, making the case that he meant the opposite groups within the division had extra time with their beginning quarterbacks, versus Wentz who came visiting within the offseason. He even apologized to Wentz after the feedback. However mentioning the quarterback place in a city determined for stability on the place, and on a brief week, is rarely factor.

Washington obtained previous the Chicago Bears final Thursday evening, profitable a sport we warned you to not watch, and after the victory, Rivera was fired up defending his quarterback.

Whose post-game match prompted a stir as properly.

Then got here phrase that Wentz was damage. The quarterback suffered a fractured finger, which required surgical procedure, and is anticipated to overlook four-to-six weeks as he recovers. Opening the door for former beginning quarterback Taylor Heinicke, and a dialog about rookie Sam Howell.

Does that appear like so much? Nicely, we’re simply getting began …

Subsequent up, in fact, is the ongoing saga of proprietor Dan Snyder. Final week explosive reporting from ESPN outlined how, regardless of ongoing investigations and controversy, Snyder had a three-pronged strategy to sustaining management over the franchise. First, a franchise quarterback, and the reporting made the case that it was Snyder who pushed for Wentz, prompting partly Rivera’s post-game outburst in Chicago.

Second, a brand new stadium for the Commanders, however because the piece from ESPN highlighted, a stadium invoice died in Virginia after public outcry.

Snyder’s third prong to holding the crew? In response to the ESPN report, it included digging up dust on fellow house owners:

Dan Snyder does this factor when he feels cornered, say those that know him properly. He paces in a lodge suite, or on his superyacht, or at River View, his $48 million Virginia property. Cradling a drink in a single hand, he tells members of his internal circle concerning the dust he has amassed on fellow house owners, coaches, executives, even his personal staff — all of the stuff he’s discovered from different sources, together with personal investigative corporations. He by no means says precisely what he is aware of, solely that in his 23 years as proprietor of the Washington Commanders, he is aware of so much. And that within the zero-sum world of billionaires, that is the way you survive. Snyder just lately instructed an in depth affiliate that he has gathered sufficient secrets and techniques to “blow up” a number of NFL house owners, the league workplace and even commissioner Roger Goodell.

Quick ahead a number of days, to the NFL league conferences in New York Metropolis. With hypothesis swirling round Snyder and his place within the league, Indianapolis Colts proprietor Jim Irsay spoke to the media, and supplied the primary direct criticism of Snyder from one in all his friends, and said that he believed that Snyder wanted to go, and that the votes have been maybe in place to take away him:

Synder, through a consultant, pushed again on Irsay’s feedback and included a transparent assertion.

He wouldn’t be promoting the crew:

Nonetheless, Irsay’s feedback supplied the primary glimpse that the temper amongst NFL house owners might actually be shifting in opposition to Snyder. Maybe most notable was this: There was not an NFL proprietor who publicly defended Snyder after Irsay’s feedback.

Once more, if these have been the one points in place, it will be so much. However we’re simply on the halfway level of what has been a brutal week.

As a result of then phrase broke a couple of bounced verify. A Commanders fan who received a 50/50 raffle just lately at FedEx Discipline deposited the verify from the crew after receiving his winnings.

The verify bounced:

The crew launched an announcement, indicating that there was a financial institution error and that the Commanders made an digital fee to the fan to repair the error:

However the harm was completed within the eyes of the general public, giving extra fodder to native radio hosts and writers.

The most recent log added to the hearth? That entails former tight finish Chris Cooley, now an analyst and podcast host. At one time Cooley was a radio host for Washington video games and offered movie breakdowns on the crew’s web site. Cooley was chosen as one of many crew’s ten latest additions to their “90 Biggest Gamers,” and people ten former Washington gamers are set to be honored at FedEx Discipline this Sunday when the Commanders host the Inexperienced Bay Packers.

One drawback.

Cooley needs no a part of the ceremony:

Now, there might be extra at play right here than simply Cooley’s total view of the group in the intervening time. He was eliminated as a radio host a number of seasons in the past, and whereas Cooley said after the transfer that he exhausting “no exhausting emotions,” it might nonetheless be a supply of rigidity. Nonetheless, it speaks volumes that one of many best gamers in Washington historical past has determined to not attend a ceremony that may, partly, honor him.

Sunday additionally has the potential to be a headache for the group in one other approach.

Due to a promotion to rejoice the ninetieth anniversary of the group, followers will obtain seat cushions at Sunday’s sport. That appears like a stunning promotion, till you contemplate that the final state of the fanbase would possibly change how these seat cushions are acquired.

And used.

Over 30 years in the past, Washington followers created the “Seat Cushion Recreation” at outdated RFK Stadium, celebrating a win over the Atlanta Falcons within the Divisional Spherical of the playoffs. Followers, joyous as the house crew began to salt away the victory, started flinging the seat cushions onto the sphere in celebration. The crew itself has a web page devoted to the “Seat Cushion Recreation.”

That crew went on to defeat the Buffalo Payments in Tremendous Bowl XXVI.

This 12 months’s crew? They really look 30 years faraway from a Tremendous Bowl run.

Maybe in an effort to keep away from a repeat of the “Seat Cushion Recreation,” albeit for various causes, the group might be handing out the cushions after the sport on Sunday:

Even with the change, it does little to salvage what has been a reasonably tough week for Washington.

So once more, if you recognize a Commanders fan, verify in on them.