Thursday’s Commanders’ press conference with the media started with quite a surprise.
Eric Bieniemy, Washington’s first-year offensive coordinator, has been very determined at times with the press this season. There have been more than a few times Bieniemy has insisted he is old school, does things his way, is not going to change, etc.
But Thursday, he surprised everyone by launching his press conference with the following, “First and foremost, before we begin, I had a great discussion with an old mentor of mine. He reminded me of something. He’s a person I’ve known since I was in college. So first and foremost, I want to apologize for my language I’ve used at times. He just reminded me of the status I’m in, and on top of that, just the people and the crowd you can have a major influence with. So you just want to make sure that you’re always presenting it and presenting yourself the right way. But always being a leader of men, so first and foremost, let me apologize for that.”
Last week, Bieniemy, during his weekly Thursday press conference, did say “s–t.” “I’m not trying to be an a—–e,” “G—–n.” “s–t happens in life,” and “damn.” Apparently, someone else listened in and had a chat with Bieniemy, leading to his apology this week.
Bieniemy then transitioned to the fact that the Commanders are not playing well but clarified that it is not for a lack of effort, that the players are playing hard. He pointed to the problem being that the Commanders are not executing well.
The former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator was also confident that a second year for Sam Howell in the same offense next year would make a world of difference for Howell. He would not need to learn a new offense and would not need to learn a third offense in three years. In his first season, Howell was learning Scott Turner’s offense.
Just the day before, ESPN’s Marcus Spears had suggested that the Pittsburgh Steelers, knowing Ron Rivera is going to be ousted and thus the entire staff could also be looking for jobs. Spears then said, “The Steelers should be on the phone to acquire him for these young guys they have. If they grow up, they are gonna be hell to deal with, and I think he would be the OC for the job. Challenge ’em.”
