Paul Tagliabue died yesterday; he was 84 years old. In announcing his passing, Roger Goodell said:
“All of us in the NFL are deeply saddened by the passing of Paul Tagliabue whose principled leadership and vision put the NFL on the path to unparalleled success.”
Paul Tagliabue was Roger Goodell’s predecessor as NFL Commissioner and indeed, his actions set the stage for the explosive growth of the league.
Rest in peace, Paul Tagliabue.
Most of the country did not have to watch the Lions’ evisceration of the Commanders in the late afternoon time slot yesterday; you should give thanks for that favor when Thanksgiving rolls around in a couple of weeks. Allow me to present some data from that game to give you an idea of how thoroughly dominant the Lions were:
- Total Offense: Lions = 546 yards Commanders = 288 yards
- First Downs: Lions = 30 Commanders = 14
- Total Plays: Lions = 68 Commanders = 51
- The Lions never punted the football; they scored on every possession save for the final one where they knelt out the clock.
This is the fifth loss in a row for the Commanders who only lost 5 games in the 2024 regular season. In the last four losses, the smallest margin of defeat was 21 points. The Commanders have given up 280 points so far in 2025 and only the Bengals have yielded more. So, is this debacle of a season due to a rash of injuries – – or might there be more to it?
The first thing to consider is that the Commanders overachieved to some degree last year; they won 8 games by one-score; that is not something a team should count on doing year over year. Nevertheless, last year’s team was competitive and competent and seemed to be cohesive. And what happened in the offseason:
- The Commanders did not resign their leading sacker on defense, Dante Fowler.
- They lost Jonathan Allen and replaced him with Javon Kinlaw.
- They did not resign safety, Jeremy Chin.
- They got rid of Brian Robinson, Jr.
- They did not resign WRs, Olamide Zaccheus and Jamison Crowder.
I am not trying to suggest here that any one of the players above is destined for the Hall of Fame, but none seem to have been replaced with an upgrade at the position. Frankly, I think the “football people” involved with the Commanders completely misread the situation and thought that the singular presence of Jayden Daniels at QB would assure team success. Football is a team game; a “franchise QB” is a key element of its foundation but one great player is not enough to assure success.
And so, the “football people” got creative and tossed aside players who were held over from the unsuccessful Ron Rivera Era and replaced those guys with players that the new folks had scouted and curated – – all players who were going to blend seamlessly into “the culture” that had been created. Nonsense! The new roster additions are no more talented than the guys they replaced, and the football gods are not smiling on the Commanders nearly to the degree that they did in 2024.
And what about all that “culture” stuff?
- Linebacker Frankie Luvu played yesterday after successfully appealing a suspension for repeated hip-drop tackles this year.
- Defensive tackle Darron Payne was ejected from yesterday’s game for landing a sucker punch on Amon-Ra St. Brown.
- Two other players received unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the game.
One other laughable item here … The Commanders’ defense had given up 110 points in the three games leading up to yesterday’s embarrassment. So, the braintrust got together and decided to “change things up”. Good thinking, no? Here is the change that was put in place:
- The defensive coordinator would be on the sidelines instead of up in the coaches’ booth. He would call the defensive plays from that position because it would allow him to communicate more directly with the players on defense.
That is the leader in the clubhouse for “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” for 2025.
Finally, here is an observation from George Carlin:
“Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………