Blache breaks media silence, slams Riggins

November 5, 3:07 PMWashington Redskins ExaminerMark Newgent

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Washington Redskins Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Greg Blache (AP Photo)

Defensive coordinator Greg Blache, broke his self-imposed media silence today to respond to Redskins Hall of Fame running back, John Riggins’ personal attacks against Dan Snyder.

Appearing on Showtime’s Inside the NFL, Riggins said of Snyder “this is a bad guy that owns this team. I'll just tell you that upfront. Bad guy. And if the Commissioner is worried about potential new owners and saying some of these guys shouldn't apply, he might want to police his own inside guys.” Later Riggins said of Snyder, “this person’s heart is dark.”

Blache addressed the media without taking questions (video here). Here are his comments in full as transcribed by the Washington Post’s Rick Maese:

This morning when I came in, and I turned my computer on and I was looking at Pro Football Talk, and I saw comments that John Riggins made about Mr. Snyder. And it really bothered me, the more I sat there at my desk. There's been a lot of criticism of him over the last few weeks. And this is a man I've known for six years, since I've been here. And in the six years, I've never seen John Riggins here. I met him once at Beach Blitz down in Virginia Beach. Never seen him in the building.
To hear such a vicious criticism of somebody I consider not just my employer, but a good friend, bothered me. And as much as I hadn't been talking to you, I felt like this is something I needed to do. Somebody needed to stand up and set this record straight. This person, the comment that was made, a 'dark heart,' that's totally, totally untrue. The problem is the fans don't get to know Mr. Snyder like we do, so they get an impression of things that are written and things people say. I'll tell you something from a person who's been here for six years who's gone to him for things that I've needed in my family, there's times that he's come to me when he's heard about issues in my family, and offered his assistance. It's unsurpassed. He's one of the most generous, kind individuals you'll ever meet. My wife and I are involved in hospice, and there's been countless times he's come and helped us with issues with hospice. So to see that and get the feeling that that's what everybody on the outside gets to hear about this person, I just felt like it was time for somebody to stand up and set the record straight. I decided that I was going to do it, I was going to do it today because it's enough. I mean, it really is. We've had criticism from other people outside the building, saying what Dan Snyder is and what he isn't. You don't know Dan Snyder, and that's the problem.
Do I agree with everything that Dan Snyder does? No, trust me. Because he and I, we work together. And I'm not going to tell you that this is a utopia. There's no utopias in football, there's no utopias in life. At the same time, enough's enough. Every story, there's one person's side, there's another person's side and behind it all, there's a third side and it's the truth. I just thought it was time for somebody to come and just throw a little truth out there. We keep hearing these other sides, these other factions, and to be quite candid, the third side - the truth - this person, all he wants to do is win. That's all he wants to do. He'll spend his money, he'll spend his time. He wants to win. He's here for the people, for the fans, for the Washington Redskins. There's nobody who's pained more when we're not successful than Dan Snyder. There's nobody that cares more about the fans than Dan Snyder, there's nobody who wants to win here more than Dan Snyder.
I just think it's time to be put out there, it's time that you guys understand that everything that's wrong with this organization is not Dan Snyder. It's so easy for the people who held... a microphone every day to point fingers and shuffle it off somewhere else. But at the same time, I'm in a ton of those meetings when decisions are made. And so a lot of the things that wrong, you can't go back and somehow it was so-and-so's fault because that's how those comments were made. So just to set the record straight, I think it was wrong. I wish the best for Mr. Riggins and all his endeavors or whatever he does. But for me, that was enough. And I just felt like for me to wash my face in the morning and to feel like a man or to talk to my kids about doing the right thing, I needed to come here and make that comment today.
"I've got no other interest in it. I have a contract for next year, so it's not like I'm trying to make something up. If they send me home, the way coaches' contracts are written, they have to pay me anyway. So quite honestly, this is unsolicited. But from the heart, just something I just felt I needed to do. Thank you.

Like many, I’ve enjoyed Riggo’s snarky Youtube videos criticizing Snyder and Cerrato, Lord knows they’ve earned it. I even suggested he get the Five O’ Clock Club back together for his next one. However, the “bad guy” heart of darkness screed was a bridge too far.

Conversely, while I admire the Blache for sticking up for Snyder in this instance, why was the media-averse defensive coordinator reading Profooballtalk.com