When Bruce Allen took a half-dozen steps toward a wooden lectern at Redskins Park on Wednesday morning, it quickly became clear why the Washington Redskins’ president and general manager hadn’t taken questions from reporters in 141 days.
He doesn’t have the answers.
For the better part of 45 minutes, Allen danced around the biggest issues facing the Redskins, who completed their season three days earlier with yet another loss. At 4-12, they finished in last place in the NFC East for the sixth time in seven seasons, five of which have occurred with Allen at the helm.
Allen could have used the meeting on Wednesday to throw the final handful of dirt on the season. Instead, he took the opportunity to sprinkle some salt around, too.
“You can blame me,” Allen said. “I’m responsible for what happens with this organization.”
On several occasions, Allen vowed that there will be changes at Redskins Park — a process that began earlier that morning, when the team announced it and defensive coordinator Jim Haslett “had mutually parted ways.”
Allen said the decision was reached between Haslett and coach Jay Gruden that morning, yet Gruden said Friday, and again Monday, that he would “absolutely” like Haslett to return as the Redskins’ defensive coordinator.
As for what other changes might be coming, Allen remained mum, divulging few hints as to what, exactly, the Redskins may do. Yet Allen stood by the team’s scouting department, long considered one of the organization’s most overmatched units, at one point praising it by noting that it’s a “hard-working group.”
Pressed, pointedly, for an answer as to why there haven’t been changes in that division in recent years, Allen meandered for a moment, insisting he will take responsibility for the shortcomings. Then, he took a long pause to gather his thoughts — only to be interrupted, and saved, by a team spokesman asking for another question.
At times, Allen tried to diffuse similarly tense moments by smiling or laughing or making exaggerated claims, like the idea that the Redskins could have their scouting department based in Hawaii “because we have telephones in Hawaii, [and] we can have a conversation immediately after the game.”
Perhaps Allen’s most comedic moment was when, after speaking about how the Redskins need to improve because losing is frustrating and unacceptable, he said the organization is successful in one regard because its charitable foundation “does a fantastic job.”
The assertion was similar to one Allen made earlier in the season, when, during a segment airing on team-owned ESPN 980’s pre-game show on Nov. 30, he responded to a question about the team’s focus off the field — referring to the benching of quarterback Robert Griffin III for Colt McCoy — by noting he was pleased with the level of support for the annual Thanksgiving food drive.
“We’re winning off the field, but we’ve got to start winning on the field,” Allen said Wednesday.
To do so, the Redskins may be forced to move on from Griffin, who missed six games because of an injury this season but otherwise showed that he wasn’t capable of handling the demands of Gruden’s offense.
Allen vouched for Griffin, deflecting blame from the quarterback by citing the injury and indicting the talent level of other players on the field. He insisted that any decisions regarding Griffin’s playing status were made by Gruden alone and not influenced by Allen or Dan Snyder, and he said that he “absolutely” trusts Gruden to make football-related decisions.
Of course, whether Allen can be trusted to make those decisions is another matter. In 19 seasons as a top-level personnel executive — with Oakland from 1995 through 2003, then as the general manager in Tampa Bay until 2008, and then with the Redskins since 2010 — Allen has overseen teams that have a combined .453 winning percentage.
When asked if he planned on retaining the dual titles of general manager and president, which he added in May, Allen affirmed that he did, insisting it’s not hard to juggle two occasionally conflicting roles.
“I look at players probably differently than you do,” Allen said at one point, responding to a question about the team’s failed free agent signings. “I listen to their concerns. I listen to what their dreams are for themselves, and I root for the players who are Washington Redskins. I root for every single one of them to do well.”
That outcome seems far from certain. Allen said when he looks at the Redskins’ current roster, he sees a collection of players that “really wants to win.” Then, not 30 seconds later, the circular logic he relied upon frequently that morning crumbled beneath him with one telling slip of the tongue.
“We’re not the first team to have back-to-back losing seasons in the NFL,” he said, “and it’ll happen again.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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