Eric Bieniemy Didn't Let Commanders Players Wear Backwards Hats? | Grant & Danny

did you see this anecdote in a piece in the Washington Post from Sam cosmi I saw now I don't really have the context of why this came up today in this story but we've talked a lot about Eric benemy not being popular with players last year a couple different times I wouldn't call it a report as much as just me explaining why guys weren't happy or talking about the fact that I'm hearing from players that they they weren't digging the uh offensive side of the building so to speak well more and more is going to trickle out this is just getting started I think anecdotally you see today a story from Sam cosmi but I'll read here from the post last season Eric benemy came to town to run the offense and he brought with him a new title that gave him power and some asinine rules that made no sense including a rule about hats and how grown men should wear them quote last year I was not allowed to wear my hat backwards in the building so that's a little fun fact there cosmi said revealing the shocking Secret that was something that we as players offensive side we weren't allowed to wear our hats backwards end quote thoughts uh yeah I mean it's not it's not vague he wasn't well-received talking about piam Ron Rivera said so remember like before the season started he already kind of put an US versus them kind of a deal right had had made it that yeah a lot of players have complained to me and made it seem like the enemy was in over his head didn't do many favors in that regard but you know he he had his approach it didn't work well and it's one of those things where I think back to to so many different coaches and coordinators over the years when when Greg Williams for example is screaming at you to do your assignment to do this to put your you know what in the SE Gap and if you do the thing that he asks and you get results you go okay I I can live with that I can live with getting screamed at I'll I'll I'll get chewed out if it leads to something positive so B enemies making you do this that and the other thing and the offense is real good receivers are running to the same spot you know uh almost guarding each other and things don't look real good then it's hard to take that stuff seriously does that make sense you can be as disciplined as you want to be if what you're saying leads to results I mean I think of Bill bich basically saying you do these three things and this is what we ask of you in on on a given day to be to be professional Etc but you do these three things you're going to win the game and then you win 85% of your games over 15 16 years there's buyin there when you don't have the the results and you guys can see it pretty quickly they're not stupid now you're just a hard ass for hard ass's sake and that doesn't play yeah for me it's it's it's less complicated than even that um and I am Pro when a coach has a team meet a dress code on the road or something like that I have no problem with that I certainly understand when teams don't do it as well in this era but if I was to find out that a head coach said hey when we travel I want everyone in dress shirts and slacks or I want everybody in a tie old school kind of silly but I like that that there is a business element to the the trip that we're taking like I'm I'm cool with that I think this is a step further than that and it it's just silly I still remember in the first house I lived in I've only really I grew up until I was 18 years old my parents had the exact same house and then when I graduated high school and went to school um I was the third of four siblings there was only one left in the house they moved to a smaller home but in the house that I grew up in in King George I remember we had a party one time and my dad invited some people over from work and I don't remember the guy's name I could picture him right now okay and I'm in the kitchen and I walk in and I shake his hand and my parents were were especially my father were adamant about how you you shake people's hand you know firm handshake you look them in the eyes um we were very personable even as young people right yes no yes ma'am thank you all that stuff kind of kids where your parents get complimented right like we we were friendly kids and it was important to my parents that we were but I I bring this up just to tell you one of my dad's friends from work was there and so my dad calls me over and I reach my hand out I say Hey sir how are you my name's Grant whatever and he this guy takes my hat which was backwards I was in my home right and he spins it around and he puts it on frontwards he goes don't wear a backwards hat it looks foolish this guy I've never met before okay I still remember that today it was so disrespectful for lack of a better term but there is something very personable about that if if that makes a personal almost when you start like getting into the appearance it's beyond hey guys you need to dress up like you're telling a grownup and I was I don't remember how old I was I was probably a young teenager I don't even know if it relates but my point is don't tell a 27-year-old with kids that he can't wear his hat a certain way by the way look at the difference in the building now where Dan Quinn's wearing a backwards hat every single day which is kind of funny but I find that kind of fake tough guy stuff nonsensical and in this era especially it will not fly there's a reason Eric B enem is coaching in college right now you will not get a gig in this league if players don't like working for you if players don't want to put their bodies on the line for you and this is tip of the iceberg anecdotal stuff it's coming there's going to be more but there were a lot of little things like this with how people were talked to how people were treated and I remember the phones burning up last year and they will again if we do other topics on it where guys don't like working and Eric benm is a champion and they're losers and they need to fall in line there is a right and wrong way I think whether you like it or not in this era to be viewed as someone that players want to play for he never found a way to walk that line period and part of it is telling someone how to wear their hat which is not important as it pertains to the football and it's a silly dumb thing and we'll hear more of it I'm sure cuz guys like Sam Cosman didn't like him very much and they're going to they don't mind shooting their their bullets into the air now because nobody's there right but ju the the stories will be coming out I'm sure but my point is if he's ever going to get another opportunity in this league he's going to have to have a reckoning as far as he takes great pride I think in doing it the way it was done when he played and in being really old school I don't think that works anymore and maybe this is where I'll bridge to your point maybe if you're great maybe if you scheme like Kyle Shanahan if you design offense like Mike McDaniel you if you call plays like your Kevin sumlin or something maybe you can pull it off but he wasn't doing that no and and the only thing I'll say is because he was I guess I don't have a better word for it but because he was a villain in this story I don't have any sympathy for him I also think two things can be true that I don't have a ton of Sympathy for the players who basically were already ketching a couple weeks in a training camp for trying something different a new OC wasn't here because everything was great right so players whining to the coach I don't think that was particularly great either but if you're getting yelled at in a way that you haven't ever been yelled at as a professional at work by your boss I could understand being upset about that tune in is the audio