David Blough and the Offensive Staffing Thread

How do you feel about the Blough hire?

  • Excited we are going with a young future star

    Votes: 30 26.5%

  • Disappointed we did not find a proven experienced OC

    Votes: 14 12.4%

  • I'm in full 'wait and see' mode. No idea if this is a good hire.

    Votes: 69 61.1%
  • Total voters
    113
Just as long as it's not Whitt part Deux🤞🙏......he said he was ready and deserved a DC shot and we all saw the results!!
 
Whitt had a blowout press conference when he was hired. I admit I was intrigued by his confidence in building a unit that would improve on 2024 and allow the team to go further over time.

At the same time he had reached an age as coach in the NFL where usually a top flight candidate already gets a legit chance to be the DC.

The one question in the back of mind was how we reconcile the Cowboys defensive performance in 2023 given Jerry Jones' control over the roster and what Quinn and Co. were able to do in Atlanta and Quinn earlier in Seattle?

What we found out was that Whitt was a lot like Bieniemy. He was an assistant coach that is best suited to 'helping' a DC rather than being a guy that is given the responsibility to DIRECTING the defense himself.

McVay, LaFleur, MacDonald, etc - the better OC and HC candidates in the NFL tend to emerge earlier in their careers.
 
Chris said:
No huddle does not prevent the opposing defense from substituting unless you don’t change personnel. On many occasions we were held from snapping the ball until the play clock was nearly out for that reason, we changed personnel.
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That’s why it was not an aspect of Kliff’s offense that I considered an advantage. We didn’t get the advantage of “catching” the D in the wrong personnel very often due to our own subs opening the door for them, and after they had a reasonable amount of time to sub to match us, they then also had an easier time jumping the snap on plays where we barely beat the play clock. At times it felt like the worst of both worlds.
 
Kingsbury did not use motion or other to key matchups and quite frankly the Commanders don't have the overall talent at the skill positions on offense to just line up and run the plays exactly as the defense is seeing them on film from the week before.
 
It feels like the NFL is becoming a young Coaches game, we are obviously just trying to get ahead of the curve! By all accounts it sounds like he's a very mature, switched on young man, and if we are taking a risk on someone, I'd rather we went for the young hotshot our staff know well, than someone who they don't, and who may not fit with the culture and people in the building.

My biggest concern is whether he will be able to command the staff and players who are older than him, but again, DQ should have some insight in how he carries himself and interacts with others. The other concern I have is attracting staff and free agents - is an unknown commodity OC going to be the first choice of a free agent WR?

Money talks obviously, but so does how a player fits, and this offseason, players and agents can't project the scheme and how the player will fit in Blough's plans. It feels we are selling that the scheme could be a hybrid, but in reality it could be based on the Kliff or Ben Johnson approach.
 
Blough has zero experience. No aura. He’s not flashy and has a fairly mundane personality. He has no accolades from his nonexistent playing career. He’s not a smooth talking sales pitch and he’s not hypnotizing anyone with his Hartman hair.

And yet, he has legit buzz and interest from at least one winning organization and apparently is on the rising star list around the league. His wife is an Olympian and a great culture building HC wanted him on his staff, which had a “succession plan” in place from the beginning.

My point is, he must have some real substance to his work behind the scenes. He must be showing serious traits and ingenuity to be so well regarded by association with strong league figures.

Nobody knows how it plays out but I’d so much rather take a shot on that type of hire than some uninspired retread like Daboll. McDaniel was my first choice, and I was at least intrigued by the idea of guys like LaFleur or Udinski or the Notre Dame guy, but wasn’t infatuated with any of them. Blough is in that same bucket for me and he’s already there in the building, so there’s less mystery about his fit.

This is a bold and forward thinking hire. The safe play was to keep Kliff and I fully expected diminishing returns from him, so I LOVE that we didn’t do that. I know as little about Blough as everyone else, but applaud the attempt.

Bottom line, I have as little idea as anyone else if it will work, but consider me on board. At least we’ll go down swinging.
 
method man said:
Why would he interview for the Lions OC job then?
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Great point, although I don't think the "fly to his house and don't take no for an answer" approach would have worked. I am in the camp that McDaniel provided information to either make it known that he wasn't coming to WAS or that he was going to take some time to make a decision.
 
Promoting Blough from within, relatively quickly, especially when there are some legitimate experienced names out there available....combined with Blough being pretty young.....tells me that this may be the first part of a bigger plan for Blough, should he turn out to be noteworthy at OC.
 
method man said:
Why would he interview for the Lions OC job then?
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It was reported that they’re interested in interviewing him. I haven’t seen an actual interview reported yet, he’s taking HC interviews first I imagine
 
Living here in the Atlanta area, I can't help but fear deja vu all over again. Matt Ryan playing at MVP level and Falcons go to SB...then Kyle S leaves and team goes down the tubes. Bottom line is I just don't have any confidence in Quinn's ability to pick promising coordinators.
 
Random connection that, if history were kinder to us, would be a Washington connection:

Blough’s olympian wife is Christian Gonzalez’ older sister.
 
Conn said:
Random connection that, if history were kinder to us, would be a Washington connection:

Blough’s olympian wife is Christian Gonzalez’ older sister.
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I cringe a little whenever I hear his name. A shame he and his brother in-law are not both in Washington
 
36ST21 said:
Great point, although I don't think the "fly to his house and don't take no for an answer" approach would have worked. I am in the camp that McDaniel provided information to either make it known that he wasn't coming to WAS or that he was going to take some time to make a decision.
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Worth a shot. There is a great argument to be made for why he should take an OC job for a bit, namely $$$

He is getting paid HC money by the Dolphins thru 2028. Why not coach a QB who he is a huge fan of alongside a close friend and wait a cycle or two before jumping into a better situation than the Browns or Titans? In the meantime make HC money and then sign a new 5 year deal as a HC somewhere to make HC money through 2032 or 2033
 
BayouBrave86 said:
Would’ve preferred McDaniel but excited to see what Blough can do!
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I think McDaniel would only be here for one year IF he were to have taken the job. We also would be waiting 2 to 4 weeks to see if he would have got a HC gig somewhere or even taken an OC job somewhere else. It would have left us holding the bag and hiring whatever was left over.
 
DWinzit said:
I cringe a little whenever I hear his name. A shame he and his brother in-law are not both in Washington
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Especially after seeing Forbes fall down to earth after having a few good games earlier in the season

Watching the Bears offense last night in a different way was intriguing

 
Chicago used the TE position greatly to it’s advantage last night vs Green Bay, much like Green Bay did to Washington early this season.

I hope that Peters, Quinn, and Blough have the goal and a plan to add this missing capability to the offense in 2026.
 
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