DS could cure a lot if his own and the Redskins ills by just communicating openly. But he hates and distrusts the media more than any public figure out there. Some of that is for good reason. But it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don't speak to issues in a crisis, the media and others are going to fill in the gaps as they see fit, create their own explanations, etc...
The healthiest thing Snyder could have done this week would have been to come out with Shanahan and address the media together. Snyder is truly his own worst enemy.
Disagree.
I can recognize disinformation when I see it - and that's what the media has been doing since early last Summer - one reason we have so many competing narratives on what is going on. It will all persist - especially through 3 more losses - no matter what Snyder says. Snyder's best course is to lay low, let the coach execute his responsibilities, and wait for the off-season to start. then, after a week or so of check-outs and season appraisal, and only then, perhaps grant an in-depth "state of the franchise" interview with some trusted, non-agenda driven interviewer who asks the tough questions fairly.
Boone, not an exact parallel, but in the middle of a failing battle, does the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff go on television and state "yea….it's really f'd up right now. Heads are going to roll until we get this fixed." or does he quietly, through command channels, summon the underlings and ask "what are you doing? why isn't it working? let me restate the goals and objectives for you. we'll talk this over once this battle is done. the campaign, in the end, is what matters."
The media are going to fill in their own gaps - REGARDLESS.
This isn't a crisis. A large measure of it is manufactured drama. It's a crappy team suffering through a crappy season. So, you regroup, figure out the way ahead during the off-season, form a plan, and execute that plan. This team has been buffeted by a lot of external burdens that had to have thrown previous plans seriously off center-line.
I have been with this team for a long, long time. Getting pretty tired myself of all the non-sense. that said, you don't repair your own house by burning it down and throwing yourself and family to the street corner (especially in the Winter!). you regroup, figure out where the foundation is weak, figure out where modernization is needed, form a plan, find the resources and execute the friggin plan! that's all you can do. sometimes you succeed. sometimes you fail. that's what the Skins are going to do. Snyder's role is to provide the stability and guidance that leads all to understand that that is the off-season game plan. It's not his responsibility to go on TV and stick knives in his and Shanahan's (or RG's) backs so the media pirañas have their weekly melodrama to fill the airwaves with what, after all, is 90 to 99% absolutely braindead, un-illuminating drivel.
that's my story and I'm sticking to it!