I think what’s so impressive about last night for the Commanders is how far this team has come from a year ago. People talk about turnarounds, but a turnaround happens when you are a relatively average to below average team and you bring in a couple of new players that cause you to start winning.
This franchise was flat out broken. Over the last 15 games of last season, they lost 13. After November 5th, they wouldn’t win again, finishing the year with 8 straight losses. Many were not close.
What Josh Harris, Adam Peters and Dan Quinn have miraculously done is not a turnaround; they’ve completely rebuilt the organization in less than one year. They’re not only 11-5 and winning, they have restored confidence in the team to the point this isn’t some mirage in a professional football desert. The building has a new foundation, and people who know how to keep it bright, shiny and moving forward for the forseeable future are at the helm.
So many times we’ve started “rebuilds” and people started saying “you’ve got to give them more time” when it got to the point it was clear the product was not good and not getting better any time soon. Josh Harris comes in, waits until the current season is over, then in one season, takes them from the dust of the cellar to the upper floors.
The formula was simple: A good man who knows what he’s doing bought the team, then hired others that know what they’re doing and let them fix the problem with the skills they’ve acquired over many years. Without any interference from ownership. A unique concept in professional sports.
I had gotten to the point watching their games was more an exercise in having them on in the background just in case they did something right. I hadn’t bought any merchandise for the team in over a dozen years. I’ve followed them for over 50 years, and the spark was gone.
Not any more. On this victory Monday, I tip my hat to Mr. Harris, while wearing a brand new Washington Commanders shirt, a Redskins hat, and thinking I could get use to all this winning.
Job well done, sir.
