Never Ending Questions, No Answers & No Impact

The questions keep coming for Ron Rivera. He has very few answers and any information has no impact on the football team.

Ron Rivera is a football coach. He's not a doctor. He's not a therapist and certainly isn't here to hold anyone's hand. 

That doesn't mean he doesn't have compassion and understanding for someone's struggles. 

If that person is doing everything they can to help themselves, I believe Rivera is going to do everything to help them. 

What if that person is sick? What if that person apparently has a "G.I" issue, has been throwing up and keeps getting sent home for various reasons such as, well, you know keeping him away from 140 other people?

Further, what if that person's role is largely inconsequential at the moment and probably for a while moving forward?

Should Rivera babysit this person? Take his temperature? Sit at his bed side? 

No. No. And you guessed it again, No! 

This person --  if you can't figure it out is Dwayne Haskins, the No. 3 quarterback for the Washington Football Team in the middle of a painfully obvious separation that will likely end in a divorce. 

Haskins is legitimately sick, in every reasonable view. Yet the questions keep getting asked. And asked. Hey, let's ask it again. 

"Umpteenth" is the under statement of the century...

I can't take it anymore. https://t.co/ez3jCFeXxP

— Chris Russell AKA the 🐓🐓! (@Russellmania621) October 15, 2020

I won't do that. I'm not going there. Not because I don't think the entire situation is odd and weird  but because Rivera isn't a doctor and because Haskins presence in the building is a non-factor for me on a (1-4) football team fighting to avoid extinction. 

Rivera semi-snapped back at reporters on Thursday saying the Haskins situation is only an issue because media keeps asking about him. Not this media, man. 

Yes, Haskins is a human being and part of the team. Rivera says he's part of the future. Who knows? I have my doubts on that one and so does every red-blooded human being. 

Is the media (which I am a part of) asking the same questions about Joshua Garnett, who has been sick for the last few days and has missed practice? Not a one.

Guess who can make a much bigger impact sooner than Haskins for the WFT? Garnett. 

And it's not even close. 

The problem is that everyone knows that Haskins is a lightning rod issue and nobody gives a flying (bleep) about Garnett. No offense, of course. 

There are people in the media that have certain agendas. They are advocating for  and protecting Haskins, because of the relationship they have. 

Maybe I would too but here's how I've worked in the past: If a player, coach or executive was in a public battle with the head coach and I had a vested interest, I would attempt to publicly defend said person without asking the person that he's in direct conflict with, a million questions. 

Why? Because it does nothing to solve the problem. Rivera is not playing Haskins or dressing Haskins for a variety of reasons, not just one.

If Haskins was the starter still or even the No. 2 - I could understand more questions. 

He's not. He's the No. 3 for whatever reason(s) Rivera has publicly and privately.

Rivera was asked on Thursday if Haskins was coming to New York with the team on Saturday? Do we really think Rivera has spent any time thinking about that? Maybe he has and it would be a story if he's not, but legitimately, who cares if he's in New Jersey or not? 

Rivera doesn't. He's inactive. He's not going to be in uniform unless something happened to Allen or Smith before 11:30 on Sunday.

Rivera has a fragile football team to consider. He has a quarterback that he likes, who took an unnecessary risk last week only to derail any potential success. 

He has a backup that did not look truly ready to play in the rain, but the people that get to see him practice believe that he was more than ready. 

At this point, Haskins has missed almost a week of full practice and even if there was a problem with Allen or Smith before Sunday morning, Steven Montez would almost surely get promoted. 

Why? He's been practicing and of course has been in the system for several months now. Not Haskins.

I truly don't believe Haskins is being sent home for nefarious reasons. He's sick. It happens. I have no idea how contagious he is, as I'm not a doctor, but my guess is that team doctors are trying to make sure they get him healthy first before letting him back in the building for anything more than treatment, medicine and testing. 

That's it. 

Ron is not standing at the front door of the facility trying to stiff arm Haskins away. 

It's just isn't happening, so can we stop asking four or five questions a day to a head coach that has to manage a roster, an organization, his own cancer diagnosis and not somebody's feelings or agenda? 

Thanks. 

Chris Russell is the Publisher of this site, a part of SI.com. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Washington Football Team" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621