Commanders push aside outside noise ahead of Eagles matchup originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
ASHBURN, Va. — Throwback Usher hits were being played loudly on the locker room speaker. Antonio Gibson, Jonathan Williams, Kendall Fuller and Jeremy Reaves assumed their typical spots next to the cornhole boards in another competitive battle. The energy was high in the Commanders’ locker room following Thursday’s practice, the first real session of the week.
Although Washington’s players gave their best effort to make Thursday feel as ordinary as possible, the day as a whole was far from it.
The organization is in the spotlight, once again, for off-the-field issues. D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced on Wednesday that his office was planning a press conference Thursday afternoon with a “major announcement” regarding the franchise.
Washington responded to Racine’s announcement later that evening with a statement that brought up the late-August shooting of rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr., unprompted, as an example of the “out of control, violent crime in D.C.”
The statement received tremendous backlash — Robinson Jr.’s agent even weighed in on Twitter — that led to Commanders team president Jason Wright releasing a second statement saying “the lawyers’ legitimate frustration with the AG should have been separate and apart from referencing the crime that affected our player.”
Commanders head coach Ron Rivera — who said he was in transit from California back to Ashburn on Wednesday following his mother’s funeral when both statements were released — spoke with Robinson Jr. both Wednesday night and Thursday morning about the situation.
“Brian’s in a great spot. Brian didn’t understand what the big fuss was,” Rivera said, ironically taking the podium at the same time as Racine took the mic for his press conference in D.C., where he filed a civil complaint Thursday against the Commanders, owner Dan Snyder, the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Robinson Jr. said Thursday he had the chance to speak with Rivera and “told him how I felt about it.”
“I [didn’t] pay attention to it. … I just put it past me, honestly,” Robinson Jr. said. “It is what it is. I can’t control that. I’m just going to continue to do what I’ve been doing.”
Multiple players in Washington’s locker room expressed frustration that the team brought up Robinson Jr.’s shooting in the statement Wednesday evening, with captain Charles Leno among the most vocal about the situation.
“Of course it’s upsetting. He should have never been part of that situation, in my opinion,” Leno said. “His feelings and what he’s gone through should be a completely separate deal.”
“At the end of the day we’ve got BRob’s back,” star receiver Terry McLaurin added. “At the end of the day he’s one of us … so we’re going to have his back.”
Having been with the franchise since 2019, McLaurin has been forced to deal with countless off-the-field distractions from the organization that have had nothing to do with him personally. The 27-year-old offered some advice for Robinson Jr. and the rest of the younger Commanders players who are first experiencing having to deal with the organization’s non-football drama this year.
“When you’re a professional you [have] to be able to handle the things that go on off the field as well. That’s part of the job, unfortunately, whether it has something to do with you or not,” McLaurin said. “I just think the best thing I try to do is encourage them just to be a pro about your business, how you conduct yourself … You just want to carry yourself in a way that’s representative of yourself and your teammates and the people that support you.”
Before Thursday’s practice, Rivera spoke to his team about the statements made by the organization. Multiple players said the head coach’s message was well received, which helped the team move past it as a whole.
“We’re trying to focus in on what’s on the field. We can’t control that portion of it, again,” Rivera told reporters following practice. “What we control is the football aspect of it, what our players do, what our team does on the football field. We’re going to remain focused on that.”
There’s never an opportune time for off-the-field distractions, but this week was especially rough timing. On the field, the Commanders have a tall task ahead. Washington travels to Philadelphia for a Monday Night Football contest against the Eagles, the NFL’s last undefeated team.
It’s no secret Washington will need to play its most complete game of the season on Monday night to upset the Eagles, a club that already beat the Commanders by 16 points earlier this year. Even with all the outside noise, Washington’s players remain focused on what they can control: preparing for Philadelphia.
“We can only control what we can control,” quarterback Taylor Heinicke said. “That’s just going out practicing every day and focusing on Philly. That’s all we can do. Every week it seems like something pops up. But us players, I think we do a good job of just muting that out and focusing on ball. That’s what’s most important for us.”
“We can’t let it affect us,” Leno added. “It’s always stuff around here, but you’ve got to keep the main thing the main thing. We want to just focus on playing football. It’s very tough to do that, but that’s our job. We’ve got to go out there and be professionals and eliminate the distractions the best we possibly can.”
