The Washington Commanders have found themselves in the middle of yet another controversy, as coach Jack Del Rio has been taking heat following a stream of comments that revolve around the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The controversy started on Monday, when Del Rio Tweeted a response to CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen. “As the 1/6 Committee hearings draw near, we must understand the whole story of January 6th.” Eisen tweeted. Del Rio fired back, tweeting “Would love to understand ‘the whole story’ about why the summer of riots, looting, burning and the destruction of personal property is never discussed but this is ???#CommonSense.”
Then after a team practice on Wednesday, Del Rio doubled down on his statements at a press conference. "Let's get right down to it," Del Rio said. "What did I ask? A simple question -- why are we not looking into those things if we're going to talk about it. Why are we not looking into those things?"
"Because it's kind of hard for me to say, I can realistically look at it. I see the images on TV, people's livelihoods are being destroyed. Businesses are being burned down, no problem. And then we have a dust-up at the capital, where nothing burned down. And we're going to make that a major deal."
Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images
"I just think it's kind of two standards," Del Rio said. "And if we apply the same standard, and we're going to be reasonable with each other, let's have a discussion. That's all it was. Let's have a discussion. We're Americans. Let's talk it through." Del Rio has never been a stranger to sharing his polarizing opinions publicly. He says his statements don’t bother his team, but added "If they are, and they want to talk about it, I'll talk about it with anybody." Del Rio’s belief that his comments don’t ruffle his players’ feathers was echoed by defensive lineman Jonathan Allen, one of the team’s best players.
"In my opinion, everyone's entitled to their own opinion," the defensive lineman said. "Some guys decide to share it on Twitter. Some guys don't. Doesn't make one person better than the other."
"At the end of the day, you can have a difference of opinion and still respect one another." Allen said.
[Via]