Recognizing and Exercising Better Judgment

Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio

Sometimes in life our emotions lead us to do what we soon regret, which is, figuratively speaking, to ‘step in it,’ with ‘it’ being something we don’t want on our shoe or in the following story, on our name and reputation.

That’s what 59-year-old Jack Del Rio did: he stepped in it because his emotions got the better of him in a moment and he communicated publicly in a reckless manner. He’s human, he erred. It happens. He’s paying for it. So what did Del Rio say and what ignited the hurt, anger, rage, big financial hit, being criticized by his boss and having people call for his firing?

In talking about the criminality at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, he labeled it a “dust up,” a viewpoint sure to upset and enrage a lot of citizens and media. Yet that’s not all Del Rio communicated and not entirely what caused a firestorm.

But first, let’s look at the “dust up,'“ comment, as Greg Cote, a columnist at the Miami Herald did:

“Insurrection: ‘A violent uprising against an authority or government.’

“Dust-up: You and the wife arguing in the car over where to go for dinner.”

Del Rio originally tweeted, “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 ???”

When asked about it later, Del Rio didn’t think about how what he would say next would rapidly escalate negativity and criticism of him. In going deeper into about the Black Lives Matter protests in the streets around America after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police, one of too many such instances in American history, he was pointed in his disappointment and disgust.

“People’s livelihoods are being destroyed, businesses are being burned down, no problem,” Del Rio said of the damage. “And then we have a dust up at the Capitol, nothing burned down — and we’re going to make that a major deal.”

He went on to say, “I just kind of think there’s two standards. And if we apply the same standard and we’re going to be reasonable with each other, let’s have a discussion.”

All that Del Rio communicated brought the backlash intelligent observers could have predicted. If he would have paused and thought about how his words would be received before posting his opinion, Del Rio too likely would have recognized risk and the ferocious blowback that would come his way and land hard on him.

Forward thinking: good. But it wasn’t exercised.

The problem: Del Rio communicated controversial opinions, as is his right, without thinking about the sensitivity of the public on two highly-emotional topics. Nor did he know or consider how fast and intensely news deemed negative travels: at warp speed.

He paid for it in different ways, a lesson that people often learn the hard-and-painful way over and over in a society that is increasingly punitive in reaction towards speech deemed hurtful or appalling and deemed not socially acceptable by critics.

Del Rio didn’t care about being in the ‘in-group.’ That’s ok and to many, maybe even laudable.

The issue is that he stepped way outside that in-group, so far in fact that he was viewed as being in the ‘out-group,’ and therefore an enemy to being in the right. Del Rio was seen as being against moral American conduct, equality and the collective ‘good.’

Him having an opinion and empathy for the suffering that business owners and their families endured and are still enduring from the losses they suffered from vandalism is honorable and not the problem. That’s not what got him scalded by media, social media, some NFL players and former players and other citizens.

It’s also not what led to him being fined $100,000 and having his comments denounced by his immediate boss, head coach Ron Rivera.

It was Del Rio 1) minimizing the seriousness of lawbreaking, violence, deaths and injuries at the Capitol and equally egregious, if not more so in people’s minds 2) his lack of compassion for what led to the anger and destruction in the streets due to racism and violence against fellow citizens and human beings with black skin.

When he communicated all his thoughts, it wasn’t a big emotional leap for critics to make to assume that Del Rio was excusing what happened at the Capitol and heartless about the plight of Black Americans, Black people worldwide, racism in general and brutality of them at the hands of law enforcement and white citizens.

Del Rio has played sports with and coached Black men his whole life and while that is no guarantee that he is respectful and compassionate towards the Black community, it is a big assumption to make that he doesn’t care about them.

Yet his comments may have lead people to believe just that, that Del Rio is clueless or plain stupid, and maybe hateful.

NAACP president Derrick Johnson spoke with incredulity about the coach’s communication.

“It’s time for Jack Del Rio to resign or be terminated,” Johnson told Pro Football Talk: His comments could not have been more offensive and ignorant. The January 6th insurrection—an attempted coup—was far from a ‘dust-up.’ Each day we learn more and more on just how close our democracy came to autocracy. Downplaying the insurrection by comparing it to nationwide protests, which were in response to a public lynching, is twisted. You can’t coach a majority Black team while turning your back on the Black community. It’s time for you to pack up and step off the field.”

Del Rio likely was stunned at the blowback yet if he would have stopped and thought about the risks of what he was about to communicate and how it might be heard, read and perceived, he likely is sufficiently intelligent and sufficiently emotionally intelligent to realize how his words, intent, character and name would be judged.

He would have either refrained or spoke with greater understanding and compassion, while still communicating his empathy for people who lost businesses and their livelihood.

What Del Rio communicated however put his organization and boss in an unwanted and difficult situation.

“As we saw last night in the hearings, what happened on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was an act of domestic terrorism,” Washington head coach Ron Rivera communicated, talking about the the Jan. 6 attack. “A group of citizens attempted to overturn the results of a free and fair election, and as a result, lives were lost and the Capitol building was damaged. Coach Del Rio did apologize for his comments on Wednesday and he understands the distinction between the events of that dark day and peaceful protests, which are a hallmark of our democracy.”

Rivera made an effort to make an important point about Del Rio’s comments about the summer of protests.

“I want to make it clear that our organization will not tolerate any equivalency between those who demanded justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the actions of those on January 6 who sought to topple our government.”

After punishing his defensive coordinator, Rivera talked about that too.

“This is not about the fact he exercised his right to free speech,” Rivera said. “This is about what impacted this football team. I believe in the First Amendment very strongly.

“It's a very serious question and topic, but at the end of the day, it did impact us. That's why I did what I did,” he says about fining Del Rio heavily, yet also allowing him, for now at least, to stay employed.

One of Del Rio’s players, Jonathan Allen, commented too, showing his willingness to grant forgiveness while addressing the errors of his coach’s judgment and words.

“Everyone makes mistakes. I'm not here to judge; I'm not here to condemn. Obviously he said something he shouldn't have said. He owned it to the team like a man and that's all you can ask for.”

Allen also spoke to the reality, one that Del Rio likely has now learned himself.

“I like to separate my political life and my work life," Allen said. “Yes we're a family; yes we're brothers. But this is a job and you can't forget that. You can't forget that no matter your political view we get paid to do a job and we don't get paid to share our political views.”

Del Rio did apologize to the team he coaches and Rivera said he was told (likely by players) that his show of remorse and willingness to talk and listen was received positively.

“He was very open and very forthright, very contrite and apologized and open himself up to questions or opportunities for any players to come in and meet with him.

“I’ve been told those meetings went very very well. And so I’m very pleased with that. As we finished, he did the same thing: ‘Guys, please any questions see me let’s talk about that.’ And I thought it was good. It was well received, and we’ll see.”

Will the fury from hurt, pain and anger dissipate to the point where the negative momentum for Del Rio’s firing die down? Possibly. Maybe even likely. Yet it’s not guaranteed in today’s culture.

If critics press the Washington Commanders organization, and that ‘heat’ is hot and heavy enough, loud enough, the Commanders may have no choice but to ask for Del Rio’s resignation or terminate him if he says ‘no.’ As to whether that happens, who knows.

If Del Rio does the work off the field within his organization and with additional critics and doesn’t re-offend, he will keep his job except for failure to do it well. He is, however, now on thin ice, treacherous ground, moving forward, with no margin for error in his communication and other behavior.