The 5 O’Clock Club: Greg Manusky has given up on even acting like he cares

The 5 o’clock club is published several times per week during the season, and aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.

Yesterday’s 5 o’clock club post asked readers to “vote someone off the island” ahead of the Lions game. The three nominees were, on defense, Josh Norman; on offense, Morgan Moses; and among coaches, Greg Manusky.

Just hours after that poll was posted, Greg Manusky faced the Washington DC area sports reporters in his weekly press conference. He was asked a couple of questions about the defensive backs.

The first question was about the fact that the Redskins played the latter part of the 4th quarter with Noman, Moreau and Dunbar on the bench. Manusky indicated that it was simply a matter of playing the young guys in a game that was out of reach.

I’m okay with that. In fact, it’s a good idea.

But soon after, Greg Manusky was asked why Josh Norman’s effectiveness had fallen off since last year.

Here is our defensive coordinator’s exact response:

I couldn’t tell you. You’d have to ask him. We think we put him in some positions to make plays and he’s just not making them, but that’s across board.

“I couldn’t tell you”???

“You’d have to ask him”???

Bill Belichick was asked a question about Antonio Brown’s message to Robert Kraft that appeared in social media this week, and he said that reporters would have to ask Robert Kraft his response. I understood that deflection.

But in Manusky’s case, I’m flabbergasted!

Dude! This is YOUR JOB. You are the defensive coordinator. It’s your responsibility to coach Josh Norman. You need to know why he isn’t as productive so you can coach him!

Beyond that, you are a highly paid professional - a defensive coordinator in the National Football League. You didn’t get cornered in a bar by some drunk fan giving you shit, you were standing behind the podium addressing the assembled professional sports reporters of the Washington DC area, and you gave them a flippant answer that was the verbal equivalent to shooting two middle fingers. You are paid to stand up there 16 times this year and preview games and discuss defensive players.

Manusky’s “I dunno, ask him” answer is all the evidence I need to see that he’s checked out on the season and he’s checked out on the Redskins.

Maybe he’s tired of losing. Maybe he’s tired of Josh Norman. Maybe he’s tired of reporters. Maybe he’s tired of fans. Maybe he’s already been told that he’ll be fired at the end of the season.

Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

Maybe he read yesterday’s 5 o’clock club and realized he’d been voted off the island?

Whatever the reason, Manusky just told us that he’s done.

This guy should have been fired at the end of last season. Perhaps he would have been fired if the off-season interviews with potential replacements that reportedly took place with him sitting in the room had gone differently.

It’s easy to understand why Manusky wants out, but it’s a situation that can’t simply be ignored by Bill Callahan. He has to do something at this point.

Doesn’t he?

I realize this is a lot like yesterday’s post, but I didn’t know yesterday that Manusky was gonna throw in the towel on a live broadcast a few hours later. Sorry ‘bout that.