David Blough is the new offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders, rising from his previous job as assistant quarterbacks coach just a few years removed from being a backup QB in the league.
The Commanders announced the 30-year-old Bough's promotion on Saturday.
Blough, who never has called plays in the NFL, takes over the offense under head coach Dan Quinn and replaces former offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who agreed to part ways with the team earlier in the week after Washington finished the season with a 5-12 record.
Quinn still needs to replace fired defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. and offensive line coach Bobby Johnson, and now also will need to find a quarterbacks coach and assistant quarterbacks coach.
Keeping Blough in the fold as OC, rather than potentially watching him leave for the same position with the Detroit Lions or elsewhere, helps Washington give star quarterback Jayden Daniels some continuity going into his third NFL season.
Daniels, the reigning AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, dealt with a series of injuries to his left knee, right hamstring and left elbow this season before being shut down in December. He played in only seven games as the Commanders took a major step back after going 12-5 in the regular season and making it all the way to the NFC title game a year earlier.
Blough worked under QBs coach Tavita Pritchard during Daniels’ standout rookie year in 2024, then filled in this past year after Pritchard was hired by Stanford as its coach.
As a player, Blough was a quarterback at Purdue in college and then appeared in nine games in the pros — going 0-7 as a starter — with the Lions and Arizona Cardinals from 2019-22.
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FILE - Detroit Lions quarterback David Blough talks to reporters after the team's NFL preseason football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Don Wright, File)
ADELBODEN, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss ski star Marco Odermatt is often unbeatable in the World Cup and especially at his home giant slalom classic that he won for a record fifth straight year Saturday.
Olympic giant slalom champion Odermatt raced through steady falling snow and worsening visibility to protect his first-run lead and win by 0.49 seconds from Lucas Pinheiro Braathen of Brazil. Leo Anguenot of France was third, 0.68 back.
Pinheiro Braathen led the applause in the finish area after watching Odermatt ski at his limit to exactly match the Brazilian's time in the tough second run.
"He is really the king of this hill," Pinheiro Braathen said of Odermatt to Swiss broadcaster RTS. “It is an honor to be able to stand as the last man up at the start gate with him and be able to fight him on arguably the coolest race that you guys have to offer.”
Odermatt has won each Adelboden giant slalom since 2022 to overtake the four-win streak of Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark from 1979 through 1982.
“Adelboden was my first love and it will always be my big love. I was here as a small kid,” Odermatt said.
Home wins once were rare and are wildly appreciated by a noisy crowd of about 25,000 fans on a signature day in Switzerland's sports calendar.
“They really made me push harder," Odermatt said of the home support. "This energy, this extra pressure and motivation helps.”
Racing began Saturday morning after a minute’s silence observed for the victims of the fatal fire in a bar in nearby Crans-Montana, which hosts World Cup races in three weeks’ time.
In another stellar World Cup season for Odermatt, the four-time defending overall champion has almost twice as many race points as his nearest challenger, Pinheiro Braathen.
Odermatt's sixth race win this season was the 51st of his career, fourth on the all-time list, and 29th in giant slalom.
Back when he was racing for his father's nation Norway, Pinheiro Braathen sustained a season-ending knee injury at Adelboden in 2021 crashing over the finish line while setting a fast time in giant slalom.
One year later he stopped his giant slalom run approaching the steep final slope rather than tackle it again.
Pinheiro Braathen said Saturday he later had therapy to help him confront his issues with the storied hill.
“Words cannot describe how proud I am right now.”
The Adelboden giant slalom has been a fixture on the men’s calendar since the first week of World Cup racing in January 1967. Then, the winner was another iconic ski name, Jean-Claude Killy.
The Chuenisbaergli course has signature rolling terrain over summer cow pastures. Skiers crest a rise before entering the steep final slope that funnels then down into a raucous finish area.
The course stages a slalom Sunday, that Odermatt will skip though Pinheiro Braathen will be a contender to repeat his 2023 win.
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt celebrates winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)
Second placed Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, left, celebrates with winner Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, after finishing second in a men's World Cup giant slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt celebrates winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)
Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt speeds down the course on his way to win an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Norway's Timon Haugan speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men¥s World Cup giant slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)
Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)
