The arrival of Ron Rivera has made a difference for Washington Football Team. The same thing happened when he reached the ranks of Carolina Panthers in 2011, the year the Charlotte club recruited Cam Newton to the first overall pick.
After six seasons as defensive coordinator in the NFL (Bears, Chargers), Rivera was in charge of taking the reins in Carolina, and during his tenure there, the team’s dynamics changed. Named twice Coach of the Year (2013, 2015), Rivera led the Panthers to the second Super Bowl in club history (L), which they lost to the Broncos.
In his eight full seasons with the club, the Panthers qualified four times to the postseason, three of them as divisional leaders in the NFC South.
Dismissed after Week 13 of 2019, having accumulated four consecutive losses, Rivera ended his tenure at Carolina as the most winning strategist in franchise history (76-63-1).
Some analysts pointed out then that the dismissal of the coach was not the best decision for the club. Newton played only two games that year, and Kyle Allen went on to keep the team 5-3 before losing eight games in a row in just his second year as a professional – having only one game of experience in his year. rookie.
A few weeks of vacation came for Rivera, but they weren’t many. On December 31 of that year, he reached an agreement to replace Jay Gruden on the wings at FedEx Field. The next day, entering the new year, Jack Del Rio was introduced as defensive coordinator.
In the midst of a sex scandal that runs through the team and majority owner Dan Snyder, and the change of name and logo after protests for decades by Native American groups over the racist connotation that these two accentuated, Rivera has managed to keep him afloat. club within the field with a defense ranked in the top 10 in the league overall.
The way of working in the capital, Rivera explained upon his arrival, would be different. Regardless of the background of each athlete, their performance in previous years, for the strategist had to meet the work standards from his arrival.
In a division where all four teams have a chance to advance to the playoffs, all negative, Washington is leading the pack after finishing with the second-worst record in the league in 2019 (3-13).
There is a 50% chance that Alex Smith will return to position behind center this Sunday at FedEx Field. The veteran is 4-1 as a starter in the US capital this 2020. The last game he supported his teammates from the wings when he injured his calf a couple of weeks ago.
Now, Washington is a couple of weeks away, from winning its next two games, from going to its first postseason since 2015.
Carolina, meanwhile, is currently in fourth place to pick first in the upcoming college season with a 4-10 record in Matt Rhule’s first year as head coach in the NFL.
What if Newton hadn’t been injured?
Over time, Rivera has questioned the Panthers’ chances, his own whereabouts, and the 2015 MVP performance if Newton had stayed away from injuries. His last two seasons in Carolina, before leaving for the Patriots, suffered injuries to his shoulder (2018) and foot (2019).
“Yes I do, honestly,” Rivera said. “He’s the kind of guy that when he got healthy and things were moving forward, man, it created quite a bit of momentum. [colectivo]”, Said the strategist, according to Charlotte Observer.
