Commanders’ Ron Rivera says report of reluctance to acquire Carson Wentz is ‘bulls—’

The Commanders’ head coach is taking ownership of a supposed ownership move.

During his two-plus-year tenure with Washington, Ron Rivera hasn’t had the best grasp of the team’s quarterback situation. From Alex Smith to Taylor Heinicke to Ryan Fitzpatrick to Carson Wentz, the position has been a carousel of misfortune and ineffectiveness. 

Sources told ESPN for a story published Thursday that the offseason acquisition of Wentz was driven by team owner Dan Snyder and not Rivera. After the Commanders’ ugly 12-7 win over the Bears in Chicago on “Thursday Night Football,” an angry Rivera delivered a speech backing his passer and seeking to set the record straight on who really made the call to bring Wentz in:

Ron Rivera was HEATED postgame on the reports that he didn’t want Carson Wentz but it was owner Dan Snyder’s move😯 pic.twitter.com/Os0uXAM7UO

— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) October 14, 2022

MORE: Alex Smith blasts Ron Rivera for ‘driving a bus’ over Carson Wentz

Rivera’s speech in full: 

I’m going to speak my mind for a second. Honestly, it’s been hard, it really has. You lose four games in a row, and everybody wants to get you — just get on you. And they’ve played their asses off, they have. They play their asses off for everybody, they come out and they show up, they work hard, all right? They don’t complain, OK? They hear all this stuff, they’ve got to deal with it. I get that, I respect them for that, ’cause they’re resilient, they come back.

Everybody keeps wanting to say that I didn’t want anything to do with Carson. Well, bulls—. I’m the f—ing guy that pulled out the sheets of paper, that looked at the analytics, that watched the tape in the freakin’ — when we were in Indianapolis (at the NFL Combine).

Well that’s what pisses me off. The young man doesn’t deserve to have that all the time. I’m sorry. I’m done.

Earlier in the week, quotes by Rivera were taken out of context after he was asked what was the reason for the gap between the Commanders and the rest of the NFC East. Rivera simply said “quarterback.” Wentz would later say the quotes were no big deal. Rivera would later apologize for what he said.

MORE: Commanders vanquish Bears thanks to Robinson’s first NFL TD, defense

The Commanders are now 2-4 and are coming off another ugly offensive performance. Wentz was 12 of 22 passing for just 99 yards in the win at Soldier Field.

If Wentz and the Washington offense continue to sputter, we’ll see if Rivera keeps taking ownership of the decision.