Commanders coach Ron Rivera was hopeful that Washington would be able to make some progress in his third season as the franchise’s head coach.
Instead, he now finds his team lagging behind in the resurgent NFC East.
Rivera was asked about why the Commanders (1-4) were lagging behind the Eagles (5-0), Giants (4-1) and Cowboys (4-1) in the divisional race this season at a news conference on Monday. He didn’t mince words about the biggest difference between his team and those of his divisional foes.
“Quarterback,” Rivera said.
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Naturally, that brought up questions from the reporters on hand. Most notably, was Rivera taking a dig at Carson Wentz’s performance in 2022?
Rivera further explained what he meant by his comment. He specified that it was not only about getting a talented quarterback, but building a team around them that is tailored to that quarterback’s success.
“The truth is that this is a quarterback-driven league,” he said. “And if you look at the teams that have been able to sustain success, they’ve been able to build it around a specific quarterback.”
Washington hasn’t yet been able to do that through five games of the Wentz era, but the position has generally been a problem during Rivera’s tenure. He has started seven different quarterbacks in his two-plus years with the team, but the Commanders were hoping Wentz could be the answer.
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They are still holding out that hope. Rivera clarified that he had “no regrets” about the team’s offseason trade for Wentz, and that he has actually been impressed with his play at times.
“I think our quarterback has done some good things,” Rivera said. “There’s been a couple of games that he’s struggled, but you look at his numbers from yesterday, and he was OK. You look at his numbers he’s had throughout the year. There was a time he was very solid.”
Rivera went on to acknowledge that Wentz has struggled at times too, most notably against Dallas and Philadelphia. Still, he believes that Wentz’s ceiling is high, and he pointed to Sunday’s game against the Titans as evidence of that.
“The way he performed yesterday, it just shows you what he’s capable of,” Rivera said.
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It’s worth noting that Rivera didn’t fault Wentz for his interception on the goal line that effectively ended the game. He actually thought that his quarterback made the right read and the Tennessee defender just made a good play.
Either way, it doesn’t seem like Rivera’s quarterback comment was a dig at Wentz. The 60-year-old seems more than willing to roll with him moving forward while trying to get the pieces needed around him to find success.
“We chose him because we believe in him,” Rivera said of Wentz. “We chose him because we looked at what we felt were things that pointed towards him.”
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