A huge part of being a coach involves balancing duties for the team inside and outside the court. Great mentors often have amazing relationships with their NFL players outside of the gridiron. This allows for them to develop a different type of chemistry that other teams may not have. It leads to better team outcomes and even great NFL playoff success. Coach Ron Rivera and the Washington Commanders may be doing just that.

The Commanders have gotten quite close to making an NFL playoff run in the past years. Although, they still have not cracked the winning formula to get back into their winning ways. A lot of the pressure now falls on the coaching staff given that they have got the culture and the players but not the wins to account for their success. Ron Rivera posits that the team has been too close for them to not feel any pressure, per David Aldridge of The Athletic.

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Off-field drama constitutes some players and staff being distracted. This is not new for Washington or just any NFL franchise because they have been dealing with it for years. A lot of this has been swept under the rug by Coach Rivera. He now plans to focus on dealing with their game plan as the NFL season nears. Furthermore, a huge step towards that goal is being more defensive-minded. This means more collaborations with defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. He will only sparingly meet with Eric Bienemy so as to not tamper with their offensive plans too much.

A lot is riding on this new season as fan intensity and support have been different since the team's sale. Will Coach Ron Rivera and the Washington Commanders deliver?