After nine seasons with the Carolina Panthers, Ron Rivera has been given another chance to coach in the NFL with the Washington Football Team.
He knows that a difficult challenge lies ahead, especially since he’s been handed the reins to a team that has just two playoff appearances in the past decade and is coming off a 3-13 season. The team enters the season without the burden of expectations in his first season in charge, especially since most of their moves during the offseason have not made waves.
So how is success measured in a team in the midst of a rebuild? What does a coach want to see from his players in what could be a trying season? For Rivera, aside from piling up the wins, seeing his players give their full effort whenever they step on the field would be a start, according to a report by NBC 4 Washington.
“First, it’s got to be good quality football. Then it’s got to be about winning. That’s what I want to see. I want to see us winning football games, but first and foremost we’ve got to see good football. That’s the thing that we have to do. As I look at the guys that we have, I think we have a lot of good players. Now it’s a matter of getting the right group on the field and having them go out and play the right way. Then the winning will take care of itself.”
Rivera, who had four division titles and an appearance in Super Bowl 50 during his nine seasons with the Panthers, understands that the rebuild in Washington will take time, even if he has talented players like defensive end Chase Young, whom the team selected with the second overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Ahead of Washington’s opening game against NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, the 58-year-old coach said that a battle against the Eagles, a team that has beaten them six consecutive times, would be a good test to see how Washington compares to other teams, and an indication of how far along they are in the process of their rebuild.
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