The Washington Football Team’s first season under head coach Ron Rivera came to an end after a loss to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday in the Wild Card Round.
Despite guiding Washington to its first postseason appearance in five seasons, Rivera still has some regrets about how the season turned out, which saw the team top the NFC East with a 7-9 record. Specifically, he wishes there was more competition at quarterback during the summer.
In an interview on 106.7 The Fan, Rivera revealed that he limited the competition at quarterback and ended up starting Dwayne Haskins for the majority of the team’s training camp heading into the season.
“The biggest thing I would have done is I would have created a few more opportunities mixing everybody around,” Rivera said, via NBC Sports Washington. “As opposed to saying ‘OK, I’m going to stick with just the one guy and do that.’ I think now in retrospect, and again, hindsight is 20/20, I would. What I’m saying is I made a mistake and I’m owning up to it and that’s the truth.”
Four weeks into the season, Haskins was benched in favor of Kyle Allen, with Rivera also turning to veteran Alex Smith and Taylor Heinicke over the course of the season due to multiple injuries and Haskins' poor play. With Smith injured, Heinicke put forth a rather impressive performance against the Buccaneers, completing 26 out of 44 passes for 306 yards and one touchdowns with one interception while adding 46 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown on six carries.
It's unclear what Washington's quarterback room will look like for the 2021 season, but with no clear-cut top option as of right now, Rivera will likely look to make sure there's a healthy competition in training camp.
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