Ron Rivera told the media Wednesday, “Now we are going to do things we feel really good about.”
Rivera has been the head coach here for four seasons. He allowed things to be done that he didn’t feel really good about?
“We had a chance to visit with the players, went through some things…What went into my decision-making and just basically the biggest thing I told them was it was on us. Now, we’re going to do the things that we feel really good about. We want to make sure the things that we’re doing give you guys the best opportunity to be successful.”
Rivera is obviously having to spend more time concentrating on the defense. “So just being focused with the defensive guys, it’s been great too because we’ve kind of given different responsibilities to the defensive coaches. I think they’ve handled those things very well.”
In these final five games, Rivera will have the extra duty of calling plays and communicating via the headset as Del Rio did and directly with the unit on the sidelines.
“We’ll get used to it…One of the things that we will do is we’ll communicate, and we’ll talk, and we will always give ourselves the opportunity to get together and discuss as we get into each series.”
Having more voices in his headset for now doesn’t seem to bother Rivera. “It won’t be that much different. It really won’t. I think the biggest thing, more than anything else, is just the communication that I’ll have. I’ll have a few more things to say between plays.”
Though they have lost five of their last six, Rivera believes his team will compete down the stretch. “We’re still playing for something, so we might as well go out and play them one at a time and play them the best we can. And that’s what we plan to do. We’ll show up, we’ll play hard, and we’ll give great effort.”
Sunday will be a real test for the defense, attempting to slow down the Dolphins, who run and pass well. “The way we’re going to look at it obviously is this is a very diverse offense, very well-coached. They play fast. They’ve got good skilled players and we’ve got to be able to handle certain things that they do and play it to the best of our ability.”
Rivera was asked what he learned from the players in improving the defense.
“In talking with them, it was, I think more about just getting the opportunity to play fast. We did some really good things. We did some complicated things. I think taking some of those things off of their plate would make it easier for them to play fast.”
Rivera wanted his defensive unit to have the opportunity to communicate about the coaching changes. “I think giving them the opportunity to have the voice was something they wanted. So, I listened and talked with several of them.”
Rivera believes the defensive personnel is going to respond positively.
“This will be an interesting challenge. I like the challenge. I think it’s going to be fun. I like the way, again, like I said, I like the way the guys responded today.”