Ron Rivera met with the media on Monday, one day after another embarrassing Washington loss. As expected, one of the hot topics facing Rivera was the performance of Washington’s defense.
Rivera was questioned early in his presser about any potential changes, such as staff changes, personnel, or him taking a more active role in the defense. Rivera shot down any notion of change.
“That’s stuff that makes no sense to me right now because if you really go back and look at it, this was a matter of four or five plays on both sides of the ball,” Rivera said, per Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post.
Reporters pressed Rivera, who appeared to become a bit agitated at the repeated questions regarding changes.
Ron Rivera was just asked by @Matthew_Paras about his role as the head coach in fixing the defense. How hands-on do you get essentially?
"Boy, you guys really want to go there, don't you?" He went on to say, "I don't see the issues the way you guys do." #WashingtonFootball
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) October 11, 2021
Rivera said he thought the defense was much better against the Saints, citing examples of different plays. On New Orleans’ first score, Jameis Winston’s 72-yard touchdown pass to Deonte Harris in which it appeared safety Landon Collins blew the coverage, Rivera described that play Sunday.
“We let a guy get behind us,” Rivera said postgame. “Can’t do that.”
Rivera was as animated as we’ve seen him since being named head coach in 2020. Last season, there were no expectations. Now, everyone expects this team to be better — including Rivera himself — but the defense is instead one of the worst in the NFL.
As for taking a more hands-on approach with the defensive play-calling, that’s not happening either.
“I’m not going that way. Just understand that,” Rivera said. “I like what we did. I thought what we did last week gave us an opportunity.”