After the Washington Commanders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football, head coach Ron Rivera met with the media. Rivera knew there would be questions about the quarterback position after backup Taylor Heinicke led the Commanders to their third win in four starts.
With Carson Wentz eligible to return this week, Rivera kept his answer short about the quarterback position.
“I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow,” Rivera said. “We’ll talk about that then.”
During his typical media session on the day after the game, the first question Rivera received was about quarterback.
Well, we’re gonna see what happens this week,” Rivera said Tuesday. “We have not had an opportunity to, I have not an opportunity to sit down with [Head Athletic Trainer] Al [Bellamy], go through what the doctors have decided, what they’ve decided [on Wentz]. But the first thing I’m gonna tell everybody is just don’t get ahead of ourselves. Because remember, we gotta return to practice first and see where he is if he is cleared and ready to go. So we’ll go from there. I’ll be honest with you guys. When I do decide this, and this is done, you guys are gonna be the last ones to know. I gotta inform people. I’ve gotta talk, sit down, and talk to [Offensive Coordinator] Scott [Turner] and Kenny [Quarterbacks Coach Ken Zampese]. I gotta talk to the quarterbacks and then I’ve got to talk to my football team. For the most part, you guys will be the last ones to get notified.”
Rivera was clearly ready for that question and hoped to turn the page with his answer.
Wentz returning on a short week against Houston never seemed realistic. Perhaps he is cleared this week, but with an abbreviated week, a potential return ahead of Week 12 makes more sense.
Rivera is handling the situation correctly. He sees that his team responds to Heinicke. If Wentz had come out in those first six games and shown everyone he’d recaptured his form from several years ago, it would be a moot point. He didn’t. Wentz struggled, and the offense was barely functional in a Week 6 win over the Chicago Bears.
Even if he doesn’t say it, there’s no way he can turn back to Wentz right now. Sure, Rivera would like to see a little more from Wentz considering the compensation given up to acquire him, but sometimes things just don’t work.
Rivera was also asked what went into selecting the quarterback.
“Yeah, I mean, you have to look at the momentum,” Rivera said. “You have to look at what the mood of the team is. Obviously, there’s a lot of factors that go into it. A lot of things that I’ll have to discuss with Scott and Kenny for that matter, which we’ll be doing a little bit later. And then, like I said, I still haven’t sat down with Al and gotten the full report and what to anticipate as far as Wednesday, Thursday, Friday going forward if everything’s clear.”
If you take Rivera at his word in that first sentence, he’s picking Heinicke.
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