The sign of a good coach, and a good man in general, is when he can admit his mistakes. For Washington coach Ron Rivera, there were very few mistakes that took place over the 2020 season, seeing as his team far exceeded expectations and made its first trip to the playoffs since 2015, but according to the coach, there are still some things that he would change if given the chance.
One of the biggest things resides at the quarterback position. While the future seems bright in D.C., with a strong defense and a number of young pieces that can turn into real stars in the NFL, Washington still has a vacant hole at the QB spot, and they enter another offseason on the search for a franchise guy.
On a Monday interview with 106.7 The Fan, Rivera admitted that he could have handled the QB situation better, and it would have been more beneficial to widen the QB competition in training camp this past 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. To put it as simple as that, that’s what I’m saying. I’m just being honest.”
Rivera entered the preseason saying that they would watch players like Dwayne Haskins, Kyle Allen, and Alex Smith compete for the starting job, but it was quickly known that Haskins would be the guy, and he got the starting reps from there on out, eventually becoming the QB1 until being benched a few weeks later.
Would things have been much different in Washington had someone else gotten more of a chance early on? Possibly. We didn’t get to see Allen really get going because of his injury, but there’s a chance that he could have found some success early in the season. And who knows what would have happened if Smith had taken the field early in the season either.
It was a successful season no matter which way you look at it, but there are always questions about what could have been. For Rivera, those questions will stay at the QB spot until someone new is found.
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