As the year of 2019 came to a close, with no head coach at the helm and a team president being shown the door, it became clear that the Washington Redskins were in dire need of some leadership, manifesting itself through a strong voice in the locker room.
That appears to be exactly what they got in Ron Rivera, who they hired to become their new head coach. Coming from a military background, and having some successful stretches with the Carolina Panthers, Rivera was always touted as a player’s coach, and many believed that he was the right man to come to the Redskins and try to change the losing culture that had been set during the preview regime’s tenure. Now, after having spent a few months on the job, people in Washington are starting to take real notice of the change that Rivera has brought with him.
“It’s the man that’s leading. You lead by example,” Adrian Peterson said, via NBC Sports Washington. “You know what to expect. When a person talks, you can sense what they’re about. So, just strictly off that, we have a good understanding that…it’s going to be a change, it’s going to be different.”
Earlier this month, Rivera was able to hold his first official meeting with the team, which was held via a video conference. Many of the players and coaching staff reportedly walked away from that meeting with a great feeling of confidence, knowing that a new day was being born in Washington.
“It was very, very good. Very stern,” Landon Collins said. “[He was] putting his philosophy in place and setting the tone to let everybody know what to look forward to and what kind of mindset to come in with this team.”
We may not know how quickly the culture change will result in wins on the field, but we can feel confident that Rivera is winning over the locker room already, and that’s the first step towards building a winning team. It may not happen in 2020, but there’s a growing belief that Washington will return to prominence some time in the near future, and Riverboat Ron is a big part of the reason.
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