Washington Football Team: Studs and duds in Week 3 loss vs. Browns
By Ian Cummings
Dud No. 2 – HC Ron Rivera
Your starting quarterback and head coach are not guys you want to see on your “duds” list, but unfortunately, that’s where both Dwayne Haskins and Ron Rivera find themselves after Week 3.
In fairness to Rivera, he did partially fix one issue, and that was the flat starts that Washington made all too familiar in Weeks 1 and 2. Rivera’s squad scored first, and they also responded well to adversity at halftime, scoring 13 unanswered points in the third quarter. Rivera even called a gutsy red zone fourth-down conversion, which ultimately led to a touchdown.
But when Washington went down 34-20 in the fourth quarter and got the ball back with the game winding down, Rivera’s tendency was suddenly not to be aggressive, but to simply run out the clock. He didn’t take shots, he didn’t use timeouts, and he didn’t show the resilience that he’s preached to this team for months now.
Rivera’s reasoning in his press conference was that he wanted to limit further injury — a somewhat sound case after losing Matt Ioannidis and Chase Young in the first half — and that he was focused on developing his football team. But one has to wonder how it feels to the team when the coach seemingly gives up late in the fourth each week.
This is the same coach who chastised his players in training camp for ending practices with less vigor than expected. He’s on the record going into his squad for failing to give full effort in a practice, reasoning that he can’t expect the team to give their all through four quarters if they can’t do the same through an entire practice. But they can’t do it if Rivera chooses not to enable them to.
Yes, Washington’s players were probably defeated all across the roster, and yes, it was unlikely that a late rally would get them close to victory. But those late situations provide teams with an opportunity to try and put quality reps on the field and show resilience, as well as practice vital two-minute drill situations. Rivera bypassed both options, in favor of a quick exit to the tunnel.
Rivera’s hyper-conservative end-of-half approach will cost him a winnable game at some point, and may even cost him the cultural progress he seeks. It’s just a matter of when.