Washington Football Team: Don’t flee on the rebuild yet

The Washington Football Team is 2-4. They are two games below .500, sputtering and seem to be a team in the danger zone. They are an underperforming team, with no clear direction at QB. In the endless abyss of football purgatory.

The schedule is daunting and there is no savior to come save the day. Washington is either sinking or swimming with this roster. And that has fans re-questioning if the “In Ron We Trust” mantra should continue.

While that is a reasonable qualm to have, watching a team regress from Year 1 to Year 2 as much as they have is disheartening. However, fans, and media too, shouldn’t flee just yet. And here is why.

Here’s why Washington Football Team fans shouldn’t lose hope in head coach Ron Rivera.

There is one main reason why fans should not give up on Ron Rivera: The quarterback position has been a revolving door for the Washington Football Team since he began his tenure in Ashburn. He has gone through five different quarterbacks in 23 games.

That is a little less than one quarterback for every five games he has coached. Sure, he is somewhat responsible for this. He could have taken Justin Herbert and passed on Chase Young. But frankly, that was not a viable option at the time. Passing on Chase Young was, and in some ways still is, blasphemous.

He tried to get Matthew Stafford, but Washington got outbid. He could have traded up for a quarterback in the top-heavy 2021 quarterback class but decided the price was too steep. Rivera holds a share of the blame for the revolving door at quarterback.

But he cannot help being dealt the Dwayne Haskins reclamation project from team owner Dan Snyder. Kyle Allen breaking his ankle forced him to play a gimpy Alex Smith, just as Kyle Allen looked to be competent. He cannot control Ryan Fitzpatrick’s hip dislocating, effectively ending any hope for that band-aid option.

Simply put, Ron Rivera has not had any stability at the most important position in the sport, or frankly any sport for that matter. He needs a chance to bring in his guy. He did a decent job in finding backup options in Kyle Allen and Taylor Heinicke, one would hope the luck would stay true in finding the franchise option.

Before fans prematurely jump off the Rivera ship, they should allow the veteran head coach and his front office staff to get their guy at QB. Whether that is a draft pick, a free agent signing or acquiring a star QB in a blockbuster trade, Rivera deserves the time to find his guy.

In the seasons in Carolina where Rivera had a full 16 games of a healthy Cam Newton, his teams went 51-29, including a year where Carolina went 15-1 en route to playing in Super Bowl 50.

The results show that Rivera’s team performs very well with a franchise QB. As most franchises do. Many of the current problems can be overshadowed with a quarterback the coaching staff trusts. Rivera deserves the chance to find that signal-caller.

That more than anything else can right the sputtering Washington franchise on the gridiron. Including an ownership change, but that goes without saying.