Commanders News: Jason Wright, practice squad, Logan Thomas and Ron Rivera
By Dean Jones
Commanders HC Ron Rivera's step into the unknown
Now that most roster decisions have been made, attention turns to the Washington Commanders' regular-season opener against the Arizona Cardinals. This is a chance to get the new era off on a positive foot, with a sold-out crowd expected at FedEx Field to bring in Josh Harris ownership group's reign after they ousted Dan Snyder once and for all.
The Commanders are heavily favored in Week 1. Arizona is making the moves generally associated with tanking NBA teams, which could lead them to USC phenom Caleb Williams if everything goes according to plan.
Their decision to release Colt McCoy and not name a starting quarterback between Joshua Dobbs and Clayton Tune was yet another odd move from the Cardinals this week. Something that makes them a relatively unknown quantity in terms of preparations according to head coach Ron Rivera via Pro Football Talk.
"They’re relatively new in terms of what they do offensively, schematically. In [Jonathan Gannon’s] eyes, both quarterbacks have a different skill set, which we see. Because of it you’re going to have to do certain things and say, ‘If this guy’s in ew do this, if this guy’s in we do that.’ So you do have an advantage when you create that kind of mystery. Their offensive coordinator comes from Cleveland, so a lot of the stuff they do you see that Cleveland was doing as well,. Just how they use it and how they use it for each quarterback is a new thing for us, and it was going to be like that anyway, it didn’t matter who the quarterback was going to be, because you’re never really sure until it starts."
- Ron Rivera via Pro Football Talk
Football isn't played on paper, obviously. But it appears as if the Commanders have enough to start their campaign off with a comfortable triumph if everyone performs to the level expected.
It gets a lot tougher after this, so building early momentum is critical.