After Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions, Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera was critical of his entire team, from himself down to the players. The Commanders trailed 22-0 at halftime before mounting a late rally and falling short, 36-27.
Behind quarterback Carson Wentz, the Commanders scored four second-half touchdowns and, if not for some defensive lapses, had a real shot at pulling off the comeback win.
Those defensive lapses upset Rivera most, as he told the media that the Commanders allowed far too many “explosive plays.”
“Well, probably a little bit of the biggest problem more so than anything else was just too many explosive plays,” Rivera said.
Why do the Commanders allow too many explosive plays?
“No, just because it’s an individual, you know what I’m saying,” Rivera answered. “It’s not a group. It’s not schematics. It is failure to put ourselves in position to force things to happen.”
Rivera was implying on each play, you have 10 players doing things right, but it’s the one player who misses his assignment that leads to the big play. He didn’t single out one player, as it’s been different players at different times.
On Wednesday, Rivera kept it simple when discussing his defense.
“I think as we go through this, it’s one of those things where, because of some of the younger guys, we have to stop waiting for other people to make plays,” Rivera said.
“Some of us try too hard and put ourselves out of position. Other ones are kind of a little; we gotta cut loose if it happens. But there’s a great little saying that says the play doesn’t care who makes it. So, if you’re where you’re supposed to be doing the things you’re supposed to, the play will come to you. And that’s one of the things that we gotta get across to our young men that, ‘Hey, just do your job, do your job as best as you can, and a lot of good things will take care of itself.'”
Good advice. Can Washington’s defensive players rise to the challenge?
