Philadelphia Eagles: Ron Rivera could be a problem in Washington
After a half-decade of mediocrity in our nation’s capital, Ron Rivera and the Washington Redskins could be a problem for the Philadelphia Eagles moving forward.
For better or worse, the Washington Redskins were remarkably consistent over Jay Gruden‘s tenure in our nation’s capital – consistently not very good.
Outside of a weird 2015 campaign where the club doubled their win total from the season before (plus one), Washington’s record has been on a downward trajectory for half a decade now. Sure, they were still a tough out thanks to fierce D and a throwback run-first offense built around power rushers like Derrius Guice, Samaje Perine, and the OG I-Formation powerhouse Adrian Peterson.
And yet, Gruden was fired after only five games in 2019, granting Jon’s brother with the dubious honor of joining Carolina Panthers‘ interim head coach Perry Fewell as the only coach in the NFL to finish out 2019 without a win.
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For Philadelphia Eagles fans, this consistent less-than-mediocrity down I-95 has been oddly comforting, as the NFC East has effectively been a two-team race for the entire Doug Pederson-era, but that may have changed once and for all on a day synonymous with firing underperforming head coaches.
One day after the Eagles locked up their third straight trip to the postseason, Daniel Snyder and the Washington organization announced sweeping changes to both their front office and coaching staff: Firing long-time GM Bruce Allen and announcing ex-Panther head coach (and Eagles assistant) Ron Rivera as the team’s 30th head coach.
Fittingly enough, a loss to the Redskins was the final straw that cost Rivera his job and led to Fewell’s win-less interim tenure in South Carolina.
Freaky.
Now to be fair, Rivera has suffered a bit of a tumble of his own since the 2017 season, and really since making it to the Super Bowl in 2015, but no one is going to call Riverboat Ron a pedestrian coach. I mean his nickname is Riverboat Ron for crying out loud, Rivera was Pederson before Pederson was Pederson.
With a bevy of intriguing options on the defensive side of the ball like Temple-product Matt Ioannidis, Jonathan Allen, and Montez Sweat and the ability to draft Chase Young at the top of the 2020 NFL Draft – that is, if they don’t opt to take a second crack at quarterback – Rivera could have the most potent defensive rushing attack of his career to go with a fresh start, less cut-throat division, and a brand new chip on his shoulder.
Buckle up Philadelphia Eagles fans; this could get ugly.
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Ultimately, Ron Rivera isn’t going to make the Washington Redskins into a Super Bowl contender on his own – especially with a soon-to-be second-year quarterback who needs a ton of help to acclimate to the NFL-level – but hiring him over virtually every other option on the market (unfortunately) points the arrow in the right direction.