Ron Rivera made pretty clear this season that he’s willing to throw guys under the bus.
Jonathan Allen’s priority is simply making sure he’s not one of those guys.
The Washington Commanders have lost four straight since winning their season opener, most recently falling late Sunday to the Tennessee Titans at home. On Monday, Washington’s head coach was asked why the Commanders’ rebuild was moving slower than teams like the Eagles. He left no confusion about where he stood, responding “quarterback.”
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"The truth is that this is a quarterback-driven league," Rivera later added, via ESPN. "And if you look at the teams that have been able to sustain success, they've been able to build it around a specific quarterback."
While Wentz hasn’t been stellar, there are more areas than that sinking the Commanders right now. Further, a head coach making that type of comment isn’t really commonplace, especially if they’re planning to build around Wentz as Rivera claims.
As for how that remark is resonating with the team, Allen was asked about it in his weekly appearance on “The Sports Junkies.”
"I mean, obviously I’m going to stay away from that topic," Allen said. "I don’t know, it’s tough. Listen, we’re here to win football games, and at the end of the day Coach Rivera is going to call it like he sees it. So if that’s what he believes, that’s what he believes. And that just shows the rest of the team that nobody is safe, and that we have to go out there and make sure we do our job to the best of our abilities.
"Which we should already be putting (that) as a priority, which most guys are, not all of them, I just think a little reminder through the media lets them know that this is a production-based league. And so if I’m not doing my job, if I have two years in a row where I get no sacks, I guarantee this fanbase is going to be asking why are we paying me all the money that they are, and I understand that. ...
"I don’t get into the media aspect of things, I don’t get into opinions, because at the end of the day opinions don’t matter. How I feel truly doesn’t matter. I would like to sit here and think 'Oh, I don’t want to do that, I would never –” I’m not a head coach, I’ve never been a head coach, I’ve never been in charge of a group of men and been expected to lead them at the highest level that Coach Rivera has, so I can’t really say what I would do.
"I just know for me, it’s my job to make sure I’m not the one he’s talking about when they ask him these questions."
Rivera has already made other remarks knocking players through the media this season, doing so with Jamin Davis early on.
So, to Allen’s point, all he can really do is make sure he’s not the one Rivera can point to.
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