The old cliché goes that you should leave something better than you found out…but as we get to what’s surely the end of the Ron Rivera era in DC, can we say Ron did so with the Commanders in ANY way?
“I kind of think it’s the Spider-Man meme, and I’m not convinced there’s better talent,” JP Finlay said during Wednesday’s show.
“I can't honestly say yes; I think it's close, and, I mean, we can say like, people are gonna tell us about the talent level, but is the production any better?” Brian Mitchell replied. “Because if you have better talent and you're still not winning games, that means what?”
JP played a clip from Rivera’s presser Tuesday where he said he thinks the franchise is in a better place, but is it because of Ron?
“I agree with him, but I think a lot of that is driven by an ownership change,” JP said. “That’s kind of beyond his control, and if you just want to look at the numbers, they started 0-5 in 2019 and fired Jay Gruden, and finished 3-13 with a minus-169 point differential – but this year they’re 4-12, and minus-161 in point differential.”
JP went through all the numbers, and the Commanders are again (still?) at the bottom of the barrel in most categories – so, in a grading analogy, even if there is SOME improvement, is a D that much better than a D-minus?
“When I ask the question, four years and four first-rounders…one is gone, and the other three did not play like we thought they would, right?” BMitch asked, to which JP said he doesn’t see Jamin Davis here next year, let alone getting his fifth-year option picked up. “So one is off the team, one hasn’t lived up to the hype. Three on defense, and where were they ranked then versus now? You could say I think we’re in a better position, but the numbers don’t follow that.”
Two-thirds of Rivera’s draft picks have been on defense, and, yeah, here we are…
“In four years with Ron, they went from fourth to 25th to seventh to dead last in points allowed, and second to 22nd to third to 32nd in yards allowed,” JP said. “Defensively, who you play matters so much, and when they play tougher opponents, they’ve gotten drilled.”
Add in Jahan Dotson’s inconsistency, and it’s a first-round full of failure, and six other rounds that have produced more famine than feast.
