Washington coach Ron Rivera wants quarterback Dwayne Haskins to succeed. To give the team a long-term quarterback it has rarely seen over the post-Super Bowl generation. To spend next year’s first-round pick on a left tackle, tight end, safety or cornerback.
But it's not really Rivera's decision. It's Haskins' poor decisions that may cause more turnover. As much as Rivera wants to let Haskins prove he's the starter, any more four-turnover games that caused the Cleveland loss on Sunday are sure to force a change.
While giving Haskins plenty of slack, Rivera told reporters via Zoom on Monday that it's not an endless support line. After all, in a terrible NFC East where 8-8 might win the title, Rivera won't let a series of bad games by Haskins doom the team's division chances.
“There are guys in that locker room that are playing to win,” he said. “Again, we have to make sure that everybody is playing well enough to win at that point. There is a cutoff point for me [on Haskins], there is.”
Let the drama begin.
There has rarely been peace in Washington's offensive huddle since Mark Rypien's 1993 finish. Indeed, 28 passers have started in 28 years and Kyle Allen is looking like No. 29 if Haskins doesn't stop making mechanical and rookie errors that led to 24 Browns points.
Maybe Kirk Cousins was the epitome of peace given three-plus seasons of starting, but it was far from it with Robert Griffin III backers on one side and president Bruce Allen on the other, forcing the passer to flee to Minnesota as a free agent. The rest of the quarterbacks since Rypien at best gained two or three years before being benched.
Rivera pledged to give Haskins a chance, but that means little in the NFL. Marty Schottenheimer declared Jeff George his starter and then released him after an 0-2 start in 2001. Not benched, but outright booted from Ashburn.
Rivera has long talked of needing a year to get the offense clicking, a pretty candid statement from any coach. That he didn't use any of his three timeouts in the waning minutes of a two-score game at Cleveland essentially said Rivera had no confidence in the offense.
But Allen and still-recovering Alex Smith aren't really Plan B and C if Rivera is pledging this season to rebuilding. Neither is a long-term option, so Rivera is trying to find signs of Haskins being so.
“[Haskins is] still growing,” Rivera said. “Again, we've seen it. And again, the thing that we want to make sure we're seeing is positive growth. We don't want to see regression or him taking steps back. We want to see him continue to go forward. He has moments where he did things the way we want him to [versus Cleveland.] He did some positive things and put us in some good positions. But, we also took a couple steps back with the interceptions and understanding how we've got to protect the ball, where he needs to throw the ball.”
Drama never leaves Washington alone for long. Apparently, it was only for three games this time.
Rick Snider has covered Washington sports since 1978. Follow him on Twitter: @Snide_Remarks
