As we are coming to the end of the fourth (and likely final) year of Ron Rivera's tenure as the head coach in Washington, many Commanders fans have become fluent speakers of what Kevin Sheehan calls "Ron-ese."
It is that language that Rivera speaks that can sometimes be a bit of a word salad, but sometimes revals a huge kernel of truth that perhaps the head coach may not have wanted out there, but he couldn't stop himself from saying aloud.
In Monday's press conference, Rivera delievered a big nugget of truth when the Washinton Post's Nicki Jhabvala asked him a hypothetical question about who be Washington's starting quarterback Sunday against the New York Jets if the Commanders were still mathmatically alive in the playoff hunt?
"Well, if this was about playoffs and, we're right in the middle of it, and stuff like that then that's something we most certainly have to consider," Rivera said on Monday. "Do we still have that opportunity to continue to win? And that's one of those things that you always consider because, again, you always wanna make sure everyone's getting the opportunity to be successful."
Sheehan said that this was a situation in which you can tell that Rivera is telling the truth – that the veteran Brissett would be the starter over the second-year passer Howell – because the head coach is answering a question that he should simply not answer or deflect.
Jhabvala told Sheehan she was "totally surprised" Rivera answered thinking he would either refuse to answer a hypothetical or simply state, "'No, Sam's our guy,' which he's been saying throughout [the season]."
"I thought it was very significant that he did not say that Sam is still clearly our guy and would have been our guy in that scenario," Jhabvala said. "I thought the whole press conference was significant, frankly. He doesn't give the straight-forward answers that's never been who he's been. So you kinda have to read between the lines and figure out what he didn't say along with what he didn't say.
"And after the game, he said they pulled Sam to protect him. That was not indicated in his Monday presser it was all about performance."
Why does Jhabvala think Rivera pulled Howell with 9:05 to play in the fourth quarter and the Commanders down 28-7? "Performance," she said. "I don't think they wanted to say it postgame... I think it's smart to be cognizant of 'you don't wanna wreck the kid's confidence in saying certain things publicly,' but you did just pull him. You did just bench him publicly."
Sheehan and Jhabvala agree that the the benching on Sunday was also about issues piling up and it was not just about his performance against the Rams.
Listen to the full conversation on the audio player above about Howell's development, the context of Rivera's comments and how the last three games of the season will play out for Washington!
