Entering his first season in Washington, head coach Ron Rivera turned the offense over to a youthful, inexperienced second-year quarterback. It didn’t work out. In year two, Rivera is entrusting 38-year-old Ryan Fitzpatrick, a veteran of 14 NFL teams, and hoping for a different result.
How does Rivera feel about starting the 17-year veteran quarterback this Sunday in Week 1?
“We feel very good about Ryan, we really do,” Rivera said during his weekly appearance on The Team 980’s The Kevin Sheehan Show. “We feel Ryan’s the guy who can really truly help us, help us get into the direction we wanna head in and hopefully get us to the playoffs.”
However, the memories of last season, when Washington used four different starting quarterbacks, still linger in Rivera’s mind.
“We feel confident in Taylor [Heinicke],” he said. “We like who Taylor is and we think he’s the right kind of guy to be ready just in case. So we feel good about that going into this regular season.”
And part of Rivera’s confidence is based on the offensive talent around the QB.
“The thing I will say I like is who we are as a football team,” Rivera added. “I like the skill position we have: I like the backs, I like the tight ends, I like the receivers. I think this is maybe one of the best groups of skill players we’ve had here, obviously, for the last two seasons.
“So I think we have the opportunity, we have the chance, and the thing you want Ryan to always remember is he doesn’t have to make every play. He’s got a good group of guys around him, he’s just gotta get the ball to ‘em.”
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Heading into the season, there’s no surprise what unit Rivera feels most confident about.
“I like the play of our defensive front,” Rivera told Sheehan. “I think our defensive front should be pretty stout, should be able to create some opportunities for us as a football team to be successful.”
Rivera then added, “I like our offensive lineman. I like how that group is kinda coming together, I really do. I think it’s got a group of very good football players on it that can really come together and be a really good unit.”
After talking about the strengths, Sheehan asked Rivera about Washington’s weaknesses: What’s keeping the head coach up at night heading into a 17-game NFL season?
“Where we are maturity-wise,” Rivera said for not the first time this offseason. “We’ve got a heavy amount of young players and last year was the first time they had ever really experienced success and what I’m concerned about is how do they come back and approach this season?
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“I like what we got during OTAs and minicamp, the attendance we got, the commitment we got that period was outstanding. Now we come into training camp, I thought we had a good camp. I thought we were very fortunate [with] limited injuries,” Rivera said on The Team 980. “So I think going forward, are we mature enough to have handled the success we had last year going into this year? Do we realize we’ve gotta start from the base fundamentals? Work down here and work our way up to where we were last year and then go forward and grow.
“That’s my big question. Like I said earlier when we talked about this, Kevin, that’s my trepidation, my concern as to where we are as a football team.”
But what are the keys to Washington starting 1-0 with a win over the Los Angeles Chargers?
“Well, I think more so than anything else, as a defense we’ve gotta be able to play physical upfront and set the tone and tempo, we can get them into a one-dimensional game, we gotta be able to get after the quarterback and affect the quarterback,” Rivera told Sheehan. “Offensively, we’ve gotta protect the ball, we gotta move the ball well and be consistent with that. And when we get in the red zone we gotta score touchdowns. It’s that simple. Special teams, we gotta win the field position battle.”
Hopefully for Washington fans, it is just that simple all year long.
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