Ron Rivera Presser: “I told the guys that I should know better. Shit, I had a bad day”

Ron Rivera

Carson Wentz injury:

Yesterday’s presser:

“I do, but you know, at the end of the day, I spoke to my team this morning. I basically told them that I said some things that were misconstrued. I didn’t present it properly, and that’s on me. So I took accountability, told the guys that I should know better. Shit, I had a bad day. I figured, you know, I’m feeling better today, let’s move forward. So, to me, as far as I’m concerned, it’s really now about the most important thing that’s getting ready for football.”

Talking with Carson Wentz:

Roughing the passer penalties:

“I think it’s a little bit of a reaction to the whole concussion thing as well. Obviously, the most important position really, truly is the quarterback. I think we may get a little carried away trying to be careful with those guys because the last thing you wanna see is a great player get knocked out of a game. I think that might have been a little bit of a reaction to it. It’s something we’ve gotta find the balance in between and we gotta be really, really careful with it. I know, and being on the committee, the competition committee, one thing that will probably be a big discussion this off season for us, and just something for us to take a look at, but we have to be careful with it because that’s not a really good look. It really isn’t. But again, we also remember, we do wanna protect the quarterbacks.”

Cross-roads game:

“Oh, very much so. I don’t expect it go downhill though. And we’re gonna focus in on them one at a time. No matter what happens, we’ll come out, we’re gonna play and we gotta get better. It starts with me from the top. I mean, we’ve gotta get better and understand what our responsibility is.”

Scott Turner in the box:

Benjamin St-Juste and Rachad Wildgoose:

“I thought they looked good. I really did. I think Benjamin, every time he has gotten his opportunity to go out and play on the outside, he’s played well. He’s a very physical guy. He’s got tremendous length. He’s got good speed and quickness for a guy with his length, but he’s got length and that I think adds to his abilities. I think Wildgoose is a guy that’s real interesting. He’s got great quickness, he eally does. He’s got a lot to learn. He’s learning a little bit on the run, but he’s done a very nice job. There is some physicality to his game and this game with this team that runs the ball inside, it’s gonna be a little bit of a test for him as well.”

William Jackson:

How he’s handled the coach-centric approach:

“Well, I think it’s an interesting situation when you have to make those decisions. They’re based off of all the information you’ve gathered. I mean, for the most part, all it really just says at the end of the day, from all the information I’ve gotten from everybody that’s doing the work, you know, we just make the decision based off of that.”

Thursday Night Football:

“My thoughts have always really been the same, and my reflection goes back to [Former Carolina Panthers LB] Luke Kuechly. And talking to the doctors, one thing that they were concerned with really was we played in LA it was a very warm day, very hot day. We traveled all the way back and we had a short week. And so there could have been a cumulative effect. One of the things that we’ve tried to do since then is just knowing is that when we get to this day, today’s practice, I don’t know if you guys know, so we didn’t have the helmets out and we didn’t want any collisions or anything like that. So we didn’t have helmets for this practice. But I’ve done that since then. And just really trying to be mindful of that, and get these guys to just kind of relax, calm down, and hopefully come Thursday they’re ready to roll.”

Talent:

“I think going forward, I feel good about what we have. It’s just now a matter of putting it together and we’ve got to do it one game at a time. And we got to focus in on Chicago and going out and playing better. And again, as I said, it starts with me. We got to make sure that we are doing the things that we give these guys the best opportunity to show up on game day and play well.”

Carson Wentz

Ron Rivera’s QB comments:

“So, honestly, I had no idea any of that happened until Sean over here gave me a heads up. But yeah, Coach addressed it, handled it, nothing for me that I’m overly concerned about. Coach is a very straightforward, upfront guy and he addressed it in the team meeting, which I thought was really cool and what he meant by it all. So, I feel very confident in that.”

Difference in teams in the NFC East:

“I wish I had all the answers on that. You know, I think there’s a lot of football left. I think there’s a lot of varying factors across our division, which is obviously a very good division at this point in the season but at the same time, I know there’s a lot of ball left. We talked about it after the game, unfortunately, we kind of dug ourselves a little bit of a hole but we know where we’re at. We know what we’re capable of and we can’t try and fix it all right away. Our job is to try and go on to know this week and we got a short week to do that so, we’re focused on that.”

Thursday Night Football:

“Yeah I mean, I don’t wanna go in depth about Thursday night football and this, that and the other. I will say it is physically by far the hardest week of the season. I mean, it is not even close in my opinion. You wake up Monday morning, you’re like, Holy crap, I gotta play in three days, you know, and it’s hard. It’s hard on our bodies. It’s hard on those things and anytime it’s a head injury especially, that’s very concerning. This is our job. This is what we do, and we find a way to get out there Thursday night and hopefully deliver.”

Learned different things about Thursday Night Football over his career?:

“That’s a good question. I think I learned very early on you gotta just find a way to get out there Thursday. Your recovery is definitely expedited. I mean, everything is but for me, my recovery Monday and Tuesday is often the same anyway. So, it’s just kind of a little more expedited on this week. It’s very tough, very challenging, but it’s also prime time and guys get fired up to go play and hopefully put on a put on a good performance.”

Shoulder injury:

Offensive progress:

“Yeah, it is a small window, you’re right. I feel very confident in the chemistry and the relationships that have been built and the bond that we have on the field. I think we’ve shown and proven some really good things. I feel very good and confident in on that front. I think for us it’s just about consistency. For me, it’s about consistency for all of us and just being able to not just deliver big plays, but how are we in the rest of the game? How are we sustaining drives? I know discipline keeps coming up and communication and some errors that put us back to second and extra long and third and long, and those things that can definitely kill drives. Those are things that I can do better. I can clean up and I know we all will. So, I think I feel good about where we’re at. We just gotta be consistent and hopefully deliver for four quarters, not just a couple.”

Keeping everyone on the same page:

Third down struggles:

“So it definitely makes it harder and we just talked about third down today, so still working through that. It’s hard to put your finger on one thing as to why there was a struggle against Tennessee. They did some really good things. They made some good plays. We didn’t help ourselves out being in some third and longs in some situations that were tough. Missed some throws, some different things that I gotta do better as well. So I don’t think it’s one like, oh, we gotta throw it all out and draw it all back up from scratch. I think it’s just gonna come down to execution and in those man-to-man moments, we gotta win. I gotta be accurate and we gotta make some plays in those moments.”

Scott Turner in the booth:

Relationship with Scott Turner:

No excuses:

Is anything he would have done differently on that last play on Sunday?:

“I don’t think anything major. I know there’s a couple here and there. Was it worth it or this, that and the other. I thought coaches did a good job with clock management, deciding when we were using timeouts, those types of things. I know we had the one on the sideline that was kind of some confusion with whether the clock was winding still or not. Obviously just wish I could have delivered a little bit differently at the end of the game there. On those three plays at the two-yard line, those are the only ones that kind of haunt me a little bit, but it’s time to move on.”

Amount of control he has at the line:

“Yeah, it’s definitely a balance and it’s a conversation every week. We talk through the looks and what we’re expecting and all of those things and I feel like I have a really good relationship with Coach Turner on that front. Every week’s different. Some weeks there’s gonna be a couple here and there. Some weeks there’s not gonna be many. Some weeks there’s gonna be more. It’s fun kind of working together through that stuff.”

Offensive line:

“I feel super confident in those guys. They’ve done a great job, not just physically, but mentally being locked in, ready to go, knowing the calls, all of those things. I do know it can be tough when you’re playing next to somebody and they go out and then you’re trying to work together and bullets are happening fast, bullets are flying and I know it’s tough on those guys, but at the same time for me and really everybody else on the offense, we have a ton of confidence. As they go, we go and we have a ton of confidence in their ability to protect but also to move the line of scrimmage and change the line of scrimmage in the run game. I think we’re gonna keep getting better in that area.”

Making the big play versus the safer play:

“Absolutely. It’s always something that I’m working through, that we’re working through, that we’re talking through offensively with coaches and everything. There’s a time to hang on it because we trust that our guys gonna get on top or our guy’s gonna win down the field. Then there’s times, okay, well they’re bringing this pressure, it’s gonna be hard for us to hold up because X, Y, and Z, so find the underneath, you know, you talk through those things but at the same time, in the heat of the moment, you gotta make a decision. You gotta rely on your instincts to make the best decision and I’m gonna make the right one, I’m gonna make the wrong one and you know, I’m gonna miss some and I’m gonna hit some. So, for me it’s how do I keep getting better? How do I learn? How do I go onto the next one and uh, regardless of what happened, flush it and move on.”

Players reaction to Ron Rivera’s comments:

Players reactions to roughing the passer penalties:

Terry McLaurin

Rivera’s QB comments:

Brian Robinson

First game:

Recovering from gunshots:

Jonathan Allen

Do or die:

Practice Updates

Chase Young

Logan Thomas

Side field

David Mayo

J.D. McKissic

Carson Wentz

William Jackson