Ron Rivera Presser: I think Carson Wentz could have played better. That’s the truth

Ron Rivera stepped in front of the mic after another disappointing game. Washington didn’t score until the 4th quarter today, and he said Carson Wentz needs to play better. He used one of his favorite lines about missed opportunities, and said there was a lack of complementary football between the offense and the defense. He didn’t think about changing QBs during the game even thought Washington had -16 yards passing in the 1st half.

Rivera finally showed some emotion when he was asked about the report that came out this morning about Adam Schefter’s report that came out this morning saying Washington had the parameters of a trade in place with the San Francisco 49ers about a trade for QB Jimmy Garoppolo. He was angry at the timing of the report as the QB they did trade for, Carson Wentz, was about to play his first game against his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Ron Rivera

Missed opportunities:

“Well, I just think we got to get better. We missed some opportunities to give him more the time when he had some guys open, but we didn’t have time and that’s unfortunate, but also again, so I’ll tell you guys, we look at it, we’ll see whether or not we gave them the opportunity to succeed with what we’re calling.”

Lack of complementary football:

“I thought we reacted pretty well. We handled it pretty well to a point in the second quarter. And you know, there’s a little bit of lacking complementary football when one side playing well, the other side’s got to step up well too. And it goes for all three phases.”

William Jackson III being out:

“It was challenging, but you know, here’s an opportunity to have some young guys step up and play. You know, it was good to see young guys get good opportunities. I thought Benjamin St-Juste lowered his neck and made some plays and did some things. He allowed a couple of plays but he’s been working at nickel for the most part. Now he gets an opportunity to get outside and shows us some really positive things.”

9 sacks:

“There’s 10 other guys on the field. We got to make sure we’re protecting, we’re running the routes in a timely fashion. There’s eleven guys on the other side we’ve got to deal with as well. When we get an opportunity to look at everything and see the final points. I know Scott, I know Ken will get those things across there.”

Grow and get better:

Standing in the division:

“I think it it’s right where it needs to be. As far as I’m concerned, we still got 14 games left. We’re one and two. I mean, it’s an early part of the season, got a young group of guys are getting opportunities to play, learn, and grow and develop as a unit. So, I do think this is a chance for us to continue to grow and get better. We are playing an awful amount of young guys out there, the only way to get better is through experience. We’ll take a few lumps right now. We’ll start giving them out pretty soon too.”

Carson Wentz:

QB change?:

Jimmy Garoppolo report:

“You guys that was a bull crap report just so everybody understands that. Okay. I didn’t talk to anybody about that. I’m not sure where that all came from. I’m disappointed that came out like that, especially in today’s game, you know, I really am because I didn’t talk to anybody about, about Jimmy Garoppolo. The timing is what really upsets me.”

“Yeah, we’re getting ready to play Philadelphia, c’mon that’s what I’m disappointed in I really am. Because again I think whatever it is for whatever reason does it really have to get out or can they wait until we finish our game and then come out. I’m just disappointed it got out.”

Challenge flag:

“Well I needed to throw it sooner that’s the truth of the matter. You know we couldn’t really get a clear look. We’re hoping to get a review look and then eventually I just said screw it I gotta throw it, but then it was little late so that’s on me. I still don’t know whether he was in or out. I asked the referee for their definition. They told me he had one foot down the other foot he dragged. From my vantage point, I thought he got his shin down when he was going out of bounds so shin body part equals two feet.”

Getting the ball to Terry McLaurin more:

“I think again when you have a talent like that yeah, we probably try need to get the ball to him a little bit more. I do know though, a lot of it has to do with what happened in the first half.”

14 games left:

Kam Curl injury:

Carson Wentz

Not good enough:

“Not good enough. Definitely not good enough. Hats off to them. That is a good defense. That’s a good team. They got after us and I did not play to my standards, especially early. I think that’s tough and unfortunately in back-to-back weeks we just kind of dug ourselves into a hole there. I’ve got to be better, especially early on so we’re not having to throw the whole second half and let them play coverage and do some things differently. I have to do better.”

9 sacks:

“I think that’s a combination of things whenever there’s a number like that. It’s not the O-Line. I’ve got to be better. I have to get rid of the ball in a lot of those situations, find a check down and move on, different things like that. Hats off to their D-Line and their front, it’s a good front. But I’ve got to do better and help our guys out. I think it’s a culmination also of being down. Having to try and come back, having to try and throw it around in the second half when that D-Line can just pin their ears back and get after us. We’ve got to be better, especially early.”

Sacks disrupting throwing process:

“I think it definitely can. I wouldn’t blame or fault that at all today. I have a lot of confidence in the guy’s up front and like I said, the sacks and stuff, that’s not on them. A lot of them, most of them probably aren’t. So, for me I try not to let that bother me and just play the next play and try to find a way to settle in. We’ve got good weapons, good guys to spread it out, so I’ve got to get it out and stay confident. I think we did some of that today, just not enough.”

Emotion:

“Once the kickoff happened, it’s football again. It was kind of a surreal pregame seeing all those guys, in the coin toss seeing BG and Fletcher and Jason Kelce. I was right next to them for years there so there were some surreal moments for sure especially in the pregame. But once the kickoff happened, it was a football game. We got out executed.”

Playing the Eagles:

Lack of 1st half production:

“I think it’s a lot of execution. I think that’s what it was. Unfortunately, it’s the same thing that happened last week which is something that we have to learn from and find a way to get a little bit of momentum early on and we didn’t do it today, unfortunately yet again. This NFL is fast. It’s fast and furious and we’ve got to learn from it quickly and go down and face a good Dallas team next week. Hopefully we start out better and learn from it and execute a little bit better early on.”

Avoid pattern of losing:

“You’ve got to learn from it. Tomorrow we’ll be in first thing in the morning. Learn from it, working out, getting ready to move on. We’ve got another divisional rival, another big game down there. I still feel we’ve got a lot of optimism in this locker room. We’re very confident in what we can be. We just have to find a way to show that consistently and do that. Like I said, the NFL is fast. It’s fast and furious, you’ve got to learn from it, move on and go get ready to tackle the week right away.”

Stay confident:

Protecting the football:

Eagles fans at FedEx Field:

Jonathan Allen

Where do you go from here?:

Charles Leno Jr.

Slow starts:

Benjamin St-Juste

Do my job:

Kendall Fuller

Benjamin St-Juste:

“I think Ben did good. The deep one that they caught he said they might’ve been out of bounds. He made a big play. We thought he competed and did a good job.”

Rebounding from a bad start to the season:

“I think that just comes with football, especially corner that comes with the position. It’s going to be sometimes when you go out there and they get you. Sometimes you get hit in the mouth and you keep on working and keep on moving forward. I’ve had rough games before and you just keep on grinding and trust your technique, trust yourself and go out there and make plays.”

Adjusting and making changes:

“You just watch it and correct it, it’s a copycat league. You show weakness on tape. Teams are going to keep trying you until you fix it. So, you go watch the tape and fix it. In this league it’s a production-based business so you have to go out there fix it and make your plays, that simple.”

Breakdowns:

“Like I said before, all eleven have to be on one page and the biggest thing is not giving up explosives. If they make plays these offenses are good and going to make plays but you try to prevent them from making those big plays because that’s what leads to points. I think I gave up two that both led to points so that’s something we have to get better at and I have to get better at.”

Terry McLaurin

Division loss:

“First and foremost, it was a big game for this team and they beat us. Offensively we couldn’t sustain drives well enough, and we didn’t make enough plays on the outside to sustain drives. I think the defense was doing well holding them up for a while and they were just on the field a lot. It’s tough when you lose, but especially in that fashion and in your division. The first thing that came to mind was we don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves because we’re going on the road to play a good Dallas team and that’s another one in the division, so we have an opportunity to try and get this taste out of our mouths. But it’s just going to take a lot of reflection and getting better on each and everybody’s part and that’s including myself.”

Better 1st half production:

“First and foremost, it was a big game for this team and they beat us. Offensively we couldn’t sustain drives well enough, and we didn’t make enough plays on the outside to sustain drives. I think the defense was doing well holding them up for a while and they were just on the field a lot. It’s tough when you lose, but especially in that fashion and in your division. The first thing that came to mind was we don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves because we’re going on the road to play a good Dallas team and that’s another one in the division, so we have an opportunity to try and get this taste out of our mouths. But it’s just going to take a lot of reflection and getting better on each and everybody’s part and that’s including myself.”

Pressure on Carson Wentz:

“I mean, they have a great front four. They’ve been like that for a long time, and we knew that going into the game. I think they did a good job of putting pressure on us and as receivers we just try to run our routes and try to be open for when he does have time. We try not to focus on what’s going on in the offensive line and I think they did a better job in the second half trying to make adjustments. But when you’re going against a front four like that, you know they’re going to pose challenges and we just got to try to do the best thing we can to help Carson [Wentz] get the ball out of his hands and as receivers we can do that by trying to be precise on our routes and getting open.”