Rivera Sends a Strong Message?

Ron Rivera had a different tune and message after he watched the tape of Dwayne Haskins' performance in Cleveland. What was he trying to say?

Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera spoke with the media on Sunday immediately after his team’s disappointing 34-20 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

One of the hot topics was the play of his young quarterback, Dwayne Haskins, who had arguably the worst day of his young NFL career. Haskins was picked off three times and also fumbled twice.

Rivera was unwavering in his support for Haskins, stating, “I’m going to take my lumps with Dwayne Haskins,” citing how the quarterback has yet to play a full NFL season.

On Monday, Rivera did not back down from his support for Haskins but offered a different take after watching the film in an interview with JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington.

"Right now, I’m at the position where we have to see the growth. If we never play him, he never grows, but there is a point where you say, ‘OK, maybe taking a step back and watching is the best thing for you now.’ We will see."

That was a different tune than what he expressed just one day before.

Rivera is right. He needs more from his young quarterback. It is not fair to the entire team if he continues to play Haskins when others could give Washington a better chance to compete.

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Washington currently sits at 1-2, which is tied for first place in the NFC East. And Finlay pressed Rivera if that could factor into his decision.

"We have to look where we are right now and say, ‘Gosh, we might be in position,’" Rivera told Finlay. "That's something you have to think about as well. It will play into [the quarterback decision], trust me. I went through this in 2014."

That doesn’t mean the head coach should bench Haskins now. He absolutely should not.

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Haskins started less than half of Washington’s games as a rookie in 2019 and had no offseason with his new coaches and teammates in 2020. Struggles were inevitable.

Part of the issue for Washington fans was the Week 1 win over Philadelphia. Fans thought this rebuilding project was ahead of schedule after defeating a bad Philadelphia team.

Rivera has preached patience with this team. And many of the decisions he’s made, such as cutting veteran running back Adrian Peterson, clearly show he has a long-term view with this team.

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But that doesn’t mean he’s not trying to win now.

Rivera sent a message to Haskins on Monday. It wasn’t overtly direct or even intentional. It was honest and straightforward. He was simply implying he needs to see his young quarterback grow every week, or he would have to consider the other quarterbacks on the roster.

That’s fair.

As for Haskins, everyone should take a deep breath and relax. Sunday’s performance was bad. Haskins was staring down receivers.

One performance is not a referendum on his future as the quarterback of this football team. There will be games where you see progress. And, there will be games similar to Sunday. It’s all a part of the process.

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On Monday, Rivera made it clear Haskins is not promised 16 games as the starting quarterback this season. However, it’s important for Rivera to not lose focus on what this season is all about and confuse a terrible division with where this franchise currently stands.

Rivera was brought in to change the culture and build a winning football team. Going 7-9 and winning the NFC East is not the ultimate goal for this franchise. It’s Rivera’s job to win but also determine if Haskins is Washington’s future at quarterback.

And that could be a delicate balance moving forward. 

Read Bryan Manning on Haskins:

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Bryan Manning writes about the Washington Football Team for 'Washington Football' and contributed to All Hokies on SI.com as well. He has covered the NFL, MLB, NBA, college football and college basketball for almost 10 years for various outlets such as Bleacher Report, SB Nation, FanSided, USA Today SMG, and others. For his day job, Bryan works in engineering for a major communications company.