Ron Rivera Thread

Heard a guy on sports radio say

"The 2 most important positions in the NFL are QB and Head Coach .. and theyre both the hardest to get right."

Heard a guy on sports radio say

"The 2 most important positions in the NFL are QB and Head Coach .. and theyre both the hardest to get right."

If we have the right guys at those spots they could overcome a bad owner

With that logic Bill Bellichick would not be a head coach. At his first head coaching position in the NFL from 1991 until 1995, Belichick was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. During his tenure in Cleveland, he compiled a 36–44 record.

What? I'm not saying RR shouldn't be a head coach, I'm saying he's a bit over-hyped for his record. I don't recall Bellicheck being hyped up as a great coach, in fact I remember people thinking NE was crazy for hiring him.

What? I'm not saying RR shouldn't be a head coach, I'm saying he's a bit over-hyped for his record. I don't recall Bellicheck being hyped up as a great coach, in fact I remember people thinking NE was crazy for hiring him.

Bill Parcells, whom Belichick had worked with at multiple stops including both the Jets and Giants, had decided to step back from coaching and Belichick was going to succeed him with the Jets. On January 3, Belichick accepted the job. On January 4, he handed in his now-infamous resignation, which written on a napkin: “I resign as HC of the NYJ.”

In a press conference, Belichick cited the Jets’ ownership situation for his decision.

While Jets fans will never forgive Belichick for leaving them high and dry — the team would hire Al Groh as head coach when Belichick backed out, and he lasted for just one 9-7 season — Parcells brokered a deal between the franchises that let Belichick out of his Jets contract and allowed him to join the Patriots.

On Monday, New England tweeted a picture of the fax from Parcells to Kraft, captioning it, “The greatest trade in NFL history.” The fax said in part, “The New York Jets hereby grant permission to the New York Patriots to talk to Bill Belichick about any position they desire.”

20 years ago today: the greatest trade in NFL history. pic.twitter.com/izcPs4h0GV
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 27, 2020

If Belichick accepted a position and reported to work on or before Jan. 30, 2000, then the Patriots would surrender their first-round pick (16th overall) in 2000, and fourth- and seventh-round picks in 2001 to New York, and the Jets gave New England a fifth-round pick in ‘01 and a seventh-rounder in ‘02.
https://sports.yahoo.com/on-this-day-20-years-ago-the-new-england-patriots-traded-for-their-new-head-coach-bill-belichick-181239175.html

Rivera has a very good record and went to the SB. It remains to see how he will do here in Washington but I am optimistic.

The BIGGEST change that he has already been made was to FORCE owner Dan Snyder to make many concessions before Rivera would even be INTERVIEWED. Snyder had to give up his prior meddling in the team’s affairs, any inputs into personnel decision-making and using a proxy GM like Allen and Cerrato to do his bidding regarding football operations. All that is gone. I doubt any future HC will want anything less from Snyder.

The name change issue and the allegations of sexual harassment within the organization have made Snyder even more dependent on Rivera to fix the the many, many problems of this franchise. Snyder needs Rivera MUCH MORE than the reverse.

If Rivera is successful as the HC, it will increase his power in the organization even more. Dan Snyder needs either to sell the team or just STFU and let NFL-savvy people like Rivera to run ALL the operations there. Everything Snyder has touched in his 20-year tenure as owner has gone to absolute shitte. He’s lucky to get a real achiever like Rivera onboard. This team can only go up with Rivera. Not only because he’s a real true-believer in a good football culture, but also because Snyder can not continue to hurt the team with his meddlesome and harmful interference in the team’s personnel decisions or daily operations.


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^ Good assessment. Agreed 100%.

The BIGGEST change that he has already been made was to FORCE owner Dan Snyder to make many concessions before Rivera would even be INTERVIEWED. Snyder had to give up his prior meddling in the team’s affairs, any inputs into personnel decision-making and using a proxy GM like Allen and Cerrato to do his bidding regarding football operations. All that is gone. I doubt any future HC will want anything less from Snyder.


I feel like we said this when Shanahan and Gibbs 2.0 took control.
Hopefully is this finally the year Snyder steps aside.

I feel like we said this when Shanahan and Gibbs 2.0 took control.
Hopefully this finally the year Snyder steps aside.

Yeah 20 years of the same nonsense under Snyder. We've had great coaches come and go like Schottenheimer, Shanahan, and Gibbs. None of them left with a winning record here. No reason to believe things will truly change until we see it happen.

I agree that Dan will change the way he does certain things like how the organization treats women and not being so arrogant. But in the end certain players will still have direct access to him and when they don't like what RR is doing will let DS know they are unhappy. As we know, DS will "handle" it from there.



My point about RR is that he was a decent (not great) HC at Carolina with an organization that had lots of talent and was well run. Now he is at the most dysfunctional poorly run organization in the NFL. Not only is he the head coach of a team lacking talent, he's the de-facto GM, chief culture changer, name change committee member, and Dan Snyder "shield". Just coaching would be difficult enough but he's taken on all these other roles as well which I don't think does anything to help the team's chances to win. God bless him if he can pull all this off, and I hope he does, but I'll believe it when I see it.Didn't Carolinas owner get canned while RR was coach. Not sure how functional they were. Maybe better then Snyders Skins but they had issues. Let's see how RR does. So far i am good with the direction and pace the organization has taken.

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I feel like we said this when Shanahan and Gibbs 2.0 took control.
Hopefully is this finally the year Snyder steps aside.


The problem and difference in the Gibbs and Shanahan era was the presence of Cerrato (Gibbs) and Bruce Allen (Shanahan). Both those guys had a very powerful quasi GM / VP role in the team structure, as well as being the errant boys for Snyder. Both these guys were part of EVERY personnel acquisition, drafting, picking up UDFA, future contracts, etc.
The biggest problem is that they were terrible GM’s and interjected themselves into every part of the football operation.

Snyder wanted to copy his idol, Jerry Jones, in terms of being in the decision loop for EVERYTHING. The biggest problem is that Snyder and his lackey’s (Cerrato & Allen) have little real NFL knowledge. Or in Bruce Allen’s case they had some knowledge but made really bad decisions, or let his emotions enter into their decision-making process, as happened in the Trent Williams drama. Bruce Allen was probably the WORST GM over his ten-year tenure. With his awful record he would have lasted 3-4 years anywhere else.

You can’t build a winning football operation without a very good GM and without a clear path of decision-making for the HC. Having Cerrato & Allen acting as the GM, as well as Snyder being involved with all the big football decisions was a recipe for disaster. Our record was terrible for 20 years under the Snyder and his toady’s interference in the football / personnel decision. We averaged 10 losses per season for these 2 decades. You are what your record says you are and we were at the bottom.

Rivera wouldn’t even interview with Snyder until he had assurances that:

1. Rivera would decide on who would be the GM.
2. No person in the Cerrato/Allen mode would becbuilt into the team structure.
3. Snyder is the owner, but it’s Rivera who is making all the NFL decisions for the team. Snyder is basically out of the loop, except at the end.

Ending the Allen/Cerrato-type person in the organization is HUGE. Ending Snyder’s interference is HUGE. Rivera is also in his prime years as a coach, vs. Gibbs/Shanahan who were in the twilight of their career.
It was IMPOSSIBLE to win consistently with the old structure and interference. I especially think Shanahan could have succeeded here if the system and the GM is like it is now.

This isn’t a repeat of all the HC who failed here over 20 years. The team structure is very, very different in that Rivera has the power and is the prime decision-maker. Rivera has grown even more powerful with the latest sexual harassment allegations. Rivera has said that he is surprised at how much NON-FOOTBALL decisions he is making. Before this year, Snyder and his lackey would make those decisions. That’s why we failed and that’s why everything has really CHANGED for the better internally, not just on the surface as it did for two decades.


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