Rivera refuses to ‘ apologize for winning’
PHILADELPHIA — It was messy and at times felt more like a comedy of errors than a fight for a playoff berth. But Ron Rivera refuses to apologize for the Washington Football Team’s ugly win over the Eagles, or the 7- 9 record that landed it a spot in the postseason.
He’s not going to apologize for eking out a victory over Philadelphia’s third- string quarterback, who was inserted in the fourth quarter. He’s not going to apologize for narrowly beating a team that was without more than a dozen key players.
“Apparently, that’s what everybody wants me to do, is apologize for winning,” Rivera said Monday morning after Washington defeated Philadelphia, 20- 14, to clinch the NFC East. “I’m not going to, because you play the game as it’s set up. Nobody complained when Pittsburgh did what they did last night against Cleveland. I mean, come on, this is just theway it is. We got in the playoffs. We’re 7- 9. I’ve been 7- 8- 1 in the playoffs. I was on an 8- 8 team that was in the playoffs. And you don’t apologize for getting into the playoffs.
“You apologize for losing inthe playoffs, or at least I believe you do. But you don’t apologize for getting in.”
Svrluga: Doug Peder son committed competitive malpractice by turning a big game into a QB tryout
After starting the season 1- 5, with a young
quarterback projected to become the franchise’s future, Washington has completed a turnaround that, even on paper, seems incomprehensible. It played four quarterbacks, found the most success with the one who returned from a life- threatening leg injury, watched its coach battle cancer as well as the franchise’s recent history of losing and turmoil, lost veteran starters to injuries, took fliers on unproven players and tested its roster’s depth to find gems for the future.
And there were times over the past few weeks when even Rivera worried that the injuries and critical losses would knock Washington out of playoff contention— just as it had reached the postseason’s doorstep.
“I mean, we played two games without our starting quarterback [ Alex Smith], without our best wide receiver [ Terry McLaurin], without our best running back [ Antonio Gibson] healthy, and honestly nobody cared,” Rivera said. “That’s the truth. Nobody cared two weeks ago, and nobody cared a week ago. And so the concern was there. Alex came in and did what we hoped Alex would do, and lo and behold, we got into the playoffs. But yeah, I was concerned, to be honest with you.”
Rivera said his team arrived in Philadelphia “playing with house money,” as few, if anyone, believed at the start of the season it would make it this far. But only “a chance” was needed, he reminded.“Why not us?” he asked.
“It doesn’t surprise me based on the strong personalities that we have on this team, starting with our coaches and then our players,” he said Monday, citing Smith and McLaurin aswell as young pass- rushers Chase Young and Montez Sweat and veterans Ryan Kerrigan and Brandon Scherff among the team’s many positive examples. ”… Whenyou have those kinds of guys that are helping to hold it together, hold guys accountable, hold themselves accountable— that’s big. That’s huge.”
But after his team’s victory Sunday, he painted Washington’s improbable leap in Year 1 with him at the helm as only the first step of many in his vision for a franchisewide “culture change.”
Waiting atop the next step is Tom Brady, the most successful quarterback in football whose career started when many of Washington’s foundational players were mere toddlers. Washington will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an NFC first- round playoff game on Saturday at 8: 15 p. m., still uncertain about the health of someof its key players.
Smith, who admitted his calf strain worsened throughout Sunday’s game in Philadelphia, was visibly limited in the second half, when he threw two interceptions.
“The biggest thing is because we have a system, and the three quarterbacks we have I think are all interchangeable in their abilities,” Rivera said. ” … We’ll have one game plan. These guys will work on it. If Alex can go, Alex will go. If Alex can give us one quarter, two quarters, three, whatever, that’s great. If not, I believe Taylor [ Heinicke] will be ready. If something happens, I believe Steven [ Montez] will be ready. … Until I get a chance to find out where Alexis, I can’t really predict anything. Whatever the situation is, we’ll play.”
McLaurin played roughly 80 percent of the team’s offensive snaps and caught its first touchdown pass. How much the wear and tear of his playing will affect his high- ankle sprain will be determined throughout theweek.
“I’m pretty confident that he’ll be a little further along than hewas lastweek,” Rivera said.“We should have a couple good days of practice, so I do anticipate seeing him out there in a limited role and taking specific reps more so than anything else. We’ll have a plan for Terry as we’ll have for Alex as we’ll have for Antonio Gibson aswell.”
Until then, Rivera will not apologize for the regular season finale, choosing instead to focus on his team’s next chance, against Brady and the Bu cs. Few expected Washington to make it this far, and as River a has clung to myriad sayings and mantras, he’s held one especially close.
“The old saying goes: ‘ All you need is a chance,’” he said. “That’s what we have is a chance. It’s interesting because there’s been a lot of upset victories throughout time. No bigger or greater upset or victory than David or Goliath. So, who knows? That’s why we’ll showup on Saturday night.”