Did Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera throw his quarterback Carson Wentz under the bus? Former Washington quarterback Alex Smith says Rivera drove the bus over Wentz when the coach referenced quarterback as the reason the Commanders have not kept pace with the surging other three teams in the NFC East.
“I had a really hard time watching that,” Smith said on Monday Night Countdown (h/t Pro Football Talk). “I heard it, and I couldn’t believe it. I’m not here to defend Carson Wentz… But this is a defensive head coach that’s absolutely driving the bus over his quarterback.”
Smith took exception with Rivera attributing all of their struggles to the quarterback. Not when the Commanders defense yields points and the run game is in the bottom five of the league.
“The blame has got to be spread around,” Smith said. “This is a team sport. It is the ultimate team sport. How can a head coach stand up there in front of the media and utter one word, and it’s ‘quarterback’?”
Peeling back the layers as Rivera elaborated more on his comments, he spoke more about the stability of the other teams at quarterback versus the Commanders. Even then, his explanation did not appear logical. But that is another topic for a later time.
However, the headlines won’t focus on the full context of Rivera’s comments. Instead, the spotlight will be on the Wentz part of his comments. And that will be the noise and distraction that loom larger than Rivera’s illogical spin on why the Commanders are behind the other teams in the division.
Rivera’s “quarterback” answer led to another question if he second-guessed trading for Wentz in March.
“No, I don’t have any regrets about our quarterback,” Rivera said. “I think our quarterback has done some good things. There’s been a couple occasions that he’s struggled, but you look at his numbers from yesterday and he was OK.”
For some context, Smith played the final season of his career under Rivera with Washington. The one season Smith played after returning from a catastrophic leg injury. After playing an integral part in turning the Commanders’ season around to reach the playoffs, Smith decided to retire.
In the aftermath, Smith shined a light on his time in Washington, saying Rivera and his staff patronized him and tried to sabotage his return from injury.
Thus there may have been some animosity behind his take against Rivera’s soundbite.
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