Commanders coach Ron Rivera, whether he meant to or not, sent a shot at Carson Wentz, and it captivated the NFL world one day after Washington’s Week 5 loss to the Tennessee Titans.
Rivera, though, is lucky Wentz is not making it into more of a situation. Other quarterbacks around the league might not have reacted the same.
“Yeah, so honestly had no idea any of that happened,” Wentz responded when asked about Rivera’s comments, as shared by NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay. “But yeah, coach addressed it, handled it. Nothing, for me, that I’m overly concerned about. Coach is a very straightforward, up-front guy. He addressed it in the team meeting, which I thought was really cool, and what he meant by it all. So I feel very confident in that.”
The situation started because of Rivera’s answer Monday when he was asked about the biggest differences between Washington and its NFC East rivals like the 5-0 Philadelphia Eagles, 4-1 Dallas Cowboys and 4-1 New York Giants.
“Quarterback,” Rivera responded, bluntly.
Rivera talked with Wentz and apologized to the team Tuesday morning, but ex-NFL signal-callers like Alex Smith, Robert Griffin III, among others already flamed the veteran coach for throwing his quarterback under the bus.
Rivera, who admitted he caused a distraction to the team, now will have to get Wentz and the Commanders in the right head space on a short week with a Week 6 clash against the Chicago Bears on “Thursday Night Football.”
