Commanders coach Ron Rivera wasn't mincing words Monday regarding Washington's early-season struggles after the team suffered a fourth-straight loss Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
The 1-4 Commanders now own what's tied for the worst record in the league and already are four games back of the NFC East lead. The 5-0 Philadelphia Eagles, 4-1 Dallas Cowboys and 4-1 New York Giants all have had success during the early going, so what's different about the Commanders?
"Quarterback," Rivera said, bluntly, throwing Carson Wentz under the bus when asked what the difference was between his team and Washington's division rivals, as shared by NBC Sports.
"The truth is, this is a quarterback-driven league," Rivera added. "The teams that have been able to sustain success, they've been able to build it around a specific quarterback."
Jalen Hurts was drafted and developed by Philadelphia, and as was Daniel Jones in New York, but the Cowboys have given the keys to Cooper Rush for four straight starts in place of the injured Dak Prescott. Rush, now 5-0 as a starter, certainly wasn't who Dallas had in mind when the team opened the season.
Washington, meanwhile, went out and traded for Wentz from the Indianapolis Colts and the signal-caller now has completed just 62.9% of his passes with 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. Wentz is rare in the way he can have a few impressive throws and then look like a junior varsity quarterback just minutes later, as was the case in Week 4 against the Cowboys.
Still, the head coach doesn't regret Washington's decision to add the veteran.
"No, I've got no regrets about the quarterback. I think our quarterback has done some good things," Rivera said, backpedaling. "There's been a couple games he's struggled. You look at his numbers from yesterday, he was okay. His numbers he's had throughout the year, there have been times he was very solid. And then we had the unfortunate Philadelphia game and he struggled a little bit in the Dallas game, but the way he performed yesterday it shows what he's capable of. We chose him because we believe in him. We chose him because we looked at what we felt were things that pointed towards him."
Wentz and the Commanders will have the chance to snap their losing streak with a manageable Week 6 game against the Chicago Bears, but he'll probably be feeling some sort of way about the comments by his head coach in the meantime.
