Commanders QB Carson Wentz has reacted to Ron Rivera’s viral comments.
When asked Monday by the media to explain why Washington hasn’t been able to show as much progress as other NFC East teams, Rivera delivered a surprising answer.
“Quarterback,” he said.
"Why do you think the teams in the division are farther ahead at this point?"
Ron Rivera: "quarterback"
👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/aNJjKIEuZp
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 10, 2022
Rivera said that he apologized to Wentz and the team for causing a distraction but felt that his comments were misconstrued.
Ron Rivera said on the @DonGeronimoShow that he addressed the team and talked to Carson this morning about his comments yesterday.
Rivera clarified that he meant the other QBs in the NFC East have familiarity in their systems/teams, and Wentz is in his first year in WAS. pic.twitter.com/ZkDvNoJr35
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) October 11, 2022
Rivera: “I didn’t backtrack, Don. What I tried to do was I tried to finish the explanation for certain media types that wanted to have their own say in it.”
(Note: Rivera was not cut off mid-sentence. He was asked 4 additional clarifying questions on the matter.)
Continuing… pic.twitter.com/JtfnJKDocq
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) October 11, 2022
Wentz was asked about Rivera’s comments and said that he wasn’t “overly concerned” by them and credited his coach for addressing it with the team.
“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.”
Carson Wentz on Rivera’s comments/apology pic.twitter.com/9BGxV0sGWL
— John Keim (@john_keim) October 11, 2022
Wentz was later asked the same question that prompted Rivera’s comments on why he thinks the other NFC East teams are ahead of the Commanders.
“Yeah, I wish I had all the answers on that,” Wentz said. “I think there’s a lot of football left. There’s a lot of varying factors across our division, which is obviously a very good division at this point in the season. At the same time, I know there’s a lot of ball left. And we talked about it after the game, unfortunately we kind of dug ourselves a little bit of a hole.
“But we know where we’re at. We know what we’re capable of. And we can’t try and fix it all right tawny. Our job is to go 1-0 this week and we’ve got a short week to do that, so we’re focused on that.”
