The Washington Commanders have suffered some brutal defeats at the hands of NFC East rivals in their last two games. In Week 11 against the New York Giants, led by undrafted rookie free agent Tommy Devito, Washington lost 31-19.
On Thanksgiving against the Dallas Cowboys, it was even uglier. Dallas won the game 45-10 on the back of a dominant 25-0 fourth quarter. It was a loss that led to many people speculating whether or not head coach Ron Rivera would get fired.
The Commanders did make some coaching changes, but it wasn’t the head coach who lost his job. Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and defensive backs coach Brent Veiselmeyer were both fired on Friday morning.
Rivera will likely take over the defensive play calling for a team that has seen its performance on that side of the ball drop off a cliff. After having one of the better defensive units in the NFL in 2022, the Commanders now have one of the worst in 2023.
There will be a lot of pressure on Rivera to have the team show some signs of improvement for the remainder of the season. With the defense presumably under his watch now, a turnaround will be needed if he is going to keep his job into 2024.
Alas, that isn’t something he is too worried about. When asked about the rumors swirling around his job security, Rivera provided the same answer he had when asked about it previously. “I’ve told you before I’m not worried about anything. All I’m going to do is do my job and see how things go. That’s the only thing I can do.”
The players on the team have the same sentiment. They aren’t worried about the status of their head coach, as the only time they think about it are when reporters ask them about Rivera following games.
“It’s only when you guys ask,” Washington left tackle Charles Leno, Jr. said. “No one else is bringing this s—- up. We don’t talk about this s—-; we don’t care about this stuff, we’re listening to our coaches following game plan and trying to win games.”
Josh Harris, who heads the new ownership group, has stated he wants to give the current staff a full season to evaluate everything before contemplating any changes. That could mean Rivera is safe, for now, but if the losing streak continues, their plans could change.
The firing of Del Rio and Veiselmeyer could be the first of more if the Commanders are unable to snap their losing streak and get things back on track in any way.
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