Rivera on Preparing on a Short Week, an NFL Exec Explains the Ratings Decline

A conversation with Carolina's head coach on preparing his team for Thursday night and whether the Panthers have any regret about not re-signing Josh Norman. Brian Rolapp, VP of Media for the NFL, discusses the decline in ratings this season

On this week's episode, I sat down for a conversation with Ron Rivera, head coach for the Carolina Panthers, and the NFL's VP of Media Brian Rolapp.

Rivera discusses the woes of preparing for a short-week game, and talks about whether the Panthers regret not re-signing Josh Norman. He shares how he motivates his team with the help of John Madden, and explains how helpful it is to have a wife, who is an ex-coach herself, to vent with after a bad loss.

Rolapp discusses the decline in television ratings this season and if the NFL Red Zone program has anything to do with it. He talks about how commercials may change in the future to be less intrusive in the telecasts. He also tells a story of what he and Roger Goodell found out on a trip to see executives of Airbnb.

3:00: Rivera on the difficulty of preparing his team on a short week.

6:00: On how he uses Saturday heading into a short week to work ahead.

9:55: Rivera on moving on from the crushing disappointment of Sunday game against the Chiefs where his team gave up a 17 point-lead.

11:20: On how his wife Stephanie, an ex coach herself (women's basketball) helps him work through a tough loss. "That's one of the beautiful things about our relationship. She gets it, she's been there and she understands and can help me get past certain things."

13:40: How Rivera compartmentalizes a bad loss or a great win.

14:50: On knowing the Saints so well from playing great games against them so often.

17:15: Rivera on the adjustment a team must make when injecting a great player like Kelvin Benjamin back into the offense.

19:15: On whether the team has any regret about not re-signing Josh Norman.

19:56: Last year, the Panthers had the number one defensive QBR. This year, the team is way up in the 90s. Does that have to do with coverage exclusively or also pressure?

21:00: Rivera wishes his team did not have to open the season against Denver.

"You lose a big game, the Super Bowl, to Denver and then for the next five months it's questions about what happened, why, how, what are you going to now, and is this revenge? For me personally, I just wish we could have waited until October or November to play that game."

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