Commander Country

‘Real-Life Sh-t’: Is Coach Ron Rivera’s WFT Too Emotionally Tired to Compete?

Says Rivera: “These guys are more than just robots. These guys have feelings. … these are people.”

Mike Fisher

Washington Football Team coach Ron Rivera has tried to hold this club together despite the ever-present hovering dark cloud won that let loose over the holiday weekend in the form of Deshazor Everett being involved in a car crash that killed a passenger.

“Real-life shit,” Rivera called it Monday on the morning after the WFT’s demoralizing 57-14 loss at Dallas. “You have to deal with those things, and it’s tough. It’s not easy to try to separate and compartmentalize situations like that. It spills over.

“It’s human nature.”

The WFT was all-too-human on Sunday, suffering one of the seven worst outcomes in franchise history. COVID and injuries played a major role in the makeup of the roster that dropped to 6-9, meaning the defending NFC East champs are nearing the end of a season of disappointment.

And a season of front-office scandal, controversy, misjudgments and subpar performances, maybe all of it time-capsuled by the Jonathan Allen-vs.-Daron Payne sideline fight on Sunday.

Washington has two games left as it tries to put behind it three straight losses by a combined score of 110-51 … and tries to put behind it some heartbreak as well.

Said Rivera: “These guys are more than just robots. These guys have feelings. … these are people.

“That’s hard on them. That’s not normal shit. That’s real-life shit, and that’s what they’re dealing with. These are young men, and we’re just trying to help them along the way.”

One other truth: The NFL teams that best deal with “real-life shit” are the ones that success. In that vein, while Rivera is telling a truth, so is Allen when he takes a different angle.

“It definitely affects us, but as professionals it’s our job to go out there and play good football …. The last two weeks … has been probably some of the worst football I’ve ever been a part of, including myself,” Allen said. “We have no one to blame but ourselves.”

Ron Rivera
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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983, is the author of two best-selling books on the NFL.

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