Rivera Will Take More Active Defensive Role

[Zod]

With all the recent draft and undrafted free agent talk I feel some focus needs to be brought back to the coaching staff, mainly Ron Rivera who recently said...

Now that I've gone through the first season and understand what's expected of me, I think I can help a little bit more on the defensive side. One thing you learn and adjust to is really what's needed or what's called upon for a head coach to do in terms of his duties. That was a little bit different for me, obviously, and I can be involved more with that side of the ball.

We all tend to forget that last season Rivera was a rookie as well. Adjusting to a new job with new responsibilities can be daunting for anyone. Surely there is as big a learning curve for a first time NFL head coach as there is for any player coming into the NFL. Players, Coaches, Media, Politics, all being juggled at the same time all the while trying to keep your team focused.

Making the transition exponentially more difficult was being thrown into coaching 70+ players in training camp without the luxury of off season workouts to learn their personalities and begin developing a chemistry.

Coaching a team without knowing the character of that team. Not good.

Now that Rivera has a better feel for the job and understands what can be delegated and to whom, we should see a big improvement on the coaching of defensive side of the ball.

This post has been promoted to an article

[Hairless Cat]

I hope we see some better game time decisions from Rivera as well - he made some real stinkers last season.

[CRA]

I hope we see some better game time decisions from Rivera as well - he made some real stinkers last season.

Well maybe we found out way he didn't let Mare attempt all those fg attempt early in the season.

[PantherBrew]

This is what I think of when Zod promotes his own threads to articles.

[carolina-chuck]

Rivera, so you wasnt as active last season?

Are you nuts? You're the head coach and your specialty is defense. Your head is on the line everyday, and now you finally noticed that you need to be more active. Cmon chico!

[CRA]

Rivera, so you wasnt as active last season?

Are you nuts? You're the head coach and your specialty is defense. Your head is on the line everyday, and now you finally noticed that you need to be more active. Cmon chico!

Rivera was also a first year HC with no offseason....

Can't really fault him for having lots of balls to juggle

[csx]

Rivera, so you wasnt as active last season?

Are you nuts? You're the head coach and your specialty is defense. Your head is on the line everyday, and now you finally noticed that you need to be more active. Cmon chico!

That's why they have coordinators. Just happens that ours is questionable and Rivera needs to help him.

[Mr Smiley]

The jury is still out for ginger mcdermott this year also

[TruCatzFan]

I just hope that he took some clock management courses during the offseason.

That was one of the big glaring weaknesses all last season.

So long as he took clock management 101, 102,103, and advanced clock managemt under stressful conditions... I think we'll be aight

[PantherPhann89]

I hope taht this is a good thing, but with our defensive starters back, the setup should be much easier.

[rayzor]

agreed with all of the OP.it's got o be tough for anyone making that jump from coordinator to HC, esp. in the situation that was last year.

some may think that harbaugh didn't have issues so why did rivera? but even though harbaugh was a new HC in the NFL, he still had quite a few years as HC under his belt. he was more experienced in that role. that it was college doesn't really matter for him. he was always going to be the most likely and the best suited to get off to an early successful start than any rookie nfl coach in years. he was an exception, though, and not at all the standard. he and rivera shouldn't be compared to each other based on their first year. harbaugh was just more prepared because of his experience in the role.

rivera being thrown into the fire the way he was made for a bit of frustrating experience but i'm thinking that he's learned and experienced enough that he's learned how to better delegate responsibilities, make better game time decisions, and learned how to help out the most on either side of the ball....on defense use his years of experience as a player and coach to help and stay out of the way on offense and let chud and shula handle things.

i think mcdermott is going to be a very solid DC for years and i trust him well enough, but this is a situation in which we have one of the brightest young DCs in the league along with one of the most proven, successful, and experienced DCs in the league together. we can only be helped by having those two guys working together. having a top 10 D this year is not out of the question at all, in fact i think it's rather likely that those two guys working together along with an upgrade in the secondary coach role (or at least one that fits the scheme better and that isn't making the situation more awkward). even though we are supposedly still weak in the secondary and at DT, the guys having a year under their belts as well as being healthier and the acquisitions made in this offseason should make this defense a lot better than it was and give the coaches a lot more to work with.

[mmmbeans]

i don't trust mcdermott at all so I am very happy about this.

[EMSMedic79]

The jury is still out for ginger mcdermott this year also

Yeah, although without a defensive front or quality linebackers last season, his pass rush had no chance of being effective. I do like his aggresive blitzing style and I think if the players stay healthy it'll make a big impact.

[Zod]

some may think that harbaugh didn't have issues so why did rivera? but even though harbaugh was a new HC in the NFL, he still had quite a few years as HC under his belt. he was more experienced in that role.

Excellent point!