Ron Rivera Will Take More Active Defensive Role

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

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.

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

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, 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

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.

The jury is still out for ginger mcdermott this year also

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

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

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.

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

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.

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!

In Philly his 2 years there they had injuries to the linebackers which killed his system. He comes here to arguably a great linebacking corps and what happens? 2 starters go down immediately. He seems snakebitten at linebacker. Hopefully ading Kuechly and getting Beason and hopefully Davis back turns that around. I am excited to see what happens when we actually tun our scheme.

I am not so sure Rivera could have helped the defense last year unless he suited up.

In Philly his 2 years there they had injuries to the linebackers which killed his system. He comes here to arguably a great linebacking corps and what happens? 2 starters go down immediately. He seems snakebitten at linebacker. Hopefully ading Kuechly and getting Beason and hopefully Davis back turns that around. I am excited to see what happens when we actually tun our scheme.

The writing was on the wall for the LBs though. Davis had just come off two knee surgeries and Beason rushed back from the achilles injury. My fingers are crossed for this year though.

Yes, I think Rivera's comfort level as head coach will be one of our biggest assets this season. We have to remember that he had been turned down for the HC position quite a few times before, and in his first shot at actually getting the job he craved he had no off-season to work with. I have a great deal of confidence in Rivera as a head coach and as a defensive mind. If he can add his expertise to that side of the ball then I only think good things will come from it. Game management- now that is an area for improvement.

I find it curious that so many on here seem to feel that McDermott is a weak link on our staff. Is it just because he was fired by Reid? Or were there specific things he did with our D that were questionable. How do the D players feel about him as their leader?

Opinions?

Rivera said before last season started that he was reading clock management theory books. At the time I said this is going to cost us a game or two and It certainly hurt our chances vs. the Saints. You can read about it and talk about it. When you are on that sideline with 70k people screaming you just don't know what will be going through your mind. Some teams have a clock management guy. He sits up in the booth and advises the HC.

All in all I thought he did very well. We had game winning or tying chances inside the red zone at the end of multiple games. We just didn't make the final play.