Ron Rivera Quotes (39 Quotes)

It's an invaluable time for him because he can learn so much. It's a little disappointing we didn't get the job done.

It's kind of come full circle. It's a confidence that someone is going to get there and hit the quarterback, and it's a confidence that someone is going to cover and the quarterback is going to be forced to hold the ball. It's all working together, and it's reflected now in how we call the game.

What I've noticed this week has been his work ethic. He's been out there concentrating, spending time with the coaches. We know everything's fixable.

We have to also understand that in critical situations, third-and-seven, third-and-eight, whatever it takes to get him down, you have to do it.

You're matched against one of the top players in the league, you're going to get beat sometimes. I thought he did a tremendous job in some situations. On that one, he stumbled and gave up that play. The other one, I thought he had the ball. Steve Smith, give him credit. That was a tremendous play on his part.

It's not just the impact he has statistically. People talk about how they game-plan, how they attack, and you hear them talk about how Tommie was a devil to block.

I don't know if that's the result or the reasoning, but I do know that when you've got your veteran players out there there's a little more sense of comfort in terms of just knowing that they're capable of doing some good things for you.

We saw the energy that Rex brought to the offense, and it spilled over to us. Him coming in was a lift, and the team seemed to feed off that energy. Any time you can get a lead and add to that lead, you can really cut the guys loose.

Anytime you don't play well, you wonder if something is wrong. But at the same time, you also have to say, 'We've played well eight weeks in a row.' Every now and then, you're going to have a letdown. You just can't let it become a big thing. We tried to make sure guys understood those things do happen and that we needed them back, needed a great effort, and that's exactly what they gave.

He's a young man who will come in and spot our other two guys in pass-rush situations. He is athletic and comes off the end very hard, has speed and quickness, was productive, played in a big-time program, so he is used to this kind of football. We think he is going to fit us very well and give us flexibility.

I talked with coach (Smith) on a number of occasions. I think the neat thing about it is he does have a lot of insight into the place.

As we said all the way through training camp We felt we were a good team. We felt we were on the rise. ... We talked about where we felt we could be as a defense being in the top 10, being in the top five, being No. 1, finishing No. 1. The ultimate prize has always been the playoffs and getting to the Super Bowl.

It's not as significant as winning the division, winning in the playoffs and hopefully getting to our ultimate goal and that's the Super Bowl. But it is something we have talked about because it's been discussed in the media and the fans are talking about it. It would be neat. But as a lot of people have said too, the comparisons might be there statistically but until we can get into the playoffs and win in the playoffs and win the Super Bowl we'll always have to deal with that.

We have players just starting to scratch the surface of their ability. I can't wait to see the film.

When we came into this draft, we talked about the needs that we had on the defensive side. We've improved our speed, we've improved our tenacity and we've improved with some of the depth we're going to have.

One of the things we talked about was not giving the guy (Smith) a chance to make big plays, and he did that. You see why he's a Pro Bowler, an All-Pro.

I think as a coach the ultimate goal obviously is to be a head coach. And you do have to look at the opportunities, where you fit. Does that place in particular fit you I'll go through the process this week and then again at the same time not lose my focus on what the ultimate goal is, and that's the playoffs.

Their passion, their passion for perfection. I don't think Brian gets enough credit for his work ethic. Here's a young man, when he watches film, he studies the film. He reminds me an awful lot of Mike in that respect, because Mike really was a great student of the game.

When you get to this point in the year, sometimes it becomes an overlooked thing because you've been doing it all year. I know coaches most certainly will focus on that the next couple weeks and prepare for the postseason.

Those are all things if we had to take them into consideration, we will. Right now we have some young guys playing and we have to mature as young players. It's not time to throw the towel in on anybody at this time right now. As we evaluate the next few days, who knows Right now we're comfortable where we are.

It's football. It's kind of the nature of the game, the nature of the beast, and we'll find out.

He had time to throw. Some of their play-action bought them good time. We were geared up to stop the run, which we did do a pretty fair job of.

These guys feel the same type of fervor. They can't wait until we get started for next season. ... I think there are a lot of pluses we can take from this. I believe that guys do have a defiant attitude because of what happened, and we'll be better for it.

That was the thing that was most disappointing. You're going to have a couple in each game where it's, 'OK. We just go to the next play and line up and play.' But when you get to critical situations where you can take the momentum and keep it, you have to make those plays and we didn't.

Brandon came in and did an excellent job for us. Anytime you can have a rookie come in and make that contribution, you're very pleased with the effort. Leon Joe was exceptional. He made some mistakes, but he made up for it because he played hard and he played fast.

With Foster back there, their character is a little different. I think they feel really confident about their ability to run the football, and so I posed the challenge to our guys We have to stop the run and get them in situations where we can use our front four to get pressure on the quarterback.

Guys weren't in their gaps because they were trying to do more than they needed to or they flat-out got cut off, and that can't happen. It doesn't matter who the running back is, it doesn't matter who the offensive line is, you just can't give up the yardage in key situations.

I really enjoyed the conversation with Mr. (John) Shaw and Mr. (Jay) Zygmunt. I'm just really happy for the opportunity, and if anything else comes about, it'd be great. ... I guess the only thing I can do is just wait and see what happens.

They thought they were better than we were and in some instances, some positions, maybe they were better.

Guys are going to miss tackles and maybe it isn't just one individual as much as just the complete effort. You've got to make sure you've got all 11 guys running to the football, so if somebody does miss a tackle the guy doesn't gain the extra yards afterwards.

It's a good thing there's only one football at a time. This is a very dangerous group.

With the tools he has out there the wide receivers, the tight end and the running back you don't want the quarterback to get comfortable. You've got to try to get pressure one way or the other.

Chris is playing very well. It was good to have him back there. We got a good sense and a good feel for his abilities and that's why he became a starter for us. Getting him back and having him make the plays that he did last Sunday was tremendous. He is an impact player.

We missed Mike. We had to try to make adjustments in our personnel and to some of the things we wanted to do defensively, but that's not why we lost the game. We lost the game because they played better than us.

We would like to have had more pressure, but the play action kind of froze us. We stopped the run. Unfortunately, the result was they got away with a couple of big pass plays. (Palmer) threw the ball very well.

I'm at the point when the phone calls come and the preparation is made, all of that stuff will be thought out very carefully before I start making those decisions.

I'm real happy for the opportunity and if anything else comes about, that will be great. If not, I'm looking forward to next year.

We missed tackles, it's part of the game sometimes. You have to give credit to the running back, but in the same respect, I think some of the guys that missed tackles are some of our better players and we've most certainly got to improve on that.

We decided Alfonso, being a big body, was probably going to be the best bet for us. (Defensive line coach) Don Johnson felt very confident in his ability. Alfonso's a very sharp individual out there, and he did a tremendous job.