UPDATE:
At his Monday morning news conference, Rivera seemed to be much less pleased with Haskins’ performance. He was perhaps signaling the time is now for Haskins to improve and improve quickly.
On a day when there was plenty of blame to go around for the Washington Football Team, head coach Ron Rivera made one thing crystal clear in the post-game news conference. Dwayne Haskins is the starting quarterback now, next week, and for a long time to come.
“I’m going to take my lumps with Dwayne right now,” Rivera said Sunday. “Again, as long as he continues to do things that show you he can make things happen, I’m going to support the young man.”
Rivera watched his quarterback have perhaps the worst game of his pro career in a 34-20 defeat to the Cleveland Browns. Haskins finished 21 for 37 for 224 yards, two touchdowns, and a season-high three interceptions. He was also sacked three times and lost a fumble.
The former Ohio State products two first-half interceptions resulted in Browns’ points.
Cleveland turned the first interception into a Nick Chubb 16-yard touchdown run. Late in the second quarter, the second turnover turned into a Baker Mayfield nine-yard touchdown pass to Kareem Hunt.
Haskins did rally in the third quarter, however. Offensive coordinator Scott Turner went up-tempo with the play calling, and Haskins responded with his second touchdown pass of the day to Dontrelle Inman. Washington led 20-17 going into the 4th quarter, but the defensive line eventually wore down with Chase Young and Matt Ioannidis out of action with injuries sustained earlier in the game.
“I promise we go back and look at it our d-line went out there and played their butts off, and they gave us a chance and gave us an opportunity, but eventually it’s going to wear you down,” Rivera said. “It’s going to get to you at the end, and that’s precisely what happened.”
Back to Haskins. Last week, the sports radio universe in and around Washington D.C. seemed obsessed with Haskins’s impending ouster as the starter. Rivera was having none of it after the game.
“Is he going to learn taking show team snaps?” Rivera asked. “No, the only way we are going to learn where Dwayne is and what he can do for us is to put him back out on the football field and let him get exposed. That’s how he grows. That’s what we did with Cam Newton and look where he is today.”
Rivera drafted Newton in 2011, and in 2015 he won the league MVP in leading the Panthers to a 15-1 record and an NFC Championship.
“It’s part of the process, and we’re trying to learn how to play and not make these kinds of mistakes.”