Ron Rivera, Washington Commanders

We've got some hardware here on Radio Row inside the Convention Center. This is Zach Gelchow on CBS Sports Radio. The Salute to Service Award presented by USAA. Ron Rivera in the house, the coach of the commanders. Coach, thanks so much for coming on and congratulations.

Well, thank you. I'm very appreciative to USAA for this award because they've been so supportive as far as Salute to Service goes for the NFL. To be able to win it on behalf of my family, because I really do believe this is about family. My father served 30 years in the United States Army. My mother was there for him throughout his entire career with the military. And it means a lot because when you grow up on an Army base and you see the commitment and sacrifice people make for our country, the least we can do is say thank you.

And so that's why to me it's so important to give back because, like I said, my dad did 32 years. We had an opportunity to grow as young men. I had three brothers and we traveled from Fort Ord, California, our main base in California, to Heidelberg, Germany, Fort Lewis, Washington, back to Fort Ord, then to Fort Meade, Maryland, back to Fort Ord, down to Fort Gulag, Panama, and then back up. That was an awful lot of traveling. But the biggest thing, what it really was, more than anything else, was it was a great learning and growing experience.

I got a worldly education because I saw so many different things. But the thing that also I impressed and I learned more from my dealings with being a military kid and having soldiers come speak to our team is just how important culture is. And building a sustainable winning culture is very important to us. And the folks at USAA, I've been doing work with Army-Navy Radio Row for years and we go to so many events around the country, NFL Drafts, Super Bowl, like whatever it is, I always say the work that USAA does for that Army-Navy game is second to none. It's the best event that I've ever attended. Well, I most certainly don't disagree with you just because I know the commitment USAA has for our military and it's one of those things that if you're truly bought into something and believe in something, you're going to be there.

Well, they are there and they're there for our military community. Ron Rivera, the coach of the commanders here with us. Can you take me through, I know last year we talked about you guys needing a quarterback. I've not been a big proponent of Carson Wentz.

I used to love him in Philadelphia and then we saw the way that it ended. What did you guys see that made you say, okay, we're going to give up the capital to go get him? Well, more so than anything else, what you saw was his ability to get the ball downfield, to push the ball downfield, to make the vertical shots. It's one of the things that our offense was built around when that was running the ball, going hard play action, throwing the ball vertical. And it suited his skill set. We looked at a lot of the analytics that pointed to a lot of the things that he had done and the success he had had doing it.

And so we looked at those things and those were things that we felt we could emulate. And if we could get to that point with a running game, we felt really strongly about it. We felt he might be the guy and that's what we did. Do you think he'll be back on the team next year? No, we'll have to see things. We're going to have to sit down and go through our conversations with our personnel department next week and start making decisions because with free agency coming up pretty soon, we've got a lot of decisions we have to make. What do you think, and I know Taylor Heineck is also a free agent, but what do you think Taylor could be as you've been around him for a while? I think Taylor is a solid player. I think he's a guy that comes in and contributes and gives you a chance to win.

And then for Sam Howell, I know that there's been conversation and you've even talked about it. He could be your week one starter. What is Sam Howell as a quarterback? Well right now for us, Sam is going to come in as our guy is going to be QB one.

He's going to get an opportunity to earn the job and keep the job first and foremost, but he's going to have competition. We like Taylor Heineck who he has been for us. We also got to go out there and find somebody as well. We want to have a good room. We want to have a good competitive room so these guys can grow and develop as football players. How tough is it for you as a coach, Ron Rivera, because I look at your roster and I feel like we've been saying this the last two years, you guys are a quarterback away. You have one of the best receivers in the league in Taylor McClure. Jahan Dotson, everyone knew when you guys drafted him he was going to be a stud. Defensively, as long as everyone stays healthy, I know that's a big problem in this sport, the front seven is just ridiculous. And Brian Robinson Jr. is also a good young player.

Right. And again, I think our biggest problem or the issue we have more so than anything else has just been health. You look at the health that we suffered through some injuries on our offensive line last season and the year before it hit us as well. It's one of those things that if we can avoid that, stay healthy and build the right kind of depth, it gives us a chance to be successful. Is the culture still there? Do you kind of sense that maybe some guys go it's the same thing every year with the quarterback?

No. I think right now you look at things and you feel good about where we've gotten to more so than anything else. I think the Dallas game last year showed us what our potential is of who we can be and who we are. You know, we can be a very scrappy physical team. We can win battles up front. We can run the ball if we have to and we have playmakers that can be explosive.

That's what I believe we can be. So we've got to continue to work towards that and keep putting pieces into place. I know you can't keep everyone, but when it comes to Daron Payne, and that's going to be the tough part for you.

You have so many guys on that front seven. Where does he fall in the priority order of getting him back with the commanders? He's somebody that we're going to most certainly try and work things out and get things going in the right direction. He's a young man that we didn't take his fifth year option, which now turns out to be a mistake because he had a very productive year. He's going to have to be compensated the right way.

So we've got to find an opportunity to work with them and see what we can do. Your thought on the game coming up this weekend? I like it. I think the game's going to come down. I really do think the game's coming down to the last possession. And I think it's going to be one of those that's going to be a three, four, five point difference.

And whoever has the ball last, it's going to be interesting to watch what happens. And preparing for Jalen Hurts. It's got to be a nightmare because it's not just that he could run, but it's the threat of him being able to run because it doesn't always have to be where he burns you on the ground. You bite, you think he's running, and the next thing you know, he'll go throw a pass 50 yards downfield.

Absolutely. And that's the difficult part for you as a defense is that you have to understand what they're trying to do and how they're trying to do it. But you also have to understand what this young man's abilities are. I mean, he has the ability to be a triple threat on every play.

He can hand it off, he can run it himself, or he can throw it. I mean, those are the difficulties you deal with. Coach, last thing we'll ask you, one of our coworkers, he does our updates, is Rich Ackerman, who I know you worked with years and years ago in Chicago. You guys that close? I heard you're pretty friendly. I am.

I am. Rich is a good, solid young man. He really is. He's old now. Yeah, he's old. You're right. I keep forgetting.

That was a long time ago that we worked together. But Rich is a good dude. He really is. He's got a good heart. He likes people. And he's a people person.

I really do. He and I have always had great conversations about sports, about life, everything in general. And he's a young man.

He's a person that I do appreciate. Now, I'll say this, and he's a very picky eater. But a little birdie told me that you once invited him over for Thanksgiving. Now, he big-timed you because he had to work on the holiday.

And that's the dedication of the act man, Rich Ackerman. What would have been at the Rivera Thanksgiving household? Oh, it would have been turkey. It would have been ham.

Again, I'm not sure about the ham because of his religion. But it was turkey, gravy with mashed potatoes, vegetables, cranberry. I mean, it was a very typical Thanksgiving. Yeah, well, I do this thing every year. I think turkey is overrated for Thanksgiving.

My family, we do lasagna, and that's the main dish. Okay, hey, to each his own as long as we give thanks. You got it. Once again, Coach, good luck moving forward, good health, and thanks so much for coming on and bringing the hardware here, the Salute to Service Award presented by USAID. Now, you know that's fashioned after a challenge coin. On the back of it's the story about the challenge coin. The whole idea behind that was something that the soldiers were presented as a congratulatory or a pride or something that just said, hey, you know what, you're appreciated. And what happened was this one pilot in World War I was handing coins out to people.

You know, it was a show of appreciation. And this one pilot who had this coin goes up for a flight, gets into a battle, gets shot down, and escapes, gets back to France, gets close to Paris, and he gets captured. Well, they think he's a spy, so as they empty his pockets and stuff and they're going to execute him, they notice this coin. One of the French soldiers notices this coin and says, no, no, wait a minute. This is a coin that's been handed out to them. This is an American pilot.

So it basically saved his life, and that's kind of one of the traditions, one of the stories that we hear as far as the coin is concerned. Coach, always great to see you. Thanks so much for coming on. No, I appreciate it. Thank you. The biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl, is on Odyssey.

And Westwood One brings it to you, streaming live for free, Sunday, February 12th, on the Odyssey app. The Eagles have been the NFC's best team. Touchdown, Travis Kelce. It's the Eagles versus the Chiefs. The Kansas City Chiefs. The Philadelphia Eagles. Are going to the Super Bowl.

Again. Catch all the action from Westwood One. Your Super Bowl, your Odyssey. Get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. The biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl, is on Odyssey.

And Westwood One brings it to you, streaming live for free, Sunday, February 12th, on the Odyssey app. The Eagles have been the NFC's best team. Touchdown, Travis Kelce. It's the Eagles versus the Chiefs. The Kansas City Chiefs. The Philadelphia Eagles. Are going to the Super Bowl.

Again. Catch all the action from Westwood One. Your Super Bowl, your Odyssey. Get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. The biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl, is on Odyssey.

And Westwood One brings it to you, streaming live for free, Sunday, February 12th, on the Odyssey app. The Eagles have been the NFC's best team. Touchdown, Travis Kelce. It's the Eagles versus the Chiefs. The Kansas City Chiefs. The Philadelphia Eagles. Are going to the Super Bowl.

Again. Catch all the action from Westwood One. Your Super Bowl, your Odyssey. Get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today.