Commanders head coach Ron Rivera may have surprised some of the media Friday, but he made himself absolutely clear.
Rivera was asked if he saw defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio’s comments Thursday concerning Commanders’ linebacker Jamin Davis. In addition, he was asked if those comments “were necessary to get some better play out of Jamin?”
Though the two sharply disagreed earlier this year resulting in Del Rio being fined, in this instance, Rivera made it clear from the outset that he and Del Rio are on the same page regarding the play of the second-year linebacker out of Kentucky. Shouldn’t they be? They both were NFL linebackers, linebacker coaches, defensive coordinators and head coaches.
“Well, I think we know that Jack’s honest and it’s an honest assessment. You know, the guy (Davis) did have a really good training camp. He played very well and we would like to see him play better. I don’t disagree with it. Jamin played hard. He gave a great effort, but let’s play smarter. Let’s understand that we gotta use our techniques. I talked about it. We put him in a tough position, but we think he can do it. Now, use the technique and make that guy go up and around. Don’t lose your leverage. Those are the things that I think Jack was a little frustrated with because he had a good camp and he did play well.”
Might have been surprised to hear Del Rio be so publicly critical of Jamin Davis, but Davis did struggle. Here's two examples of the issues he had in coverage. Both times matched up on RB out of the backfield, got beat far too easily on both occasions. pic.twitter.com/X8eHgoxDbG
— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) September 15, 2022
Rivera was then asked regarding Davis’ struggles against Jacksonville in Week 1.
“Going up against somebody a little bit different, some things that you anticipate certain things happening, but something else happens. Well, then you’ve gotta react and fall back to your techniques and he didn’t. But that tells us that we’ve gotta continue to work with him and continue to put him in positions where he can have success.”
Rivera spoke of sometimes inexperienced players can inadvertently have the game’s excitement result in their missing their techniques. “The excitement of the game. The way things happen, and it’s gonna happen. And it’s a thing where you just continue to rep it, continue to work it and continue to develop your craft and your skill.”
“I think that (the technique) was probably the biggest thing. If you sit there and you watch him, he backs up a little bit, opens up the underneath and the guy takes it. Now, if he pops his feet, stays active, plants that inside leg, and forces him up over the top, that’s exactly what we’re hoping to get out of that situation. It’s just, those are little detail things that you’ve gotta continue to develop and grow as a player. And at that point, that would’ve been a good opportunity to show the growth that we’re looking for and expecting from him.”
Rivera likened Davis to one of linebackers in Carolina years ago.
“We had a player in Carolina, [LB] Thomas Davis, who arguably could be a Hall of Famer, but you look at the beginning of his career and he made a lot of mistakes. There were a lot of things that he had to learn and grow through, and fight through the injuries that he had. But, you see the same thing when you watch Jamin, you see the little detail things that he doesn’t quite get right now. But as he continues to work at it, and continues to grow and continues to develop, his skill set is gonna translate because the young man has good quickness, he’s got good speed and he’s got good natural strength. It’s just a matter of time.”
Rivera also was clear that he and Del Rio expect more from Davis now in his second year.
“The expectations are higher. You know what I’m saying? And those are our expectations. So, our expectations shouldn’t be higher than his. He should be wanting to be perfect every time. We just wanna make sure he understands and again, I have no issue with what Jack said, because again first of all, it’s just his honest assessment. Secondly, I agree with him. I agree that the young man had a good camp and I thought he played well in the preseason. I expect him to go out and do those things. Again, if it’s a base fundamental thing, issue like that, like it was, let’s get those corrected, don’t repeat the mistakes.”
