The Schiano-Rivera Conversation
December 5th, 2013
NFL Network caught Ron Rivera offering counseling
Panthers head coach Ron Rivera was considered a dead coach a couple of months ago after his talented team was 1-3. He was getting run out of Carolina.
Now, the Panthers have won eight in a row and Rivera is a genius and Panthers tickets are a hot item.
The NFL Network video linked here is of Rivera “mic’d up” for the Bucs-Panthers game Sunday. It opens with Rivera seeming to counsel Greg Schiano on the subject of team revival before the game.
“But it’s like all of a sudden one day you go, ‘holy smokes!'” Rivera tells Schiano as the two men stand face to face. “You know, Look at what they’re doing. Look at the way they’re practicing. Look at the extra time in the meeting room. God. It’s like all of a sudden, Bam! The switch went.”
Joe wishes he could have heard the full conversation. Somewhere under lock and key at NFL Films, that audio lives!
The video closes with Rivera, after the Panthers beating of the Bucs, telling Schiano, “Keep working, Greg.” before the two embrace. Schiano and Rivera were on Dave Wannstedt’s Chicago Bears staff coaching defense together in the late 1990s. So it’s likely the two felt comfortable sharing.
Strictly guessing, Joe suspects Schiano asked his colleague how/when he knew the Panthers turned the proverbial corner. Would that mean Schiano isn’t sure about the Bucs? Joe will leave that to the wild speculators.
December 5th, 2013 at 11:19 am
One big difference is that their defense is playing how a defense should. if we had better coordinators we would be in much better shape with a much better record. Our defense is talented but the way the plays are called, the players strengths are not being utilized. Offense is another issue, but also another coordinator issue. I think if we get rid of those two coaches, we will be in good shape next year. I feel like Schiano had to choose from the heap because he was hired so late, better days are coming.
December 5th, 2013 at 11:33 am
This is Schiano’s Offense and Defense. That is why the Bucs are struggling and will continue to strugle. The NFL game is changing and it does not fit Schiano’s style of coaching.
December 5th, 2013 at 11:35 am
I was unaware they knew each other at all.
December 5th, 2013 at 11:53 am
Rivera’s team turned the corner. Schiano’s team has yet to do so. How long can everyone wait to see if the proverbial switch flips? The roster is too talented to lose 9 games and counting. It points to a coaching problem and possibly the wrong mix of players, which is a player evaluation problem. The players are playing the scheme the coaches are giving them and they seem to be playing hard. There’s definitely a problem to be solved.
December 5th, 2013 at 12:34 pm
Following another loss in October of 2012, Cam Newton in an after-game interview said “something’s got to change”. The following Monday Marty Hurney, after taking the Panthers to a Super Bowl and two NFC championships, was unceremoniously fired.
In comes Dave Gettleman who drafts two DTs in the 1st and 2nd round of the 2013 draft (came from the Giants who understands that you build a defense from the front back) and proclaims “We are built to win now”!
After starting the 2013 season with 3 losses in the first four games, Gettleman started an exhaustive coaching search to replace Ron Rivera. NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport, quoting league sources, reported on “NFL GameDay Morning” that Carolina already has put in the works the groundwork for a search if a decision is made to part with coach Ron Rivera. Rapoport said the Panthers had begun background checks to the point one candidate already knows of the team’s interest.
Gettleman now denies that such a search was conducted, but needless to say something has got the Panthers on a 9 game winning streak and once hotseat Rivera feeling safe enough to give survival advice to now hotseat Schiano.
MORAL: If you want things to change, you have got to change things!
December 5th, 2013 at 12:46 pm
Exactly 976… We’ve got serious coordinator issues. Sullivan’s top ten offense last year was a fluke, as V-jax, Williams and Martin feasted on bad defenses but were denied easily by better ones.
Schiano has verbalized his discontent with the offense, but he won’t make a move till the offseason because that’s just the kind of guy he is. This offense needs a shot in the rear and some creative and more aggressive play calling.
As for the defense… I think Schiano should just take over. Sheridan is basically a middle man. IF Schiano gets another year, let him take total responsibility for the D so if it still fails it’ll be clear why.
this organization can’t justify going into next season with the same coaching staff. If Schiano stays than he’ll have to grow some balls and exile some “family” members.
December 5th, 2013 at 1:02 pm
OR
Rivera is just offering words of encouragement to a friend?
Seems like a “wild speculation” to me lol
December 5th, 2013 at 2:37 pm
Joe that last sentence assuming Greg Schiano isn’t sure about the bucs is down right atrocious to even write. No facts. It’s Rivera giving advice and you twisting words.
Appreciate your passion, but you need to check your reading skills. –Joe
December 5th, 2013 at 2:56 pm
Look joe. Schiano took over a team that was ran 120 miles south of a winning football team. Dom and rah couldn’t draft for dollar bills at a strip club. Schiano came in 2012 and Dom overpaid in FA bc he missed in the draft. Couldn’t get a franchise qb but gets all the credit for putting together talent. IMO stokes came in as the college director of scouting same year as schiano and drafting has changed. IMO 2012 was the rebuild year.
December 5th, 2013 at 2:59 pm
Strictly guessing, Joe suspects Schiano asked his colleague how/when he knew the Panthers turned the proverbial corner. Would that mean Schiano isn’t sure about the Bucs? Joe will leave that to the wild speculators.
I wouldn’t even put that into print joe. ^^^^
December 5th, 2013 at 8:27 pm
Panthers head coach Ron Rivera was considered a dead coach a couple of months ago after his talented team was 1-3. He was getting run out of Carolina.
What if his team had lost 8 in a row,what would they have done in Carolina,if they were calling for the coach head at 1-3.