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Ron Rivera says Washington players ‘deserve better’ than what Dwayne Haskins gave Sunday

Zachary Neel
·2 min read

Ron Rivera made the call following Sunday’s rough loss to the Cleveland Browns, saying that he has no intention of making a change at the starting QB position following Dwayne Haskins’ four turnovers. He believes he owes more to Haskins than to pull the young QB at the first sign of trouble.

We believe this is the right call, but we also believe that Rivera isn’t beholden to his second-year passer until the end of time. You can stick with him for the future, and hope to see him grow, but at some point, there is a time where you say enough is enough.

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That’s exactly what Rivera stated to the media on Monday morning when talking about Haskins. He is still happy with the positive things that we’ve seen so far this season, but when 95 percent of your team plays a great game one week, and the QB is the one who gave it all away, the coach knows that his players worked too hard to see a game end this way.

Saying that his players ‘deserve better’ and that there is an eventual ‘cut-off’ point for pulling Haskins is a bit harsh, but I believe that’s exactly what the QB needs to hear in tough times like this. No. 7 isn’t a rookie anymore, though he’s only had 10 games of experience in the NFL. To the public, he is a second-year player who needs to be capable of winning a game when it’s gift-wrapped to you, and especially when his teammates left it all out there on the field and simply asked for you not to screw it up.

Haskins was unable to deliver on that in Sunday’s loss, but his coach is sticking by him with hopes that it will act as a learning experience. If he is unable to learn from it, however, Rivera made it loud and clear that Haskins’ job is expendable at some point, and he won’t be afraid to pull the plug in case of emergency.