133 Quotes by Ron Rivera

He's a young man who will come in and spot our other two guys in pass-rush situations. He is athletic and comes off the end very hard, has speed and quickness, was productive, played in a big-time program, so he is used to this kind of football. We think he is going to fit us very well and give us flexibility.

He had time to throw. Some of their play-action bought them good time. We were geared up to stop the run, which we did do a pretty fair job of.

What I see is a guy who is matching up against a No. 1 receiver. It's a tough duty, and we know it. We believe in him, and we believe the young man can get the job done. Unfortunately, he got beat on a couple of plays. As he develops and continues to develop as a young corner, he'll get better with his technique.

Guys are going to miss tackles and maybe it isn't just one individual as much as just the complete effort. You've got to make sure you've got all 11 guys running to the football, so if somebody does miss a tackle the guy doesn't gain the extra yards afterwards.

We have to also understand that in critical situations, third-and-seven, third-and-eight, whatever it takes to get him down, you have to do it.

Guys weren't in their gaps because they were trying to do more than they needed to or they flat-out got cut off, and that can't happen. It doesn't matter who the running back is, it doesn't matter who the offensive line is, you just can't give up the yardage in key situations.

I talked with coach (Smith) on a number of occasions. I think the neat thing about it is he does have a lot of insight into the place.

I think as a coach the ultimate goal obviously is to be a head coach. And you do have to look at the opportunities, where you fit. Does that place in particular fit you? I'll go through the process this week and then again at the same time not lose my focus on what the ultimate goal is, and that's the playoffs.

Some of the guys we counted on stepping up or needing to step up really didn't show up, and that was disappointing. We can't have that kind of drop-off between the first group and second group.