Ron Rivera and the Washington Commanders made one of the most impressive hires of the off season in hiring Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy as their new offensive play caller.
The move provided a change of scenery for Bieniemy, who now has an opportunity to grow under a seasoned veteran defensive minded head coach after years under offensive innovator Andy Reid with the Chiefs resulted a number of NFL head coaching interviews, but no head coaching offers.
Earlier this week, it came as a surprise to many when Rivera was asked about his new hand-picked offensive coordinator and offered, what appeared to be some rather critical comments on his coaching style and approach.
When asked if players have struggled to adapt to Bieniemy's intensity, Rivera shared that a lot of the young guys have come to him directly after struggling to adapt to the more old-school approach Bienemy is known for.
"Guys from certain programs are used to it it. Guys coming from other programs aren't as much. Eric has an approach and it's the way he does things and it's not going to change because he believes in it," he shared.
"Jack [Del Rio] has his approach, and having been a head coach, I think Jack has a tendency to try and figure guys out a little bit more as opposed to. 'Hey, this is the way it's going to be.' That type of stuff. Eric hasn't had that experience yet."
When Rivera was asked directly if players came to him feeling like Bieniemy was riding them too hard, he simply offered, "Well, uhm. They just were a little concerned."
You can see from that small excerpt how it could have been viewed as criticism of Bieniemy.
After a few days to reflect, Rivera wishes he would have chose his words more carefully, and has addressed that with Bieniemy.
"I basically told him I put my foot in my mouth," he shared in his opening comments at his most recent presser.
"I think what I said wasn't as clear as it needed to be. I think the understanding of it is just the fact that I think everybody's making, in my opinion, a little bit more than needs to be made of this. Because again, the results are what you're looking for on the field, and so far, the last couple days have been outstanding. I think Eric has done a great job of communicating his message now that guys have opened up, talked with him, he's opened up to them. It's been a great bit of growth the last couple of days that guys are starting to have the a-ha moments."
"There's been a lot of change, and the entire way of doing things has changed on the offensive side. Change is hard, and I've always encouraged our players to have great dialogue and build relationships with our staff. Since those conversations took place with Eric and the players, I've seen the improvements, and I can honestly say the last couple of practices probably have been the best of training camp, which I think is great. To me, that displays the team is beginning to embrace the message and approach to how he does things and how we want things done."
After adding that Bieniemy is a bit of a throwback coach, Rivera took responsibility for his initial comments, adding, "I just wanted to get that out there so that everybody understands I wasn't as clear as I probably needed to be, and I own that, and that's on me."
Hear more from Rivera in the clip.