NFL Power Rankings, Week 7: Steelers, Buccaneers make emphatic leap

They don’t call him “Riverboat Ron” for nothing. Ron Rivera earned his nickname while coaching the Panthers for his willingness to roll the dice and take some chances. Well now as the head coach of the Washington Football Team, he continues to gamble. But on Sunday, he probably shouldn’t have.

Washinton found themselves trailing by 10 for most of the game against the New York Giants but they still found a way to make it close. In fact, quarterback Kyle Allen his Cam Sims for a 22-yard touchdown pass that made it 20-19 with just 36 seconds left to play. All they had to do was kick the extra point and head to overtime to try and win. Well, that’s not what Rivera wanted to do.

The coach decided to go for the win but they failed and New York scored the victory. After the game, Rivera talked about how he was trying to teach his team that they need to play like winners. Oddly enough, he had a different philosophy early in the year as they let the clock run down on them against the Arizona Cardinals in a 15-point Week 2 loss, then did the same thing in a Week 3 as they were down 34-20 against the Browns and let them run the clock out despite having three timeouts.

Sure, they would have needed a score and onside kick in each scenario but if you’re trying to learn to win, wouldn’t you go for it there as well? Either way, they’re now 1-5 and things are falling apart fast for them.