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Entry #10 Rivera Brings Excitement To The Carolina Panthers Posted August 29, 2011, 3:50pm by Doug Ropp
I was up in the stands that day and I ran into former Bears linebacker Ron Rivera. I do not know much about his playing days except that he was on the Bears Super Bowl Championship team. I addressed him immediately and he was very nice. I enjoyed listening to him on the Score in those days. His wife Stephanie was a coach on one of the teams. Yahoo says she was the Coach of the Twisters. Little did I know Rivera and I would wind up in Charlotte; 10 years later for me and 15 for him.
Rivera brings a new infusion of energy to the Panthers. After working for the Bears, Chargers and Eagles, Rivera figures to bring an attacking defense. The early reports from Steve Reed of the CarolinaGrowl.com say Rivera is a players coach who is a solid teacher and he gets his point across when needs to. Rivera played under Buddy Ryan’s vaunted “46” defense and was also under the tutelage of the late Jim Johnson at Philadelphia. Johnson was also known for his defensive packages. Johnson was an alumnus of Proviso East High School.
With Rivera in place as coach, owner Jerry Richardson also has gone out and spent some money this season. At the beginning of the lockout, Jerry Richardson came out as “gloom and doom” Jerry. Richardson pretty much tanked it last season, cutting salaries and keeping lame duck coach John Fox for another year. Many observers around here claim it was to prepare for the lock out as they say Richardson has always been willing to spend money in the past. Spending money does not always mean wins though.
Defensively, Rivera will have linebacker Jon Beason to work with and they are counting on help from defensive lineman Charles Johnson, who they resigned to a big contract. Unfortunately, Beason may be hampered by an injured Achilles this season and newly acquired Ron Edwards is out for the season. Linebacker Thomas Davis has helped out after returning from a major knee injury.
Offensively under John Fox, the Panthers were very conservative which is probably why they would play above .500 ball one year and sub .500 ball the next during his tenure as coach. Rivera changed all that immediately bringing in Rob Chudzinski. Chudzinski likes to utilize the tight ends and Rivera wants to be very aggressive on offense. The Panthers brought in former Bear Greg Olsen and they signed Jeremy Shockey. The Panthers have two solid backs in DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. Then at wide receiver, they have the feisty Steve Smith.
Although there is a lot of excitement and energy to this football team, it is probably going to take some time. After a win over Giants in exhibition week one, WFNZ Sports radio said the Panthers have struggled in losses to the Bengals and Dolphins. WFNZ said their defensive lines and offensive lines have been out played. Also cornerback Chris Gamble has been burned. Number one draft pick Cam Newton had a good week one but he has struggled since. So there is going to be a learning curve for him.
WFNZ has also questioned General Manager Marty Hurney’s draft picks. Defensive lineman Everett Brown has struggled and some wonder why he would draft a project like App State quarterback Armanti Edwards. Edwards has come into camp much improved but Hurney still has failed to get a #2 wide receiver opposite Steve Smith. Hurney did a good job in getting Derek Anderson as a back-up behind Newton and Jimmy Clausen. Hopefully, Rivera will give Hurney a kick in the butt so they bring in the players Rivera wants and needs to make Carolina successful.
With Rivera in as coach, I have decided to become an official fan of the Panthers. My former official fandom came in the form of the Cowboys before Jerry Jones became owner and I also had the Raiders as my other official team until Jon Gruden got rid of Jeff George. I also made the Bears my official team in 1995 for only one season. The Bears are back to being one my favorite teams though I am not fully invested. My other favorite teams right now without being fully invested are the Eagles, Patriots, Colts and Vikings.
All in all, I hope I can be a Panthers fan for a long time now and want Rivera to be extremely successful. Hopefully, he will make Bears fans wish they never got rid of him.
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On
a summer day in 1995 or 1996 in the pre-WNBA days, I headed off to DePaul
University for a women’s basketball game involving what I believe was the
Chicago Twisters (after searching on google.com).
