Ron Rivera calling the defensive plays is a good thing for Panthers

The Panthers should benefit from this.

It appears that Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera will continue to have a hand in defensive playcalling. Per a report from Steve Taranto of 247Sports Rivera will continue to take over playcalling for the defense. This news was first reported by Jordan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer.

As many of you may remember Rivera took the defensive headset from Eric Washington during the Week 13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He would continue to call plays for the rest of the season.

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All things considered, Rivera did a good job. Calling the plays comes back to his roots as he was a defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers. Any doubts about him still having what it takes to be a good defensive coach were diminished when the Panthers held the prolific New Orleans Saints offense to 12 points in Week 15.

I personally like the fact that Rivera will continue to call the plays on that side of the football. It seemed to work out for the Panthers in 2018 and it would be nice to have Rivera make the final say on whatever plays his defensive coordinator calls. Having two people on the same page would be nice for a defense that certainly has a lot of potential. At the very least, Rivera is in his element. That is certainly more beneficial for the team and the players individually. Especially with the talent on that side of the football, having a coach that is comfortable calling the defensive plays is a great thing.

It will be interesting to see how this affects whoever the team hires. Maybe the coach hired will focus more on working with the defensive players while Rivera will call the plays. Either way, it will be interesting to see how the dynamic works out. After all, it can’t get much worse than last year.

Ron Rivera needs to be more hands on with the Panthers and Wednesday’s news is certainly a step in the right direction. Hopefully, that means it will lead to more success. This team is too talented to underachieve and they have enough talent and athleticism at their disposal to make noise in the NFC South in 2019. The fact that they did not compete for postseason play this year was rather surprising. It just goes to show that nothing in the National Football League is guaranteed.