Maybe Ron Rivera Should Fine Himself

Carolina’s head coach made an ill-fated decision to bench Cam Newton at the start of Sunday night’s game over a tie, and it may hurt him beyond the eventual 40–7 loss.

Admit it. You were just settling in to watch Sunday Night Football and were equally as stunned as Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth to see Derek Anderson trotting out there for the first play of the game.

It’s 2016, a primetime NFL game was kicking off, and no one on the Internet or even in the broadcast booth knew why the reigning MVP wasn’t starting the game. It was shades of Thurman Thomas in Super Bowl XXVI. Where was the MVP? Was he sick? Did he lose his helmet? Why wasn’t he on the field?

Because he didn’t wear a tie, it turns out.

Cam Newton didn’t wear a tie, so Ron Rivera benched him for a player who had started three games in six seasons. Cam Newton didn’t wear a tie, so Rivera sat him down for a guy who has won two of his last 10 starts. Cam Newton didn’t wear a tie, so Ron Rivera rolled Derek Anderson out there and watched him throw an interception (which, in fairness, bounced off the hands of his fullback) on the first play of the game.

Cam Newton didn’t wear a tie, so Ron Rivera decided to hang his team by it instead.

Ron Rivera has had something of a checkered history as an NFL head coach. In his first two seasons leading the Panthers, Rivera went 6–10 and then 7–9, and was regularly questioned for team preparation and in-game tactics. Rivera’s Panthers broke through for a division title in 2013, going 12–4 en route to Rivera garnering Coach of the Year recognition. The Panthers stumbled to a sub-.500 season the following year before bouncing back to last year’s sterling 15–1 record and a second Coach of the Year award for Rivera, along with a Super Bowl berth.

Somewhere along the way, Rivera picked up the nickname “Riverboat Ron” in reference to the increasingly frequent “risky” decisions he would make on behalf of his team. Those decisions were questionable when they didn’t turn out in his favor; they won him Coach of the Year when his star quarterback was good enough to come through in the same spots over the last few years. In a world of risk-averse coaches, Rivera takes a lot of chances.

Sometimes, Riverboat Ron takes too many chances.

The Panthers have had a rough 2016. It started with back-to-back losses to Denver — first in the Super Bowl and by a point in Denver to start the new regular season when Graham Gano missed a 50-yarder at the gun. A win over San Francisco was a nice respite, but it was followed up by losses to the Vikings, Falcons, Bucs, and Saints. Newton picked up a concussion and missed a game, and then star linebacker Luke Kuechly had another one, too. The Panthers were reeling, at least in terms of their record.

Before Sunday night’s fiasco in Seattle, Carolina’s last four losses had been by a field goal — a good team that was simply not quite doing enough to get the job done. The most recent such defeat was last week against Oakland, when Carolina went on a 25–0 run and somehow lost anyway. Early in that run, the Panthers had an extra-point attempt blocked, and Riverboat Ron responded by having his team go for two twice in succession afterward, chasing the points. Carolina missed both of those, and subsequently held a 32–24 lead in the fourth quarter, instead of 34–24.

Like just about everything else the Panthers have tried this season, Rivera’s gambit didn’t pay off. Oakland scored a touchdown and got the two for the tie, then later kicked the winning field goal. Had the Panthers just converted the two extra points they eschewed (or made one of the two-point attempts), the game would have been headed to overtime (if that) tied at 34, and Carolina’s season may not have been on life support coming into last night.

But the Panthers lost that one, and that loss meant that they entered the contest against hated rival Seattle with a paltry 4–7 record and the season on the line. They needed a win to keep faint playoff hopes alive, a daunting task on the road against a tough opponent, but there was reason for hope. After all, Carolina had played Seattle six times in the previous four years and kept it to a one-score margin all but once, winning both meetings last season.

It would be an uphill battle against Seattle’s defense and the vaunted 12th Man crowd, but anything was possible with reigning MVP Cam Newton — until it wasn’t.

At some point, presumably in the final minutes before the game (since no one in the world but Rivera seemed to know the news), something had happened and Ron Rivera decided enough was enough. Cam Newton had broken team rules and he would need to sit down. The intent was to sit Newton for a whole series, but that series lasted only one play, and it was an all-encompassing disaster. Rivera not only had the arrogance to sit his star, but also have his backup throw at the NFL’s best defense on the first play of the game.

Anderson took the snap and rolled right, throwing a pass that was tipped and intercepted, giving Seattle the ball on the 8-yard line to start the game. Carolina’s defense made a valiant stand and held the Seahawks to only a field goal, but the damage was done. Seattle was gifted three free points to start the game, the crowd was already into it, and Carolina knew it had yet another hole to dig itself out of — and it never did.

Ron Rivera said after the game that Cam Newton had made a team dress code violation (loaded with irony given Cam’s wardrobe) and that was the reason for him missing the start. No player — even a reigning MVP like Cam Newton — was bigger than the team. Rivera wanted to send a message.

Well, message received. Rivera sent a message to his entire franchise that Cam Newton was not bigger than the team — but that he, Riverboat Ron, was.

This was not about a tie or a dress code. You’re kidding yourself if you think a missing tie was the reason Newton missed the first play. We won’t know exactly what else Rivera had been upset with Newton about, but the missing tie was the perfect opportunity for him to make his point: You’re not the boss of this team, Cam. I am.

Rivera wanted his team to know that the buck stopped with him and that no one was outside the team rules. It’s a classic posturing move. If even the MVP can get benched, wow, everyone else better fall in line. It’s a great way to treat sixth graders on a Pop Warner team if you need to teach them a lesson, but it’s no way to treat a team of professional adults.

Think about how you would have felt if you were one of the 52 other players on the Panthers last night. What message did you get from your head coach, presumably just moments before heading out to kick off a must-win game against a hated rival on the road in a hostile environment? Was the message that you should wear a nice tie and learn from Cam Newton’s mistake, or was it that your head coach had an even bigger agenda that night than winning?

Think about how demoralizing it must have been for those players, falling immediately behind by three points, for the defenders instantly on the field trying to stop the bleeding because your coach wanted to make a point.

Point made, coach. Cam Newton is not bigger than the team, but you are.

The Panthers gave up a touchdown the next drive and never fully recovered, getting blown out in a game that all but ended their season. To top it off, Riverboat Ron elected to punt on 4th and 8 from the Seattle 39-yard line in the third quarter down 30–7 — a surrender flag if there ever was one — and then left Newton in to the bitter end anyway, a bonus convoluted message to his team and his star quarterback who has taken a battering this season.

It was, in total, ridiculous.

Now Carolina is 4–8, with less than a one-percent chance of making the playoffs, so it’s time to think about Newton. How happy do you think he is today? He’s not exactly a good loser. He’s taken repeated hits all season and been frustrated with the league for a lack of protection. His front office let him down this offseason by letting several free agents walk and putting the team in a hole to start the season. And now his coach has publicly thrown him under the bus in an ill-constructed power move.

After the game, Newton was publicly magnanimous, saying “I didn’t follow dress code, and Coach told me I wasn’t going to start. I stand by his decision.” According to reports, the issue arose because Newton didn’t have a collared shirt to wear after the team had shipped most of its stuff home after spending the week on the West Coast following the Oakland game. “I felt like I wore a similar outfit to this before and nothing was said,” Newton added, “but [Rivera] has rules in place, and I have to abide by them. No person is greater than the next person.”

Privately? You have to wonder how Newton feels. Rivera pretty openly pitted himself against his quarterback, and with the season set to disappoint even further, whatever issues are lingering between the two could worsen. At season’s end, one of these two may have to go, and which do you think it will be: the gambling coach or the former No. 1 pick and league MVP?

Ron Rivera wanted to send a message to his team Sunday night that this is his team. Now he has four games left to do something about it — or risk losing a much bigger showdown than last night’s game.

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