Ron Rivera

Analytics are flawed because they cannot account for the emotional impact of momentum on a football game.

There are some aspects of the game people don't believe in. It's crazy because people that truly believe in numbers, pure analytics, do not believe in momentum. They don't believe in the emotional part of the game. There's an emotion that goes throughout a player's body... this is not measurable. People that truly believe in the numbers don't understand how you can sit there and say, well, momentum has taken over.

John Madden's advice to ignore 'the book' and trust coaching instincts on fourth down changed my career.

I said to him, I was going by the book. [Madden] said, 'What book?' He said, 'Ron, you know enough football, you've done enough football to do these things. You know when's the right time to do it. Nobody else does.' I realized I was doing what was safe. What was acceptable. Because back then nobody went for it on fourth. From that point on, that's the way I looked at things.

The NFL is entirely a quarterback-driven league

I was asked in a press conference a couple years ago... what's the big difference between you guys and the other three teams in your division? My answer was quarterback... I asked the same question the other day to a group of people. What's the difference between Washington right now and Washington I had? Well, they got quarterback. It's a quarterback driven league, folks.

Christian McCaffrey is the ultimate professional because of his meticulous pre- and post-practice recovery routine.

[Christian McCaffrey] got out early, he warmed up before practice. He got done, he warmed down after practice. He went in, he took care of his body. He got in the ice tub, he got in a hot tub. He did all the extra stuff that you're supposed to do... he was that mature when he showed up [as a rookie]. He really is one of my favorite guys, just because of who he was and the way he did things.