The Many Gambles of Riverboat Ron Rivera

As much as I’ve touted Bruce Arians over the course of the season, there’s no doubt that Carolina’s Ron Rivera is destined to be awarded the AP NFL Coach of the Year for what he’s accomplished thus far. It’s a well deserved accolade for the man behind the top scoring offense in the league, and one of its most fearsome defenses. Would you believe that it would be the second time Ron Rivera’s been honored with this award?

I talked to a lot of people who both write about football and love the game as much as I do to see what they thought of Ron Rivera. The consensus was simple: not much. For a coach as accomplished as Rivera, he leaves a strangely small footprint on the mainstream consciousness.

In the Internet era, almost every coach as successful as Rivera has some sort of defining quality. Arians is a football genius. Belichik is stone cold with the media. Even a guy like Jim Caldwell is known for his dumb face.

There’s no such hot take on Riverboat Ron Rivera. Why not?