Sir Purr
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- Mar 16, 2019
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Road Warriors
Last week in Arizona, Rivera mentioned how cool he thought it was to see players spending their free time together and bonding on the road.
While the team may not have had an extra day in Houston like they did in Arizona, Rivera still saw the guys relaxing in "pods," sharing meals and watching college football games. Rivera said he thinks that time spent together is part of the reason why the Panthers are 2-0 on the road this season.
“It’s a new group. We’ve had a lot of transition in two seasons," Rivera said. "What used to be a very steady, familiar locker room, these guys have got to get to know each other all over again."
Rivera said one of the easiest places to see this development is along the defensive line, a unit with four new members.
"You talk about guys coming together," Rivera said. "You’ve got Gerald (McCoy) who’s brand new to us, Bruce (Irvin) who’s brand new to us, we’ve got two draft picks that are brand new to us that are all part of this pass rush. These are all guys that have to learn to work together and they’ve got to learn to come together as a group.”
If a little road trip was all it took to start winning, you can only imagine what could have happened if the Panthers had started out on the road, and Rivera wonders, too.
“Kind of sad that we didn’t do it sooner, because I just think it helped," Rivera said.