The Washington Football Team knew just what it was getting when it hired Ron Rivera -- players wouldn't quit for him no matter the adversity they faced. Trailing by 17 points to the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday wasn't the most inspiring comeback by Washington during the afternoon, as what happened at halftime had a more powerful impact toward the upset.
Rivera, who revealed his cancer diagnosis in August, had to receive a precautionary IV at halftime of Washington's 27-17 win over Philadelphia -- leaving the team without a head coach to speak in the locker room.
Dwayne Haskins took ownership and delivered a speech to rally Washington, the type of leadership Rivera preached all offseason that he wanted from his starting quarterback. From what Rivera heard, the halftime speech Haskins gave was "raucous."
"Pretty much the moral of the speech was, 'We're home. We're the home team,'" Haskins said." I was just trying to find a way to motivate the guys. They're the visitors. There's no reason why we should be little bro to them. There was nothing that they did that really stopped us."
The Eagles got off to a 17-0 lead as Carson Wentz was 14 of 18 for 182 yards and two touchdowns. Washington's defensive line was getting to Wentz, but the Eagles quarterback was making plays regardless. After a 34-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert, that changed.
Wentz finished 10 of 24 for 88 yards with two interceptions, a paltry 14.4 passer rating. The Eagles didn't score a point the rest of the way as Washington rallied to score 27 unanswered points in the comeback. The key play was Rivera going for it on fourth-and-1 from the Eagles 5-yard line with the game tied 17-17 midway through the fourth quarter, handing the ball off to Peyton Barber for a 1-yard gain. Barber scored the go-ahead touchdown two plays later and the Eagles had -3 yards of offense the rest of the way.
"I did that because I wanted to show the guys I believe in them," Rivera said. "I believe we could have got that first down and they did. ... This just shows what these guys what they are capable of. We didn't come here to tie, we came here to win the football game."
Washington was already an improved team the minute Rivera was hired, and it currently sits atop the NFC East after Sunday's game. Rivera is already making an impact in Washington after just one game at the helm, snapping a six-game losing streak to Philadelphia in the process.
