Carolina Panthers' Ron Rivera wins Coach of the Year
 

Carolina Panthers' Ron Rivera wins Coach of the Year
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By Chris Wesseling
Around the League Writer
Published: Feb. 1, 2014 at 06:56 p.m.

NEW YORK -- Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera was announced as the 2013 Associated Press Coach of the Year at Saturday's "NFL Honors" awards ceremony.

Rivera faced stiff competition from the Chiefs' Andy Reid, the Eagles' Chip Kelly, the Seahawks' Pete Carroll, the Patriots' Bill Belichick and the Cardinals' Bruce Arians.

After entering the season on the hot seat, Rivera turned his Carolina career around in October by embracing a newfound aggressive philosophy.

Rivera's penchant for gambling on key fourth downs earned him the moniker "Riverboat Ron," galvanized his team and injected life into a stale organization.

This football epiphany gave rise to a franchise-record eight-game winning streak that ultimately resulted in 12 wins, the NFC South division title and the Panthers' first playoff appearance since 2008.

The front office promptly rewarded Rivera with a long-term commitment this week, recognizing the gradual improvement reflected in the team's 17-5 record over the past 22 games.

Having established himself as a risk-taker and one of the NFL's premier defensive strategists, Rivera's next challenge is to keep pace with the rest of the NFC superpowers by fostering more creativity in scheme and play-calling on offense. He has three more years to make it happen.

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I don't see how Andy Reid didn't win and I don't understand how Will Shields got overlooked.

Good for Rivera! He was a solid DC for a long time, then got his shot with Carolina and it was basically a make or break year for him. That Carolina defense is super good and if Newton can keep playing consistently they will continue to win a lot of games.

Andy didnt win because this team has 100000 Pro Bowlers and nothing to show for it

Most objective people would think that going 11-5 with a trip to the playoffs the year after being 2-14 and one of the worst teams in the history of the NFL was something to show for it.

Perspective. You need some.

Ron Rivera deserved to win this. I'm not an Andy hater whatsoever. But let's face it, Reid's success was by and large the result of an easier schedule and the fact that he replaced one of the most incompetent head coaches in football history. Rivera turned his own team around and he did it against a pretty tough schedule.

Voting is done when the season is over. Before playoffs start.

Reid was definitely in the running so people did respect what he did.

I know it, but mcaj22 is such a miserable **** he can't even let himself enjoy the turnaround.

Yeah sorry boys, 2-5 in your last 7 ain't gonna get you any hardware. Right, wrong, or indifferent, what you do at the end always out weighs what you do at the beginning. But 11-5 overall was pretty darn good

I'm not miserable about it, I just don't let my homerism get in the way. Ron Rivera was in a tougher division with a team with much lesser talent than what the Chiefs have. There is a valid case for him.

The talent on the Chiefs was here before Andy walked through the door.

This and blowing a 28 point lead doesn't make you a good coach.

I was just about to post that. after that ****ing embarrassing ass game. He doesnt deserve shit.

No attaboys from me. Regular season okness is not good enough.

The Panthers have so much team speed. I certainly don't think they are untalented.

It's kind of a shame that people forget already what a cluster of an organization this was 12 months ago. We literally had one of the best turnaround seasons in the history of the NFL.

Peyton won MVP but we all knew that would happen.