The Ron Rivera-coached defenses of 20 years ago might not even recognize the inflated markers that he used to define a successful game by his final year as an NFL head coach in 2023.
Forget what some of Rivera’s teammates on the greatest defense ever — the 1985 Bears — might think about trying to hold offenses to 20 points, 100 rushing yards and 200 passing yards per game.
“Those numbers slid up,” Rivera told The Post, “because the old ones became almost unrealistic.”
Whether it is the 2021 Bills blowing a three-point lead in the playoffs by allowing two long passes in 13 seconds, the 2022 Colts squandering a 33-point halftime lead, or the 2024 Jets losing six fourth-quarter leads (tied for the most in a season since 2014), no lead is safe anymore because the pendulum has swung toward offense for reasons ranging from rule changes to offensive innovation to popularizing analytics.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
