Peter Schrager has grown his profile to be one of the largest media members covering the NFL. He relived a lesson he learned from now-Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera during an appearance on Pardon My Take.
During the 2016 season, Rivera benched Cam Newton for not wearing a tie on the plane before playing the Seattle Seahawks. He was replaced by backup Derek Anderson, who threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown on the game’s opening play, en route to a 40-7 loss.
On the Monday edition of Good Morning Football, Schrager heavily criticized Rivera for his stance.
“The next morning I come in and I think ‘Here’s my moment. I’m gonna go viral. I’m gonna come out and take Ron Rivera to task.’ I don’t know Ron Rivera from anyone, but alright, I’m gonna take him down,” Schrager told the Barstool Sports podcast. “I get a text from Brandon Beane — who’s now the GM with the Bills but was in Carolina — and he’s like ‘Ooh boy. I just saw what you said, and Ron’s in the room with me. You might wanna call Ron’. And I thought ‘Call Ron? I don’t know him!’ I maybe did like a press conference at the Super Bowl or whatever.
“The next week, I was doing sidelines, I look at my FOX schedule, and you can’t make it up, I got Atlanta at Carolina,” Schrager continued. “So I’ve got to sit in a room — like this — with Ron Rivera. I’m shitting a brick the entire week. Cause A) I’m sure there’s a reason why (I got this game) and B) I went way overboard with it. I’m talking about losing his job, all this stuff. So I get in there and Beane stops me and he’s with Steven Drummond who’s their PR guy, and they’re like ‘Ron is looking to talk to you’ and I’m like ‘Ahh shit’.
“So I come in, and Ron reads me the riot act out of the gate. ‘Who the eff do you think you are? You’re nobody. You think you’re hot, I’ve never seen you. I don’t know you.’ And then he looks at those guys and says ‘I’m just f—ing with you’.
“And he says ‘I’m just f—ing with you, but everything I said is absolutely true. But let this be a lesson. Here’s my number — and you’re gonna learn this as you get into this role. I hope you’re not doing this for one season. You’re gonna learn this, if you’ve got something that’s really critical — and you want to be the Skip Bayless and you want to have that take — here’s my number. Let’s talk before you go on air.’ So he can explain it but I’m still authentic.”
