Sir Purr
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- Mar 16, 2019
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A step forward in the run defense
One of the positives Rivera was able to take away from Sunday’s loss came in the run defense.
The Panthers entered the matchup allowing the sixth-most rushing yards in the league and were just a week removed from giving up 163 yards on the ground to Green Bay. The Panthers’ D finally got back on track against the Falcons though, at least as far as stopping the run was concerned.
The Panthers held the Falcons to just 54 rushing yards on 26 attempts, marking the defense’s second-best outing of the season against the run.
“That’s how we should have been playing all along,” Rivera said. “That’s probably the toughest pill to swallow, because when we do the things we’re supposed to, stay in our creases like we should, we fight through pressure, we play a gap-and-a-half technique, we fall back where we need to, we can be pretty good.”
While pointing out positives, Rivera also made time to compliment safety Tre Boston’s play against the Falcons.
“One of the guys I really highlighted today in our meeting was the way Tre Boston played,” Rivera said. “I thought Tre came out and played a very, very good game. He was very physical, handled a lot of things that were thrown at him.”
Boston led the Panthers with eight total tackles, including two vicious hits early in the game. Boston also added a tackle for loss and a pass defensed.