Legends influence Rivera

John Madden and Mike Ditka are seemingly at daily practices.

- Rick Snider

Washington coach Ron Rivera played under Ditka in Chicago and has been a long-time admirer of Madden, a former Oakland coach and broadcaster. The lessons learned from the Super Bowl-winning coaches influence workouts in Ashburn.

“The biggest thing was [Ditka] always warned us. He always warned us: ‘You guys are building this up too much. Just be careful, guys. They build you up too much and put you on that pedestal and then they knock you down,’ ” Rivera said. “He used to always say: ‘Careful what they write, careful what they say, guys. You don’t want to lose the focus. Let’s stay focused.’ He did emphasize that. He didn’t want to get us caught up in what was going on or what was being written about us. He wanted us to stay focused. That was a big part of it, was that staying humble is important.”

Madden’s approach was avoiding midweek letdowns that cause Sunday losses.

“After big wins, you can’t pick up where you left off. You just can’t because if you do, you’re going to miss the little details,” Rivera said. “I told the guys we have to pay attention to the little things, we have to pay attention to the details, start from the bottom and prepare ourselves for this week’s game.