"To me, the best thing that Ron does is he gets out from behind the desk and spends time with his players in the locker room," McDermott told me, when asked what made Rivera special as a coach. "We know how important that is in today's NFL. Ron's a leader of people and puts them in position to be successful, and he listens to the players. He does a good job of that, and yet at the same time, he knows the way he wants it to look and how he wants it done. He never delegates the standard."