I watched a few videos on the Panthers' site last night.
I gotta say, it is really nice to hear people excited about a team. There's a "Panther's Huddle" segment with three media types talking about the team for about 15 minutes. Their enthusiasm is refreshing.
I also really enjoyed listening to Rivera's press conference. He answers questions rather directly and doesn't shy away from mentioning particular players' mistakes, but also praises them in a balanced way too. He had some interesting things to say about keeping players in competition for their positions.
One thing that I really liked about this particular press conference is that Rivera mentioned rhythm, as in the rhythm of the game and how offenses need to get in rhythm. IMO, this is something that Garrett fails to adequately appreciate. Garrett places such an emphasis on perfecting each individual play that he appears to be tone deaf about continuity and the big picture. Anyway, Rivera "gets it" and it is nice to hear him speak of it.
Another thing about Rivera -- I think he's really quite bright. For me, he doesn't give that impression immediately, but as you listen to him speak, he'll drop some pretty decent vocabulary words into his answers from time to time. Just spontaneously. It took me a bit by surprise to be honest. Clearly this guy is more than a stereotypical former jock.
It is also quite nice to hear a head coach speak more like a normal person during a press conference instead of the weird Dale Carnegie thing that Garrett does.