Ron Rivera to attend brother's funeral, miss Panthers' weekend practices

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera will miss practice on Saturday and Sunday to attend funeral services for his older brother.

Assistant head coach Steve Wilks will assume Rivera's duties while the coach is in Reno, Nevada, for the service.

Mickey Rivera, 56, died on Tuesday after a two-year bout with pancreatic cancer. Rivera referred to his brother as one of his "1st & best teammates" when announcing the news on Twitter.

Rivera got the news while moving back into his Charlotte, North Carolina, home that had to be rebuilt after fire destroyed it in January during a playoff run.

"It's been a series of ups and downs," Rivera said Thursday of the past week as players reported to training camp at Wofford College. "We got back off of vacation and we were moving back into our home, and then we got the word about my brother, Mickey.

"It did make it tough. For the most part he's in a better place now. In Mickey's mind he didn't want to be a distraction, but the timing was not good."

Rivera said Mickey became an inspiration to him last season while the Panthers endured a two-month losing streak and even more so after his house fire.

The Panthers rallied from a 3-8-1 start to win their final four regular-season games and a playoff game.

"The one thing about it, and knowing who my brother was, it never really was about him," Rivera said of Mickey, who owned several pizza restaurants in Reno. "He never complained. He just went out and worked hard.

"When you talk about somebody who is in a situation like he is and you see they just keep going forward and they just keep doing the best they can, you do draw inspiration from it. You do draw strength."

Rivera admitted seeing his players and coaches at camp has been a nice distraction from the stress of the past week.

"It's been an interesting few days trying to pack and unpack boxes from the rental house to our own home -- which it's been nice to sleep in our own beds for a few nights before coming out here," Rivera said.

"Getting the news about Mickey was tough. But it is nice to see the players. It's nice to hear the guys talk about what their expectations are."

He smiled when told that defensive end Mario Addison predicted the Panthers would reach the Super Bowl.

"Well, good," Rivera said. "I appreciate that, as long as he doesn't put it in the paper, we'll be OK with that, a la Kalil."

Center Ryan Kalil took out a full page ad in the Charlotte Observer prior to 2012 training camp guaranteeing the Panthers would win the Super Bowl. They went 7-9.

Kalil likely will be one of the veteran leaders Rivera said he'll talk to in order to make sure they help Wilks keep the team on track while Rivera is away.