CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Washington coach Ron Rivera was having trouble eating. His throat was sore from the proton radiation and chemotherapy treatment and it was hard for him to swallow.

Then a package arrived.

It was broth, a gift from former Carolina running back Jonathan Stewart. He and his wife, Natalie, wanted to do more than just send prayers and good thoughts to the man who meant as much to them off the field as he did on it during their eight seasons together with the Panthers.

So they sent a variety of packages of broth from a Charlotte-based company whose motto is “Be brave. Be strong. Delicious broth with a healing purpose."

The timing couldn’t have been better.

“Stephanie [Rivera's wife] made me very hearty soups, which helped me keep up my weight and strength," Rivera said.

Stewart’s gift was part of an outpouring of support and affection Rivera received from former players, friends and neighbors in Charlotte and the Carolinas in general as he dealt with squamous cell cancer following an August diagnosis.

“Everyone looks at Coach Rivera as a family member to the city [of Charlotte]," Stewart said.

Those people will be on Rivera’s mind as he prepares Washington (6-8) for Sunday’s game (4:05 p.m. ET, CBS) against the Panthers (4-10), a team he coached for nine years. He led Carolina to the Super Bowl in 2015 and became the second-winningest coach (76-63-1) in franchise history before being fired with four games left in the 2019 season.

Rivera said he received hundreds of texts after the initial cancer diagnosis, and many of the ones that followed as he underwent treatment came from Charlotte. Many of them included the “Keep Pounding" mantra that former Carolina linebacker and coach Sam Mills used when he dealt with intestinal cancer before it took his life in 2005.

“Meant the world," Rivera said.

Sunday’s game won’t be about revenge for Rivera after he was let go in the middle of the 2019 season. It will be about seeing a few old friends and trying to secure the NFC East title. It will be about trying to replicate what he did at Carolina in 2014, when the Panthers won the NFC South with a non-winning record (7-8-1).

“It’s more of him wanting to win because that’s what he does," Stewart said. “Because the moment that you get any type of emotions involved in it and it spills over, it gets messy."

‘Control Your A.P.E.’

Rivera brought up his “Control Your A.P.E. (Attitude. Preparation. Effort.)" philosophy while speaking to a group of Ganassi Racing employees before the 2014 season at the invitation of racing team co-owner and friend Felix Sabates.

After Sabates had "Control Your A.P.E." T-shirts made up for his race team, Rivera did the same for the Panthers. That turned into a sometimes weekly reveal of T-shirts the coach wore to news conferences.

He has started a similar tradition at Washington.

“It’s not as lively yet," Rivera said. “Hopefully we will get to that point."

Cornerback Donte Jackson, Carolina’s second-round pick in 2018, still has most of Rivera’s T-shirts. The “Control Your A.P.E." is his favorite.

“That’s going to be with me throughout my career," he said.

Much of what Rivera did at Carolina will stick with those who knew him here. Much of that legacy will be his actions that had an impact off the field.

“Coach Rivera, he has given back to his community, given back to players that he’s coached in ways that go beyond football," Stewart said. “It’s a respect thing. It’s a family thing. His message as far as God, family and football, that’s what he stands for and that’s how he carries out his daily job as a father, as a husband and as a coach."

Rhule respect

New Carolina coach Matt Rhule was asked recently about the culture he is building. Before going into his answer, he made sure to credit Rivera for what he built.

He reiterated that this week.

“I’ve always been a coach who respects the coaching," Rhule said. “And what Ron did here was special. Three straight division championships, taking a team to the Super Bowl, and he did it with class.

“I know how much respect I have for him. I want to make sure that as an organization we honor that and everything Coach Rivera has gone through this year. He’s winning. He’s battling cancer. I mean, talk about adversity."

Rivera’s biggest regret while at Carolina was that he didn’t become “Riverboat Ron" until his third season. That change of attitude, taking more chances on offense, turned a 1-3 start and potential firing into a 12-4 record and the first of three straight division titles.

Those first two years, when he lost 13 one-score games, are similar to this season for Carolina, as the Panthers have lost eight such games.

Now Rivera has a chance to launch his tenure at Washington with a victory over his former team to secure a playoff spot.

“If this had been the home opener, which I thought this was going to be, there would have been a lot more emotion," Rivera said. “To me now, the excitement is what this game could mean to us."

Lasting memories

Rivera held a yard sale last year in which he sold much of his Carolina memorabilia before moving to Washington. The proceeds went to the Charlotte Humane Society.

The lines to get into the event formed early and stretched hundreds of yards.

“The response was really indicative of Charlotte," Rivera said of the turnout that helped raise more than $30,000.

One fan left a pen for Rivera in a wooden case that simply said, "Coach Rivera." Rivera never got to meet the person who left it, but it sits on his desk in Washington.

S/o to the young man who waited in line at the @humanecharlotte event yesterday to give me this hand crafted pen that he made. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet u & thank u personally. #newfavoritepen pic.twitter.com/sy6XUyrDIf

— Ron Rivera (@RiverboatRonHC) February 17, 2020

Rivera is also reminded of his days with the Panthers when he looks into the northwest corner of FedEx Field and sees many former players represented among the 400 cardboard cutouts of fans.

They’ve been there since Week 4, when Rivera was undergoing his most intense treatments.

One of those in what has been dubbed “Coach’s Corner," which has raised more than $35,000 for the American Cancer Society, is Stewart.

“One of a kind," Stewart said of Rivera. “Obviously, things come to an end. That’s the business of everything. I think people finally understood. But that doesn’t change what people thought about him."