Riveras Response to Giving Up Big Leads

[BAMFpanther]

[Marguide]

I don't care what Ron or anyone else said. We were sitting on our lead.

Does anyone really believe our playcalling would have been the same if it was close throughout?

[GRWatcher]

I was at the game & tonight I watched it again on Game Pass. I sure as hell would like to know what Carroll said to them at halftime because they were a totally different team in the 2nd half. You have to give them that. And Gano's lousy kickoff & Lockett's return plus penalty (which I still have not seen) gave them a big boost to start. I don't think our defense played conservatively in the 2nd half until about the 3 minute mark of the 4th quarter where we ended up forcing a FG; we just didn't make all the adjustments on defense needed until the end of the 3rd quarter. Their o-line stiffened even though we still got some pressure on Wilson. That 4th quarter TD was the old Wilson magic, his only magic throw of the game honestly. His other 2 were straight up good plays. 

The Seattle defense changed too. Our receivers were much better covered. Twice Cam had time but no where to throw the ball so, sack. They covered the gaps better so running against them was more difficult. As noted, we did not have any 3-and-out drives but their punts were deeper so we had further to go to score & did not get it done. Yes, a score would've had us all feeling better but we were winning the game. I don't believe we were necessarily sitting on our lead but I see no logic in taking risks to lose the lead we had. Cam forcing throws to covered receivers would've been very bad risks, we all know that.

These things will happen when you play better teams, especially in the playoffs. No one is going to give up halfway through the game. Every one of the 8 teams that played last weekend are capable of coming back.  That is why teams like the Browns & Cowboys are sitting at home.

[CollegePanther]

6 hours ago, Montsta said:

Patrice O'Neal

Dammit I thought that was actually you this whole time

[NanuqoftheNorth]

This has happened way too many times this season to be a coincidence.

Get out to a big lead then throttle back and run conservative low risk plays on offense, bend don't break on defense, force our opponents run out the clock trying to even the score.

To Rivera's credit, it has worked so far... barely.

Don't see him changing till some team makes him pay with a loss.

[CollegePanther]

The second half reminded me a bit of the St. Pierre era

[Montsta]

@ladypanther I guess you are right about the 3 and outs. I don't know why it seemed like we had several there in the 3rd and 4th quarters. 

I guess it was just me assuming. It was definitely limp dick football, but I was certainly way off about how long they possessed it each time. 

[RJK]

Those comments just cement my opinion that this is a problem that will never be corrected. Rivera clearly doesn't think it's a big deal....until it is

[beastson]

Ron never going to change. Getting to the SB isn't easy and we have a chance and Ron sure enough bet not fug it up.

[TheNewStandard]

I don't know...but I'd wager we have the most rested and under-used teams that are left in the playoffs.

i mean...cruise control ain't bad when you have bigger fish to fry.

[PandaPancake]

9 hours ago, Montsta said:

This thread is sure to not disappoint. 

You paged me?

[The Lone Panther]

It's great that we won, but how many more times are we going to dodge the bullet?  Could you imagine the same thing happening next Sunday against Arizona, but with a different ending?  People would riot.  

[Thorrez]

8 hours ago, E CaT PanTHer 2 said:

well one was a stupid corner blitz from the best corner in all of football, allowing seattle's best WR to be one on one with a safety.

The other TD was a typical "chuck it up and pray for the best" prayers from wilson that Norman actually got a hand on it, but it magically landed perfectly in the receivers hand. 

we also played a soft zone practically the entire 2nd half, allowing everything underneath in attempts to prevent the long pass play. It was effective in the sense that Seattle completed a ton of 6-8 yard pass plays which kept the clock running, but it allowed them to methodically drive down the field and score at will. 

it looks like the clock was the only thing ron was focusing on, and at the end of the day, his plan worked b/c we won the game. 

This was a very good call, with Norman blitzing the receiver should have taken the out hitch bail out route which Coleman was coming in hard on. 

The problem was Kearse didn't have awareness enough to recognize this (or was told not to as Wilson lacks the awareness to use bail out routes anyway). McDermott simply overestimated the competition. 

And seriously, Seattle had what, 6-7?, large gains in circus catches and broken plays and still only got within seven points of overtime. I say going conservative was the right call. We won after all... 

[OriginalPantherDan]

They could've run this kid out there for cleanup and still won. Nothing to worry about with this team right now.