Perhaps Rivera and Shula and Cam are finally learning

[Camp Fodder]

23 minutes ago, countryboi said:

everyone says that they want Ron to continue to be aggressive for 4 quarters but almost everytime he has sat the clock it has worked out in his favor. what incentive does he have to change? 

Have you not seen how many games we have almost lost over the last 3 years? When you are up by three scores in the 4th quarter the game should be all but over. But not this team

[thefuzz]

12 minutes ago, Harbingers said:

A wins a win. Better to win by one than not at all.

Agreed, but I'll take that Cardinals win in the 15 playoffs, over a win like this past Sunday 10 time outta 10.

Wish he would learn to put teams away...we have relied on Gano's foot too many times for my liking.

[Hoenheim]

If we had a good offensive minded HC and a maverick OC we'd probably go undefeated for 2 years in a row. It took a excellent performance from Cam , Dickson, Funchess, and a clutch catch by Benjamin, AND 0 turnovers to barely win a  game that should have been a blowout, by 3 points. I could only imagine if Andy Reid or Bellicheck had this team we'd look like world beaters every season. This is a conservative franchise and it all comes down from the owner and the HC/OC and leaks out on the field season after season with us letting teams come back on us  almost every game.   

[Udogg]

28 minutes ago, top dawg said:

If you don't see how at least Shula's play calling was a lot more creative the last couple of games (particularly, the last game), then you just don't want to see it.

If you don't see how Cam was missing wide open players , and our line was missing blocking assignments then you just don't see it.  

The "only" thing that was different from the Shula perspective was the shuffle play to McCaffrey and calling about 4 more designed runs per game.  

Now as far as the Oline, we didn't get ate alive on stunts as usual.  Notice last 2 weeks there weren't any instances of someone coming through untouched.

As far as Cam he was far more accurate on both his short and deep throws.  His intermediate passing has been on point the whole year. 

I mean I'm sure you gonna blame Shula/Rivera for "holding" Cam back regardless...but that's not what it was. 

 

 

[Hoenheim]

Just look how much the Rams changed being such a young and inexperienced team, with a much better offensive minded HC instead of stale former DC turned HC 

[rayzor]

38 minutes ago, countryboi said:

everyone says that they want Ron to continue to be aggressive for 4 quarters but almost everytime he has sat the clock it has worked out in his favor. what incentive does he have to change? 

it only takes one time and playoffs are gone, division is lost...you name it.

i know i posted this link in another thread yesterday, but still this should be a constant reminder of what can happen when you try to play it safe. this situation was completely avoidable if we had trusted the offense to get just one more first down.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap1000000067687/Ryan-s-game-winning-drive

the best way to protect a lead is to grow it and at least keep the ball in your hands. whatever you do, don't let the other team have a chance to take that lead back, which they always have as long as they are on offense.

[xav8tor]

It really doesn't matter how the ball ends up in the opposing quarterback's hands when the QB is a guy like Brady, Brees, Rodgers, Stafford, etc. Whether it's a punt or turnover, play soft against those offenses to protect a marginal lead, which in our case appears to be two touchdowns plus, and more often than not, they WILL make you pay. When Hightower sacked Ryan, and again when the Pats won the OT toss, were you not then 90% sure of the outcome? Romo probably would have called that game over for the Falcons halfway through the fourth quarter.

Ron needs to get his analyst he referred to yesterday at the presser (totally shocked that we actually have one) to go back and pull how many games we lost v. won going with prevent. It should be obvious, but if you shift wins that were clearly skin of the teeth luck to the loss column, maybe then he'll see the light. Play back the clip of him saying we're going to keep the pedal to the metal too.

[tiger7_88]

Now could someone teach Ron that a 17 point lead with 20 minutes left in the game in the NFL is not "safe"?

[trueblade]

1 hour ago, Moorgan said:

Thought I saw a tweet yesterday (maybe from Voth) that the defense blitzed 7 times on the Lions' last drive. That's not prevent defense. I also noticed that the offense (with the exception of 1 series in the 3rd quarter) often threw more often than the typical run, run, pass, punt or even run, run, run, punt of a prevent offense. Basically, I'm challenging the notion that we played prevent in the 4th quarter. But I have no stats to back it up. It's the internet, I don't need facts.

The Internet is here to help!

Carolina ran 5 series after taking a 27-10, the first one begining at 7:38 to go in the 3rd quarter.

There were 8 First Downs in those series. On 6 of the 8 1st downs, the Panthers ran the ball. The other two were a short pass to CMC and a decent pass to Funchess where he got called for OPI. On 4 of those 6, the pattern was run, run, pass.

Every series after taking a 27-10 lead

1st series, result 3 and out, (7:38 to go in the 3RD quarter)

1st down - Stewart up the middle for -2
2nd down - Incomplete pass to Samuel
3rd down - Pass to Shepard 2 yards short of the 1st down
4th down - punt

2nd series result missed FG, (3:14 to in the 3RD quarter)

1st down - Pass to CMC for 4 yards
2nd down - Newton runs for 2 yards
3rd down - Pass to Funchess for 11, and a 1st down
1st down - CMC runs for 1
2nd down - Newton up the middle for -2
3rd down - SACK
4th down - Missed FG

3rd series (12:10 to go 4th quarter still 27-10)

1st down - Stewart up the middle for 3
2nd down - Stewart up the middle for 3
3rd down - Pass to Funchess for 7 and a 1st down
1st down - Stewart up the middle for -2
2nd down - Newton to Samuel, incomplete
3rd down - Newton to CMC, incomplete
4th down - Punt

4th series (5:46 to go 4th quarter, now 27-17)

1st down - Pass to Funchess, OPI on Funchess (homer glasses says questionable call)
1st down again - Stewart up the middle for -2
2nd down - Stewart up the middle for 9
3rd down - Sack
4th down - Punt

5th series (3:17 to go 4th quarter, now 27-24)

1st down - Stewart up the middle for -2
2nd down - Newton to Funchess for 3
3rd down - Newton to Benjamin for 17 and a 1st down, essentially ends the game

[Moorgan]

8 minutes ago, trueblade said:

The Internet is here to help!

Nice work. So aside from Stew up the middle on 1st down (which seems to be the norm regardless of the score), I would say that it wasn't prevent offense as there were more passes/Newton runs than it seems from previous times we've gone into our shell. Not sure if the defense has stats like that but if Voth was right and we blitzed 7 times on the last Lions scoring drive then that is not prevent either. I felt like we were gonna give up the lead but I did notice during the game that I thought we were passing more than I expected.

[top dawg]

1 hour ago, Udogg said:

If you don't see how Cam was missing wide open players , and our line was missing blocking assignments then you just don't see it.  

The "only" thing that was different from the Shula perspective was the shuffle play to McCaffrey and calling about 4 more designed runs per game.  

Now as far as the Oline, we didn't get ate alive on stunts as usual.  Notice last 2 weeks there weren't any instances of someone coming through untouched.

As far as Cam he was far more accurate on both his short and deep throws.  His intermediate passing has been on point the whole year. 

I mean I'm sure you gonna blame Shula/Rivera for "holding" Cam back regardless...but that's not what it was. 

 

 

Everyone and their mama knows that Cam looked bad the first three games. I've never thought that anyone was holding Cam back, per se, except Cam. Now I was critical of Gettleman not getting Cam rock-solid protection at LT, but it is what it is. In spite of that, Cam hasn't been perfect, but he has dine his thing and is obviously improving now, especially in his decision making (like when he took the sack trying to make something happen as opposed to throwing it into coverage). Cam is getting the ball out quicker, and that's not a coincidence. Neither is the emergence of Funchess, or a stellar surprise game by Dickson.

There are more changes and dynamics going on than better play by the O-line.

[SmokinwithWilly]

2 hours ago, countryboi said:

everyone says that they want Ron to continue to be aggressive for 4 quarters but almost everytime he has sat the clock it has worked out in his favor. what incentive does he have to change? 

It's about mindset. If the opposing team knows that you're going to let off the gas in the third it gives them hope for a comeback. They need to crush their opponents and it sends the message they won't ever let off the gas. You don't ever want to give the opposing team any type of hope.

Crush your opponent. Crush them so hard they can't breathe. This is the NFL the best players in the league and if you can put up 60 points on an opposing team you do it just because you can.

The team motto is keep pounding and they do up until halfway through the 3rd. Ron needs to keep pounding start to finish.

[jayflip]

1 hour ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

It's about mindset. If the opposing team knows that you're going to let off the gas in the third it gives them hope for a comeback. They need to crush their opponents and it sends the message they won't ever let off the gas. You don't ever want to give the opposing team any type of hope.

Crush your opponent. Crush them so hard they can't breathe. This is the NFL the best players in the league and if you can put up 60 points on an opposing team you do it just because you can.

The team motto is keep pounding and they do up until halfway through the 3rd. Ron needs to keep pounding start to finish.

It's funny, when we drafted Vern, it was so the D wouldn't give up those leads late in the game when they are gassed. Then we make Vern inactive vs the Lions. 

[hepcat]

4 hours ago, Khaki Lackey said:

I just wish Ron would stop with the prevent defense and prevent offense with 20 minutes left in the game. 

It wouldn't be a Ron Rivera coached team if the defense wasn't playing soft zone coverage with the lead in the 4th quarter and giving the entire fan base a heart attack before a victory.