Cowards don't win championships. Is Ron Rivera a cowardly head coach?

[hepcat]

Just now, top dawg said:

1 hour ago, top dawg said:

I think it's true.  Ron has hopefully fixed one part of the equation. It's up to the new GM to master the other.  

As for conservatism,  sometimes it's just what the doctor ordered,  sometimes aggression is the order of the day.  Situational play calling takes a lot of skill, an intimate understanding of your personnel, and a little luck.  

I think Rivera is a good coach that can be great. I reject the notion and narrative that he's some conservative coward that coaches out of fear.  He's made some questionable calls that have failed to be sure,  but so has every coach.  His biggest issue was a death grip on Shula and a lack of quality personnel at key positions, especially when it mattered the most. He is a good coach though.  He has had damned good seasons despite dealing with oversights by the GM.  If we've had 7-9 or 8-8 seasons,  it!'s due to personnel issues where we should have had mediocre seasons. Rivera has arguably overachieved when you look at what he's had to deal with, and his record is pretty damned good---certainly not that of a team going .500 every year,  in a pretty tough division. Be appreciative! I was willing to dump them all, including Rivera,  if we did have a mediocre season,  but the man just keeps surprising and really deserves a couple of more seasons (at least)  to see if he can get us to the top. 

 

Rivera has had All Pro and HOF level players the entire time he's been in Carolina. He had Steve Smith, Ryan Kalil, Jordan Gross, Cam Newton, and Greg Olsen from the get go. Kuechly shows up and his defense magically turns stout. And he's gotten seasons from legends like Charles Tillman, Jared Allen, and Julius Peppers. Lack of talent has never been an issue.

[JakeDel5674]

I don't think Rivera is a cowardly person. As a Coach, absolutely. As a Coach he sucks at evaluation as well. Anybody that keeps Mike Shula for 5 years is borderline moronic. 

[top dawg]

18 minutes ago, hepcat said:

Rivera has had All Pro and HOF level players the entire time he's been in Carolina. He had Steve Smith, Ryan Kalil, Jordan Gross, Cam Newton, and Greg Olsen from the get go. Kuechly shows up and his defense magically turns stout. And he's gotten seasons from legends like Charles Tillman, Jared Allen, and Julius Peppers. Lack of talent has never been an issue.

If you think that lack of talent has never been the issue,  then you just don't understand the total complexity or the concept of a team.  Moreover,  having talent, some, way past its prime, sprinkled among mediocre,  inexperienced,  and/or poor players at key positions is NOT the formula for a champion. If your QB has revolving doors on the end of his O-line, everything else is going to break down. If you don't understand all of that,  there is really nothing for us to discuss. 

[Snake]

Rivera is such a coward he has basically owned the Patriots the last couple of years. Such a coward. 

[CPF4LIFE]

41 minutes ago, Sasquatch said:

Only 3 people have more NFL coach of the year awards. Shula the elder, Knox, and Belichik.  Just sayin.

 

 

 

giphy.mp4

WHO......CARES. 

[top dawg]

The main reason we couldn't have done what the Eagles did last night was not because of Rivera, but because of a lack of personnel.  Period! 

[Fox007]

Unless his job is on the line yea he is. He's a horrible game day coach all around.

[Carl Spackler]

He's generally a good coach until adjustments have to be made

[SOJA]

He certainly called a very conservative season this year. Just look at the NO game

[Doc Holiday]

2 hours ago, Toomers said:

 I’ll never understand how we ever won a game in the past 5 years or so? The HC is a “coward” and sucks. The OC was the worst in the NFL. The GM was horrible. Which means all the players he acquired sucked. 

  I can’t imagine how a team with that resume’ ever won a game much less go 51-28-1 with 4 playoff appearances. Baffling 

QFT! There are a bunch of idiots on here that have no idea how good we have it!!

[frash.exe]

i wouldn’t use coward as a word to describe him. the superbowl is over and now everybody wants to make declarations about how the eagles are the best franchise and everybody else needs to stop what they’re doing right now and find the next doug pederson.

but he does emphasize a philosophical approach to game management that is predicated on minimizing mistakes and keeping scoring very low, which does not translate well in today’s league where offenses can score 24 points in one quarter

is it going to prohibit the panthers from winning the superbowl for the forseeable future? not definitively. but it is hard to reconcile that truth with the instinct to stick with old standards. and i would prefer a more offensive minded coach with a more innovative style. that’s the direction the giants are apparently going and i wish we did the same thing instead of bringing in guys that have the same mindset and expecting the team to play better.

[KillaCamNewton]

1 hour ago, top dawg said:

The main reason we couldn't have done what the Eagles did last night was not because of Rivera, but because of a lack of personnel.  Period! 

THIS. people act like the great Pederson didnt have a losing record last year before his front office went out and got Blount, Jeffrey, and Torry Smith. The trade for Ajayi midseason was highway robbery as well. I love Pedersons aggression and creativity, but its alot easier to cook a quality meal when youre given quality groceries

[thefuzz]

Listen up guys and gals.....

 

Almost every single HC in the league coaches like Ron, it's what the book says, and if there is a larger group of millionaires in the world than NFL coaches that are scared of doing things differently I don't know them.

 

 

[Hoenheim]

1 hour ago, top dawg said:

The main reason we couldn't have done what the Eagles did last night was not because of Rivera, but because of a lack of personnel.  Period! 

I think Rivera's good enough to win a SB. But the problem is that he treats his defenses like they are all world and leans on them too much, which is a terrible lack of awareness given how porous our secondary has been since 2015 season ended. 

I think if we stick to Riveras style we'd have to bolster up the secondary real well and have a really good young DE wreck havoc in the backfield. We also could greatly use real RB#1 and WR#1 , but at the very least we need WRS that can get open and actually catch. 

We had holes everywhere on the roster and still went 11-5 last year and played a WC round down to the wire against a Saints team that shouldve gone to the NFCCG baring a miracle play, and that was with garbage at WR and garbage in the secondary, and no consistency at RB with Cam powering most of our running game. 

I think with Norv and some better pieces, we'll have what it takes to win a SB.

 if Rivera gets the pieces he needs doesn't perform then id agree, thats on him. But I can't blame not advancing further in the playoffs this year on him at all. And he wasn't the one who decided to axe Josh Norman and send us into a tailspin in 2016, he didnt miss crucial field goals in multiple games in 2016 , wreck the 2016/2017 draft classes with bad descisions , and he didnt add matt kalil to the team either. 

Hes proven to be a coach that consistently gets us to the playoffs and thats really what the end goal is. I can't blame him for this year or last year considering what we had on the roster, and 2015 SB the players and Shula fuged us mightily.