Sam Mills III and game management

[thefuzz]

As I stated in one of the many "what is Tepper doing" threads.

 

I would have pulled Marty and Ron into an office at the conclusion of last season and have the explain, in detail, what they were thinking when they made every decision last season and gone from there.

Ron just isn't cut out for the HC job, and the same for Hurney with the GM job.  We have clowns running the show.

[thefuzz]

3 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I think this is exactly what it is. The delay of game penalties and panic timeouts to avoid delay of game penalties have been a staple of the Rivera era.

It's unfair in hindsight to blame Shula because it's the same as it ever was under Norv. It's unfair to blame Cam because it's the same when we have a backup in. I absolutely think that Rivera intentionally wants to slow roll the offense to rest his defense even though it's blatantly obvious that Cam and the offense as a whole plays better at a quicker pace.

Correct.  This has become far too consistent to be anything other than Ron wanting this offense to be as slow paced as possible.  Keep the other QB on the sidelines, play perfect football, and win by 3.

 

[BrianS]

2 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

Correct.  This has become far too consistent to be anything other than Ron wanting this offense to be as slow paced as possible.  Keep the other QB on the sidelines, play perfect football, and win by 3.

 

Here's where I'm bothered.

If you are the head coach, you need to trust your players and coaches to do their jobs.  Playing that way carries the implication that Ron doesn't trust his offense / offensive staff to just plain blow the other team out.  WTF.  Screw it.  Doesn't matter how many defensive stops your team gets if the other team isn't stopping your offense.  Make the other team one dimensional is a reasonable way to stop them?  Ok, get a 28 point lead and let's see how balanced the other team is.

I'm not saying we should go out up tempo all the time, not at all.  What I am saying is if we have a couple "normal" drives that aren't doing well, fine, let's go up tempo and see if we can generate some points.

All that said, honestly, our offense was actually pretty damn good against a strong Rams team.  Yes, we made some mistakes, we 100% made mistakes.  But generally, we moved the ball pretty well.  We were pretty balanced.

Overall, we were not "lucky to be in the game" against the Rams.  We were flat out in that game.  We were not outclassed.  A couple balls bounce our way, a couple calls by the refs and we win that game.  I am disappointed we lost, but not discouraged.

[pantherj]

Coaching staff needs to go. If that doesn't work dump the core and rebuild.

[Piff]

F-

[SBiii]

15 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

Ron just isn't cut out for the HC job, and the same for Hurney with the GM job.  We have clowns running the show.

I tend to agree on Rowboat & Hurndog.  I will however say that they are running their departments...Tepper runs the show.  The former 2 better get it going pronto or the latter will replace them for sure. 

[thefuzz]

3 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Here's where I'm bothered.

If you are the head coach, you need to trust your players and coaches to do their jobs.  Playing that way carries the implication that Ron doesn't trust his offense / offensive staff to just plain blow the other team out.  WTF.  Screw it.  Doesn't matter how many defensive stops your team gets if the other team isn't stopping your offense.  Make the other team one dimensional is a reasonable way to stop them?  Ok, get a 28 point lead and let's see how balanced the other team is.

I'm not saying we should go out up tempo all the time, not at all.  What I am saying is if we have a couple "normal" drives that aren't doing well, fine, let's go up tempo and see if we can generate some points.

All that said, honestly, our offense was actually pretty damn good against a strong Rams team.  Yes, we made some mistakes, we 100% made mistakes.  But generally, we moved the ball pretty well.  We were pretty balanced.

Overall, we were not "lucky to be in the game" against the Rams.  We were flat out in that game.  We were not outclassed.  A couple balls bounce our way, a couple calls by the refs and we win that game.  I am disappointed we lost, but not discouraged.

I too wish things were different, but do we really know if the Rams are good this season?  How good were we in 2016 after losing in the SB just like they just did?

I do believe the Rams are good, by the way....however, this is just far too predicable at this point.  This team did not look ready to play football, IMO.

[Proudiddy]

Considering we lost two challenges (one shouldn't count as the league screwed us on it) and blew 2 timeouts in each half before the latter quarter of each, it was really bad.

[Mr. Scot]

Gotta say this...

Remember that despite Eric Washington still officially having the defensive coordinator title, Rivera is supposed to be calling the defensive plays this year.

If he's trying to do that while also still attempting to manage the clock himself, that's just a bad situation, especially given that he wasn't effectively managing many of the head coaching aspects of the game even before taking on the defensive duties.

Side Note: I know there are people who believe Washington is still calling the defense but that's a separate discussion and I don't really have an opinion on it.

[tiger7_88]

22 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I absolutely think that Rivera intentionally wants to slow roll the offense to rest his defense even though it's blatantly obvious that Cam and the offense as a whole plays better at a quicker pace.

This has been utterly obvious to anyone with functional eyes and a functional brain for 8+ seasons now.

[tiger7_88]

19 hours ago, raleigh-panther said:

i hope the owner’s mind was boggled too

When the owner made his decision post-2018, he had a record of 8 years to observe from his head coach and 13 years from his GM.

He chose to keep them.

If his "mind was boggled" after Sunday, then he is nowhere near as smart as everybody thinks he is.

[Panthers are good]

19 hours ago, thefuzz said:

Correct.  This has become far too consistent to be anything other than Ron wanting this offense to be as slow paced as possible.  Keep the other QB on the sidelines, play perfect football, and win by 3.

 

Which is freaking impossible. You need to flexible as hell, but he wants to stick to his guns no matter what. If what I have in my head works out, we will win. Dodo brain

[Panthers are good]

This team is woefully under-prepared every single week of the season save 2-3 weeks where it looks good cause all the execution is there. What the hell do they do in meeting rooms and practice? How is Rivera this comfortable that his ability to plan and prepare hasn't gotten better?

[rayzor]

This was a title given to a guy that is only kept around because of his dad. 

It's a role that the panthers have needed since year 1 of the Rivera era. I have no doubt that this was a job created only at Tepper's insistence, but putting Mills in the job only shows the disregard Rivera has for it.

Rivera sees no problem unless his boss points it out to him and will only do something to change if his job was on the line.

If I was tepper, I'd be calling Rivera back to the office and saying, "maybe I should have been more clear. Find someone who has experience and knows how to manage a game rather than someone who was here already and you just like and want to give a shot at a grown up job."