Playcalling on the final drive...

[Mother Grabber]

Why? Up the middle you have 5 guys trying to strip the ball. The same amount of time runs off the clock running around the side. Probably more. And since they didn't have anyone over there we may even get a first down and not give them the ball back. So again, why does it HAVE to be up the middle.

because you can cover up the ball with both arms and a tuck. when you run outside, the ball is more exposed and can be stripped more easily. The important thing is to burn up their opportunity, which is stored in the timeouts. Get rid of those, and their chances go way down.

[KendrickPanther]

The cool thing about it is we knew our D had a fighting chance.

[Mother Grabber]

On that last scoring drive...that deep pass to Smitty was MADE this season. Same (kind of) pass was missed last year. People had a cow thinking we should have run with a lead in the fourth, said that play call cost us the game. This time...it helped win us the game.

Gutsy play calling by Chud. Exceptional game by Cam. The 3 runs on that last drive were effective, but I was certainly getting a bit anxious.

The Taints D totally blew it on that play. The two receivers crossed, and both defenders went with the inside route, leaving Smith all alone. Suckas!

[xav8tor]

Thanks to the guys who explained the rationale for the calls on the last possession. Sitting there in the stands, I did not like it one bit and wanted to see a first down via more aggressive (but not too much so) plays, THEN three knees. The D as a group stepped up today though and looking back on it I can see where the confidence to put them back on the field came from, but it was closer than it looked.

[PantherBlue]

Runnning up the middle and going three and out only gives Drew Brees a chance to come back and beat us. They played too conservative for me on the last few series. I would have liked to see them at least try for a first down.

[xav8tor]

Just watched Cam's postgame interview on the Panthers site. Maybe those of us who thought we really needed a first down and then should have taken the knees were not so far off base after all. Cam thought so too...says they didn't execute properly (7:10 to the end). "One first down ends it."

[SOJA]

People will literally never be happy: if we go with safe playcalling people will scream we should have thrown on third down. If we had done something like that people would call out Chud for being too cute. Making them use their timeouts and relying on the defense, which had played relatively well all game was a smart decision.

[ShutDwn]

The cool thing about it is we knew our D had a fighting chance.

Right.

If we went for it on 3rd and long our chances wouldn't be good and it gives the Saints too much momentum and time had it not worked. They would have gotten the ball with 1:20 or something? That's too much time, I prefer leaning on the defense for 40 seconds. It made Brees' job hard all day and it finished the game the same way.

I would like to know we can throw for the first, and I think we can, but we just found out that we can let our defense finish a game off and pull out the win. We knew we couldn't do that last year. This should help change the psyche of this team in close games. So much of winning consistently is simply not being the team that makes the mistake. I even liked that they booted it out of the endzone and didn't give Sproles a chance.

[natty]

It was important to have our D finish up the game imo.

[2jakefansinva]

we have a fricking Cam Newton and the other team doesn't.

put the ball in his hands to end the game.

he should roll out on ever play fake a hand off and reverse roll...... give him one short passing option.

cam either passes to the reciever, runs it or slids. no chance of a fumble or strip.

[xav8tor]

People will literally never be happy: if we go with safe playcalling people will scream we should have thrown on third down. If we had done something like that people would call out Chud for being too cute. Making them use their timeouts and relying on the defense, which had played relatively well all game was a smart decision.

You and other posters supporting the way it went down are second guessing our QB. Did you even watch the end of his interview? Cam is the one who says they failed to execute. Cam is the one who said the D should NEVER have even been on the field again. Cam is the one who isn't happy with the fact Brees got the ball in his hands again. According to him, it was not a "smart decision" to have the game end the way it did. It was not a decision at all. It was the result of mistakes. I'll go with Cam's assessment of it, not the one from those who rationalize justification for an unnecessary, dangerous situation.

[thefuzz]

I am 50/50 on it.

No matter what a lot would have to happen for them to win the way we played it.

However I would have loved to not even give them a shot at it by going with the dagger.

[Floppin]

You and other posters supporting the way it went down are second guessing our QB. Did you even watch the end of his interview? Cam is the one who says they failed to execute. Cam is the one who said the D should NEVER have even been on the field again. Cam is the one who isn't happy with the fact Brees got the ball in his hands again. According to him, it was not a "smart decision" to have the game end the way it did. It was not a decision at all. It was the result of mistakes. I'll go with Cam's assessment of it, not the one from those who rationalize justification for an unnecessary, dangerous situation.

Cam didn't disagree with the play calling, he only stated that they should have gotten a first down by executing better. What that means is that the play calling was fine, they just didn't perform. Which isn't the argument that you're trying to make, and you're misusing Cam's words to make your point.

[SOJA]

You and other posters supporting the way it went down are second guessing our QB. Did you even watch the end of his interview? Cam is the one who says they failed to execute. Cam is the one who said the D should NEVER have even been on the field again. Cam is the one who isn't happy with the fact Brees got the ball in his hands again. According to him, it was not a "smart decision" to have the game end the way it did. It was not a decision at all. It was the result of mistakes. I'll go with Cam's assessment of it, not the one from those who rationalize justification for an unnecessary, dangerous situation.

....and you prove my point