Things I don't understand...

[Marguide]

Too often, Ron Rivera makes an in-game decision that just makes me shake my head. The latest example came in the 4th qtr of the Seahawks game. The situation was 3rd and 13, ball on our 26 yard line. Seattle gets called for ineligible man downfield.

Our choices: make Seattle repeat 3rd down with 18 yards to go to pick up a first down, or, turn down the penalty and they are looking at a 44 yard field goal attempt. We turned down the penalty.

This tells me that the coaches have no confidence in our ability to stop a 3rd and 13. It's a great down to send a blitz and maybe take them out of field goal range. Maybe Wilson throws an incompletion and they are then facing a 49 yard attempt (not a gimme by any means). Maybe they pick up 5 yards or so and the field goal is a bit shorter. But we choose to concede the field goal attempt by declining the penalty.

Over and over in damn near every game Rivera has made these sorts of decisions. He sends a strong signal that he doesn't trust the players to execute even when the odds are in their favor. This has been my biggest b!tch with RR. He almost always plays it soft and doesn't give us a chance to make something happen.

Frankly, it frustrates the hell out of me.

[GotSwag?]

He made the right decision there, but I do agree that Rivera is in over his head as a decision maker.

[JawnyBlaze]

Yea, I probably would have taken the penalty. Hauschka or however you spell his name is a solid kicker. 44 yards isn't too tough for an experienced, solid kicker. If they throw an incomplete pass, 49 yards is a bit harder than 44. If they run for 5 or fewer yards (most likely scenario), it's at worst the same distance it was before the penalty. Worst case scenario, they pick up a touchdown/first down that leads to a touchdown and it's a 2 possession game (admittedly, a terrible scenario, but probably the least likely to be honest). Best case scenario, they commit a turnover or we get a sack or something that gets them 0 points and it's a FG to tie with plenty of time and better field position (second least likely scenario). If that happened, maybe we don't force it on 4th and 1 and tie the game. Who knows what would have happened then.

I did like the decision to go for it on 4th and 1 under those circumstances. Hated the playcall though. When your offense is having the day we were having, you keep it simple and try to pound it in.