Ron Rivera Scared

[Duffguy]

I started this off by complaining about a coaching staff that went beyond playing conservative to just plain outright scared. I really disagree that this team sucks. I think they have great players on both sides of the ball. I do give credit to the players for great play on defense as well as offense.

The pressure on Cutler was brought by a four man rush which cause six sacks, two fumbles, and one and a half interceptions. I give credit to the D line, a historically weak O line for Cutler and good coverage by our secondary. All in all though none of those playcalls showed any type of aggressive play to me.

As far as players that need to be held accountable, the worst play of the game in my mind is Nortman's kick. Whose bad play lost this game?

[csx]

Whose bad play lost this game?

Nortman's kick

The pick six, whether it was on Newton or Smith or both or just bad luck due to a "slip" but it was a player issue regardless.

[Duffguy]

But you have no problem with the play being a quick pass on a timed route. This coaching staff on all sides of the ball has no faith in their players. That wasn't a bad decision made by Cam that's where he was supposed to put the ball. So ultimately you blame Steve Smith for slipping. I would've rather had a play where Cam could have at least looked at what the defense, which he had been picking apart all day, gave him.

Cam had over 300 yards passing. Smith had over 100 yards receiving. You're right they both deserve the blame.

[csx]

But you have no problem with the play being a quick pass on a timed route. This coaching staff on all sides of the ball has no faith in their players. That wasn't a bad decision made by Cam that's where he was supposed to put the ball. So ultimately you blame Steve Smith for slipping. I would've rather had a play where Cam could have at least looked at what the defense, which he had been picking apart all day, gave him.

You can't have it both ways. They had the confidence in them to throw a risky pass on that part of the field. You can't call that the safe option.

[Duffguy]

That's not a risky play. The only thing that can go wrong during a play like that is the receiver slipping or the quarterback dropping the snap. That's about it.

[fjblair]

Agreed. Ron is a big fat puss and I can't wait until he's out of Carolina and his vagina is somewhere else.

Put a lot of thought into that one, eh?

[csx]

That's not a risky play. The only thing that can go wrong during a play like that is the receiver slipping or the quarterback dropping the snap. That's about it.

CBs jump those routes for TDs more than just about any route I've seen.

[rayzor]

CBs jump those routes for TDs more than just about any route I've seen.

essentially a pick 6 waiting to happen.

[JawnyBlaze]

If they had been playing tight coverage and Marshall caught a deep ball and scored at TD everyone would be pointing to the Atlanta game and ripping him for letting a receiver get deep.

The difference is Atl had under a minute and started at the 1. Chicago had over 2 minutes and started at the 22. Chicago had time to dink and dunk their way down into FG range and that's what we should have defended. Atl's only real chance was hitting a long bomb, so that's what we should have defended. Both situations were handled the opposite of how they should have been.

[Marguide]

I'm not saying it was the best strategy but people want to bash the coaching now, it's the popular thing to do. We know by now this team sucks but it's become a competition to figure out how to blame every single thing on the coaching staff as if people don't want to pin an ounce of blame on the players for bad play.

It was a highly flawed strategy. Rivera got lucky that our D played out of their minds and kept those short fields from hurting us more than they did. And yes, it resulted in our O being backed up on a number of possessions.

On the final drive, he did not put the players in a position in which they could make a play. He talks about this every press conference...how someone has to step up and make a play. What chance did our ST's guys have to make a good tackle on Hester? What chance did Medlock have to make a FG at the end of the half? What chance did Norman have to get a pick in the last drive playing 10 yards off the receiver? You get the point. Players can't make those game-changing plays unless you give them the opportunity, and Rivera doesn't on way too many occasions.

[Wine&Cheese]

I don't blame him for the decision, but do we really want to go forward in games with a coach that has a complete lack of faith in his own personnel! That's embarrassing.

No worries, we arent but right now JR and RR are out of options. Ronny can only do what he is capable of as a head coach and JR cant fire him because there is noone to step in and replace him for the remainder of the season.

I fully expect us to be on a roller coaster for the rest of the year so BUCKLE UP! lol! Some of Rons tactics will work while others wont but one thing is for sure, we will all be here scratching our heads asking each other "WTF just happend?" more often than not.