A team on edge. Where do we fall?

[thunderraiden]

Ok, lets get real here. Ron was a pussy. Notice I say was. There's a reason for that, you see recently Ol' Ron started doing something he hasn't done before, grab his balls and say "fug it, YEAH, Man up and take this poo." And he didn't just do it half-assed to appease; no, he had timeouts called before each decision and still went with his call. That is not appeasement, appeasement is something John Fox would do and then used the "unfortunate" false-start-avoidance-timeout as an excuse in his post-game presser after he lost or won the game via the pussy decision earlier. There is a reason Bronco's fans have taken the reigns from the Panthers's fans on the issue of proliferation of the term "Foxball."

 

Oh, right, balls! We were talking about balls, particularly the ones that just dropped on our dear Ron Rivera. Right, and in week 3 we saw the utter domination of the New York Giants, whose soulless husk have been seen wondering the football fields of other stadiums after we slaughtered them and trapped their soul at the BoA. This domination was possible thanks to Rivera for the first time taking life by the horns and calling a play that warranted balls: confronted with 4th and 2 at the opposing 3 yard line (going off memory because fug you) at a tie ball game against a bad team that had playing for its lives up to that point, Ol' Ron gave his horse sized QB, Cam Newton, and Human Bowling Ball RB/FB Mike Tolbert a chance to convert and -- what do you know -- they did. Some 50 minutes later, goose egg, blowout. Our team would go for it on 4th and short three more times in the following weeks with Donald LaFell the target of one conversion pass that literally could not be thrown more into the middle of anyone's hands better on forth and 2. Ofcourse, LaFell dropped the pass because, why would you look in such a worthless pass into your hands? You have to get yards after the catch on 4th down, there is no other thing more important in a game situation than getting yards on 4th down... God Dammit Donald. Needless to say, the Panthers loss this game against a far inferior opponent due to wanting to give the rest of the conference a fair shot at making the playoffs.

 

The 4th and 1 conversions against the Vikings are well documented, and they drive home a point. This Rivera has balls and is ready to show them to the world. He is 2 and 3 which marks his best record at this point in a season ever so there is already marked improvement. Do I have faith in him? fug no. There are 30 better coaches on or off the field right now, but this team is so talented that even a 18 year old Madden pro with the alias xX420Swag#naratoXx would have a difficult time bringing this team down if they play on all cylinders.

 

So, if Rivera really has learned, maybe even moving up those coaching rankings, we have a shot at blowing out the next 3 teams and putting this impotent league on notice. Or, if he comes out slap boxing with limp wrist, look for close games against inferior teams which hang around til the 4th quarter who have shown they win the vast majority of the time.

TL;DR: But seriously doe, if we blow out the next 3 teams how many bandwagoners should we expect?

[Vampire the buffet slayer]

7.

7 bandwagoners hahaha.

[Cary Kollins]

This OP is swagged out to the 9th.

[PhillyB]

if we blow out the next three teams and head into san francisco at 5-3 this place will be erupting with good feels.

[Kuech the Sneak]

Lets get to .500 first

[Growl]

there was a similar thread to this before the season started and we went out and laid a Shula so lets just focus on getting to .500 right now.

[panthers55]

Ron going for it on 4th and 1 isn't because he just got balls.  It is because as a defensive guy he has always trusted the defense to win games not the offense.  Many defensive coaches are aggressive on defense and cautious on offense like John Fox.  

 

What he has done is go against his natural instincts and begin to trust the offense and it has worked out which is why he will keep doing it.  But mark my words, if we go for it two or three times like that and fall short, he will turn right around and get more conservative.  He is doing because it works not because he has no balls. Like Belicheck who is famous for gambling.  He does it because it works most of the time and he has Tom Brady.  If he didn't trust his offense he wouldn't be doing it either.

[Delhommey]

The reason we blew out the Giants and Vikings is mainly that we went for it on 4th down?

 

Ho boy.

[Coug Girl]

I agree, Ron definitely puts more trust in our defense. And that's most likely due to him being a defensive guy and also our shiny new draft picks.

I like that he's shown more trust in our offense, because I think it also gives our guys confidence knowing that the coach trusts them to convert on 4th down. I mean if coach doesn't go for it when it was as close as that time with the Bills, then that doesn't really help our guys confidence at all. Going for it also helps Cam and our offense work on their clutch moments.

I also agree though, that Ron will step back a bit if we don't convert on a crucial 4th down.

[CPF4LIFE]

Turn UP

[nosuchthingasapanther]

The reason we blew out the Giants and Vikings is mainly that we went for it on 4th down?

 

Ho boy.

 

if believing that is what helps people sleep at night, let'em believe.

[jackson113]

So he got balls during Giants game. Lost them in Arizona. And got them back in Minnasota? Yeah makes perfect sense.....

[Dex]

I can't lose to the Rams Sunday. I'm in too good a fuging mood. It will crush me.

[PantherWake]

if we blow out the next three teams and head into san francisco at 5-3 this place will be erupting with good feels.

 

I would cum in buckets lol