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Game Grades: Panthers at Bears
Oct 29 2012 05:56 AM | Zod in Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers Chicago Bears
The Panthers are 1-6 in what now feels like another lame duck season. Sometimes tough losses in close games sting more than a blowout. On with the grades....
Offense:
The offense looked adequate and at times very good. Cam Newton threw for over 300 yards and the Panthers scored enough points that a win was possible.
For those of you blaming Cam for the loss, please start paying attention and learning about the game. Often the quarterback is the convenient scapegoat on the team. Cam Newton has a bright future in this league given adequate coaching. More on that later.
Offensive Grade: B-
Defense:
The execution of the defense was solid. The Panthers front 4 was able to get plenty of pressure on Cutler and dictated the game in the first half. Fans are starting to see a new nucleus develop on this team in Kuechly, Alexander, Hardy, Norman. Those four guys will be making plays for the Panthers for years to come.
Defensive Grade: B
Special Teams:
Aside from a muffed punt, the Special teams was excellent Nortman going 5 for 5 on field goals in a windy stadium will raise his confidence level ten fold. Expect good things from him for years to come.
Special Teams Grade: A-
Coaching
With the grades above, one would think the Panthers won the game. They would have, given adequate coaching when it counted the most.
With under a minute to go and a slim lead, Ron Rivera decided to go against what had been working the entire game, and decided on a soft zone defense that exposed Josh Norman on an island against Brandon Marshall. The Bears called the same play, not once, not twice, not three times, but four times. FOUR TIMES with easy completions to bring the Bears within field goal range.
In his press conference, Rivera stated that was his decision. The reason was Rivera wanted to keep things in front of the team, no big plays. But with only a field goal needed to win, why was there such a concern with a big touchdown play? Had the Bears completed one all game long? The one attempt was intercepted by Josh Norman.
In short, Rivera handed the game to the Bears through dismal decision making. He won't be in Carolina for the 2013 season.
Another lame duck season.
Coaching Grade: F-
Offense:
The offense looked adequate and at times very good. Cam Newton threw for over 300 yards and the Panthers scored enough points that a win was possible.
For those of you blaming Cam for the loss, please start paying attention and learning about the game. Often the quarterback is the convenient scapegoat on the team. Cam Newton has a bright future in this league given adequate coaching. More on that later.
Offensive Grade: B-
Defense:
The execution of the defense was solid. The Panthers front 4 was able to get plenty of pressure on Cutler and dictated the game in the first half. Fans are starting to see a new nucleus develop on this team in Kuechly, Alexander, Hardy, Norman. Those four guys will be making plays for the Panthers for years to come.
Defensive Grade: B
Special Teams:
Aside from a muffed punt, the Special teams was excellent Nortman going 5 for 5 on field goals in a windy stadium will raise his confidence level ten fold. Expect good things from him for years to come.
Special Teams Grade: A-
Coaching
With the grades above, one would think the Panthers won the game. They would have, given adequate coaching when it counted the most.
With under a minute to go and a slim lead, Ron Rivera decided to go against what had been working the entire game, and decided on a soft zone defense that exposed Josh Norman on an island against Brandon Marshall. The Bears called the same play, not once, not twice, not three times, but four times. FOUR TIMES with easy completions to bring the Bears within field goal range.
In his press conference, Rivera stated that was his decision. The reason was Rivera wanted to keep things in front of the team, no big plays. But with only a field goal needed to win, why was there such a concern with a big touchdown play? Had the Bears completed one all game long? The one attempt was intercepted by Josh Norman.
In short, Rivera handed the game to the Bears through dismal decision making. He won't be in Carolina for the 2013 season.
Another lame duck season.
Coaching Grade: F-
38 Comments
Offense - B
Defense - B+
Special teams - B+
Coaching - B-
Crunchtime performance in all aspects of the game, F-
They aced the multiple choice portion of the exam, and wiped their ass with the essay portion.
Thats a 50%.
EFFF
But I pretty much agree with all 4 grades in the OP.
That said - just like you would dump an underperforming player if an upgrade becomes available, you should dump underperforming coaches if an upgrade becomes available. Hopefully some better coaches will arrive shortly. At least in time for the 2013 season.
I see no upgrades prior to season end being made - Rivera is going to be allowed to finish out this year unless the team flat out gives up.
Coaching: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Yet terrible coaching would.
Exactly. This was why major beef with that soft coverage. I thought an interception by Cutler was way more likely than a TD.
We have the talent on this team that a good coaching staff could mold into a championship team. This staff ain't it.
the staff came in with a great game plan and the players excuted it.
we took away their biggest weapon....Hester.
this game came down to a couple plays that didn't go our way.
if there is no shanked punt or a smitty slip........... we arn't even having this discussion.
Those things don't happen if this coaching staff wasn't scared stiff. We aren't shanking punts if we weren't so afraid of Hester. Even if Smitty didn't slip, we probably weren't going to score, and the Bears would have gotten the ball back and scored. Rivera played scared, and this was evident from the beginning of the game.
The players are the only reason we had a lead. The coaches lost it.
well, if playing scared let's us whip teams like the bears on the road..........
then I'm all in for "playing scared"
ps.....the coaching staff had nothing to do with the shanked punt or smitty slipping.
So you want to get beat in the last two minutes of every game? That is what you will get with Rivera and this staff. You forget the only reason they changed the gameplan was because of Hurney's firing. This staff is incompentent to the umpteenth degree. Are you arguing they should remain in place for next year?
Coaching put us in this situation. You mention the shanked punt, you're asking a rookie punter to kick the ball out of bounds because of Hester, what do you expect in such a fearful position? Smitty fell, but like I said, the Bears would have gotten the ball back anyway. Besides, why in the world are we throwing the ball in that situation. The play should have been a run to eat time off the clock. Stupid coaching lost us the game.
Don't agree. The ball was high, not overthrown. It would have been a catch by Smitty in the air, or a drop by Smitty. If he raises his hands flatfooted the ball tips them.
I said the coaches came in with a great game plan.
and I see your blaming smitty's slip and a shanked punt on coaching.
I blame the shanked punt on coaching. Also, we aren't having this conversation if they didn't allow the Bears to play pitch and catch on the final drive. We aren't having this conversation if they dumped the read option after the Giants game. (If they never applied the read option) We aren't having this conversation if they didn't allow Roddy White to get behind the defense 60 yards down the field. I can go on and on...... It's the same story, different chapter.
then you will blame anything on the coaching.
btw.....if your going to blame them then you need to give them credit for taking away
one of the bears biggest weapons ie....Hester and their special teams.