Accountability.

[Ivan The Awesome]

 

 

This threads purpose is just that. Accountability for yesterdays loss. Believe me I didn't like a lot of things in the game but I will no single out one certain event to pin point why we lost yesterday. Many of you know this is a team game. Therefore the team will be held accountable. 

 

Like everything, it starts from the top. 

 

Coaching staff.

 

This coaching staff is truly truly amazing. Unfortunately some tendencies are still there. The lack of preparations when given enough time to prepare. The lack of change when given the fact that the current game plan is not working out, which leads back to the first point. Lack of preparation in general. I'm not sure what the gameplan was. But this is the super bowl ladies and gentlemen. It's not another playoff game. The tape was out on that Denver defensive line. They had speed. Why wasn't this included in the gameplan in order to nullify it is beyond me. You did well against seattle and Arizona who's speed is not as good but truly isn't that far off. End arounds, pitches, Reverses, quick slants, etc. I didn't see anything of that, maybe once, yesterday. You're first half was a clear indicator of what you needed to do in order to combat the pass rush. I'm paraphrasing but I remember distictly Rivera basically saying that the game plan was not going to change. That it would come down to who ever got the ball last. Yeah well, it didn't happen that way, why? Because you didn't change the game plan, you didn't adapt to what they were throwing at you. Shula picked the wrong day to go back to vanilla form. McDermott as well, except the Defense did come to play but I saw some really repetitive tendencies in the defense that allowed manning to just throw it to the open target. Poor game planning was only part of why we lost yesterday. 

 

 

 

Players.

 

 

In the beginning of the year. I did not see this squad being 15-1 and on the verge of a Super Bowl run. When KB went down, I honestly thought it was going to be a one and done playoffs trip. The talent in the roster flourished because of this. Guys that never in their lifetimes dreamed of playing in the big game got a chance to do so. But much like coaching, the players that showed up yesterday weren't the same from two weeks ago. All phases of the game are guilty of this loss. Dropped passes. Fumbles galore, not recognizing there was no fair catch called,  even Cam no sensing the pressure behind him... Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong yesterday. Miscommunication, bad judgement calls, over pursuing, letting the other team get momentum. Only a handful of players came to play. I don't know if it was the spot light that got to them or what but this wasn't the same group of players that beat down AZ and SEA. Psychological trips aside. There were too many simple mistakes and Denver ran away with the ball game. Granted the coaching staff not changing the game plan to help out players with the pass rush that was dominant didn't help either. Here is were audibles should have come to play. Hate to say it but we got our asses handed to us and we didn't do a thing to counter them. Nothing. There were only a couple of plays that when the line had extra help did the long plays actually work in our favor. Max protection=positive yardage. Why wasn't this the emphasis of the game? We knew that the Broncos had a legit D line and LB corp, yet we did next to nothing to combat that. Execution was not there. I can't blame this on Cam when he's running for his life. This felt so much like the 2013 season when Cam was running around making plays because Bell wasn't in the stadium blocking his defenders. There's definitely a weakness in the line and that's agility, quickness. Speed is our kryptonite.

 

 

Officiating. 

 

This whole year the officiating has been horrible. In games in general. Facemasks not being called, neutral zone infractions not being called, roughing the passer, a catch that was clearly a catch and it's not because i'm a carolina fan but it's be an issue since before this game. That was actually a game killer for the Panthers because of what came next. The force fumble and TD by the Denver D. After that the officiating took a turn that favored the Broncos more than the panthers. Tick tack fouls were given. The one on Turner for 'pushing' on the defender...come on that stuff happens all the time in a pile and no one bat an eye. Turner barely even touched the guy and it's unnecessary roughness for 15 yards? Really? The league needs to find a solution and that may be full time refs. I am not blaming this officiating as the only factor in the loss, but it sure didn't help. 

 

 

 

In the end, we know what our strengths and weaknesses are, the offensive line needs to be a little more quicker. Coaches need to learn from this and have a back up plan for the opponent and not rely so much on Cam to bail them out. Cam needs to grow a little more and take losses like a Man even if there are set ups like yesterday. Thankfully, Gettleman is behind this wheel. We have most of our core players under contract and the draft has a lot of good prospects we can have for depth. This isn't the last time we'll see the promised land. This will only be the beginning. Mark my words, we'll be back even stronger, with a better group of players. If we did this much with career back ups, imagine what can be done with us at full force. Congratulations to Denver and their Defense. They deserve this. I hope Manning rides into the sunset with this, because if we meet again, it won't be the same out come I will guarantee that. 

[ThPantherFan]

Wonder if Rivera will turn in the 'controversial' catch call to the league?