Riverboat Rivera on not going for it on 4th and a centimeter on the first drive.

[mc52beast]

Have heard rumors that Woody Hayes Is still alive and wants to coach again

[thefuzz]

This call has absolutely nothing to do with winning the football game, and everything to do with doing the "right thing" per the Old Head Coaches Almanac.

Ron staunchly believes that this team should win with defense.  Period.

[SmokinwithWilly]

1 hour ago, Riv said:

I think you guys are forgetting that we almost (and should've) won a SB just 3 years ago.  You can still win his way, but you need the right ingredients.

Right now we don't have those ingredients and Ron is refusing to change based on the strengths (or lack thereof) of his personnel. 

The defense will get better as TD and Reid integrate into the scheme.  We have a great young player in Jackson who is just scratching the surface.  Our D-line has been embarrassing, but the NFL has basically given up on flagging holding by offensive linemen.  A lot of people are being hard on Luke, but it's obvious things aren't clicking around him and it's causing some major frustration and pressing.  Several times yesterday Reid left him out to dry on PA and misdirection.

Reid has been a solid tackler, but he looks lost in coverage. 

We aren't forgetting. The frustration with Rivera is almost Shula-esque. Deficiencies in coaching, personnel choices, and game management are so glaringly obvious to everyone that it's unbelievable. Rivera is/has wasted Cam and Luke both. 

While I can't stand BB, the one thing you can say about him is he puts his players in the best position to succeed. He adjusts his system to his players, playing to their strengths. RR does the exact opposite, beating a square peg into a round hole no matter how obvious it is to everyone around him it's not going to work. 

Cam and Luke have made RR successful on the W/L record books, not the other way around. George Seifert won 2 SBs with Montana and Young at QB, came to Carolina and absolutely poo'd the bed. Right now, RR looks a lot like Seifert to me. HoF players that make the coach look much better than he is. 

[DPardue]

Two problems here...

First, he didn't go for it on fourth and a few inches.  Secondly, per his statement after the game, he never even considered going for it on fourth and inches.

How the thought of not going for it there with a QB who is the size of a large linebacker doesn't enter his mind speaks volumes as to how he at his very core very conservative.  "Riverboat Ron" is indeed a mythological moniker. 

Sometimes critical coaching decisions that affect the outcome of the game don't always occur in the fourth quarter.   That single play had a real bearing on the outcome of the game in my opinion.

[hepcat]

Ron Rivera is the definition of insane. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Every single time he chickens out on going for a 4th and short, the team seems to lose. Every time he goes for it, the team seems to win. How have you not figured this out yet Ron? Seriously, do I need to come down to your office and make you remember who Riverboat Ron is? It's your fuging Twitter handle you idiot.

[Doc Holiday]

15 hours ago, Saca312 said:

Today's loss was ugly. It wasn't a case of superior talent beating inferior. It was simply a case of superior talent unable to surpass questionable coaching while piling on critical mistakes.

However, if I were to press forth a main factor for most of these losses, I'd have to say Ron Rivera's a prime contributor for some of this.

First off, personnel decisions were a mess. Deciding to not utilize Curtis Samuel this whole game was completely baffling, especially considering how good his tape was from a week prior. To decrease the snaps of our best receiver by far was pretty incredible to see in a negative way. Also, starting Chris Manhertz over Ian Thomas is a funny thing to see. 

And, most criminal of all, CJ Anderson has been noted as pretty much "did not participate" for the day. He barely got to see the field despite him clearly being one of the better options as a pure runner. At the very least, just give CJ more snaps and stop trying to use CMC like a damn bellcow all the time and limiting his efficiency.

Next, decision making and coaching was bad, and the post game comments worse. First off, Rivera actually blamed the loss on the fact the Redskins were able to run the ball more. Like how out of touch can you get? 

And then opening up with five straight runs. Which, predictably, was later fished out and set up the famed 4th and a centimeter we were all sure Cam would QB sneak through for an easy first down. But nope, Rivera decided to nope out of the single thought despite his former life as "Riverboat Ron."

Sure, you can argue "but what if it failed?" Then at least Ron tried to do something offensively and show that he understands the defense isn't as good as it once was. The strength of this team is by far the offense, yet Ron is hindering it to the max.

Plus, this statistic should've made it a no-brainer:

And, best of all, the last two offensive drives were prime examples of just what happens when the coaching staff removes itself out of Cam's way and lets him take hold the reigns. He was able to lead efficient drives down the field with the play-makers they have and pass. This can be a prolific modern offense if Ron keeps his stupid "run run run" mentality away.

Sure, the last three plays are questionable in part of Cam and everyone else. Second down, Cam was pressured. Third down, Cam missed wildly compounded with the refs missing a blatant push off on Funchess before the ball got to there (this was based on what I heard from the radio broadcast. They really hounded the refs on that one.) Fourth down he missed Wright while the receiver himself was clearly held. Either way, missed opportunities on there.

Otherwise, the drive down the field showed what happens when the Panthers are able to pass and act well in a no-huddle situation. Give the keys to Cam and let him drive. Let him pass, get a few good playcalls in if you need, and create a balance of good passing and running. Ron does not need to force his "run run run" fetish on an offense that could do far better and a defense that can't stop an offense to save its life.

Those are my thoughts.

SO coach gets roasted for not going to for it on the first possession when the team was on 4th down on the wrong side of the 50.

its like y’all have never watched football before.

if you’re going to roast a head coach at least do it for an actually bad coaching decision not for something that pretty much every coach in the NFL would have done. SMH.

[MHS831]

15 hours ago, Shocker said:

Ron was salty there.  Riverboat is a myth...he is amazingly conservative.

the only time he is Riverboat Ron is when his job is on the line.  He is conservative, even at the end of the game when he plays for the 50 yard FG instead of trying to get closer--or a TD.

[yayfootball]

6 hours ago, bull123 said:

4th and 3 we kicked and should have...the 3rd down in that series was the bad call

and yes we should have gone for it on 4th and inches...i read in coaches presser that he never considered it

I disagree that the 3rd down play call was bad. If McCaffrey doesn't fall down on the catch, he picks up the first down easily and maybe even scores. Kicking the FG is at least a defensible decision since it makes it a one-score game, but given that we were still down a TD, the likelihood that we would end up being forced to go for it later was pretty high, and 4th and 3 is short enough that it will likely be a better opportunity than whatever 4th down attempt comes later. That was indeed the case, as we forced to go for it on 4th and 5.

[stankowalski]

6 hours ago, tiger7_88 said:

Stan, I have to say I think I remember you being full-blown Team Rivera not that long ago.

Have you changed your mind?

I'm on Team Panthers.  

[EightyNine]

There should be some sort of limit on how upset you can get when a coach doesn't go for it on 4th down, behind the 50 yard line, in the first quarter.  I don't care how big and athletic our QB is. Making the argument that we should always go for it on 4th and short is ridiculous.  This does not deserve its own thread in my opinion.

People always over complicate things coming off of a loss.. We can always find a lot of plays that went wrong, and spend hours arguing over who should receive the most amount of blame.  We were -3 in the turnover battle.  This should be an easy one to figure out.  The answer is not going for it on every 4th and short.

[yayfootball]

6 hours ago, Doc Holiday said:

SO coach gets roasted for not going to for it on the first possession when the team was on 4th down on the wrong side of the 50.

its like y’all have never watched football before.

if you’re going to roast a head coach at least do it for an actually bad coaching decision not for something that pretty much every coach in the NFL would have done. SMH.

That one possession was literally 10% of the team's opportunities to score a TD yesterday. When you throw away 1/10 of your chances to score because you are concerned about possibly failing on a play that has a 90% success rate, that's a bad coaching decision. To not even consider it because you're on the wrong side of the 50 is even worse. The ball was on the 47 yard line. Are we supposed to believe that 3 yards of field position somehow makes this an obviously punting scenario?

Groupthink and ingrained tendencies have caused a lot of sports teams to spend a lot of time doing stupid things, so it really doesn't matter what other coaches would do, but since you bring it up, many coaches would have gone for it, as Jay Gruden did when faced with an identical scenario later in the first quarter.

[Manther]

"There was no thought on that there."

Agreed.

[Semaj]

Let me be the first to say it.  "Bye Ron,. Good luck in your future endeavors as a coach for another NFL team.".   When it's all said and done, I firmly believe that he's going to be fired.  He's on borrowed time.  Mark my words, he's gone.  There's no way in hell that he survives as our coach with Mr. Tepper who is forward thinking and progressive as the owner.  He likely will be gone with the man who hired him too.  I believe Ron and Marty will end up being replaced in the off season and it will be for our benefit.   Nothing personal but we can do so much better.  

[Snake]

10 hours ago, thefuzz said:

This call has absolutely nothing to do with winning the football game, and everything to do with doing the "right thing" per the Old Head Coaches Almanac.

Ron staunchly believes that this team should win with defense.  Period.

Yet he can't get his defense to control the A gap or pressure the QB.