Excusable vs. Inexcusable Mistakes

[hepcat]

"Missed Opportunities" continues to be the theme for the (twilight of?) the Ron Rivera era. The Panthers made a plethora of mistakes on Sunday against a strong Rams team that ultimately cost them the game. Let's break them down into what is an "excusable" mistake, or what I'll consider "fixable", and what is "inexcusable", and shouldn't happen at the NFL level.

1st Quarter, 11:47: FUMBLE - DJ Moore. Rams LB Cory Littleton had a great game and put a good punch on the ball. EXCUSABLE.

1st Quarter, 11:47: FUMBLE - Ron Rivera. Keeping DJ Moore in the game on the field for the next series was insane. Moore has a known history of fumbling issues. Bill Belichick wouldn't have kept him in the game after that. Regardless of whether it was his fault or not, a message needed to be sent to the team that mistakes will not be tolerated. Ron missed an opportunity to do that here, but instead he would rather talk about "Missed Opportunities" in the postgame press conference. He should get "Missed Opportunities" tatoo'ed across his forehead. INEXCUSABLE.

1st Quarter, 1:30: TIMEOUT. Cam Newton. Technology problems happen. He called a timeout to get it fixed. Nothing anyone can do in this situation except get it fixed after the problem is noted. EXCUSABLE.

1st Quarter, 1:30: DELAY OF GAME. Offensive coaching staff, A/V staff, & Cam Newton. This was one of the worst and dumbest moments of the game. How in the wide world of stupid did they not call a play during the timeout? How did they not get Cam's helmet fixed or swapped out during the timeout? Why didn't Cam just call a play on his own when he realized his helmet wasn't working again? Just a complete failure at every level. This mistake lead to a missed FG. 1000% INEXCUSABLE.

2nd Quarter, 13:15: FUMBLE. DJ Moore & Cam Newton. Ball was obviously tipped. Should have been an incomplete pass. Refs make a clear and obvious mistake. EXCUSABLE.

2nd Quarter, 13:15: FUMBLE. Refs. WTF game were they watching? The ball was tipped. Shawn Hochuli is a joke. INEXCUSABLE

3rd Quarter, 6:31: INCOMPLETE PASS/FUMBLE. Refs. Obviously not a Panthers mistake. Refs make a huge glaring error, somehow calling a pass "complete", yet, is somehow incomplete and not a fumble. It was at this point I think most Panthers fans realized the refs were against the Panthers and they would not be winning the game. Again, Shawn Hochuli is a joke. Like his father before him who said Cam Newton was too young to get a late hit/roughing the passer call, he should be booed fervently every time he gets on the mic the next time he referees a Panthers home game. INEXCUSABLE.

3rd Quarter, 5:55: TIMEOUT. Ron Rivera. Ron Rivera seemingly called a timeout to yell at an official. Not acceptable. This timeout was badly needed near the end of the game for a comeback attempt. The Rams ended up scoring a TD a few plays later. INEXCUSABLE.

4th Quarter, 12:02: Norv Turner. A rush up the middle is called for Cam Newton, who has yet to have his number called all game. Christian McCaffrey is having one of the best games of his life. Maybe some trickery involving him could be done. Nope. Let's call a QB power as if we're at the goal line! Mike Shula, is that you? INEXCUSABLE.

4th Quarter, 10:48: Cam Newton. Misses Curtis Samuel on a deep out route that could have gone for 30-40 yards. With the score 20-23, the Panthers badly needed this play. We can't expect perfection every play, but these are the plays the team needs to make. I'll bet Cam hits this throw the next time he has the chance. EXCUSABLE. 

4th Quarter, 5:55: Cory Littleton does his film study and reads Cam Newton's eyes for an INT. Littleton had a monster game and is a rising star on the Rams defense. Defense made a good play. EXCUSABLE.

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Overall, it's a mixed bag of fixable and not so easily fixable mistakes. Unless we get him fired, we can't fix the the Hochuli family hate for the Panthers and obviously pushing some crucial plays towards the Rams. 

The most crucial mistake, I believe, was the delay of game penalty coming out of a timeout that resulted in a missed field goal. Cam Newton has had an issue with playclock management, getting the play call and the players set, and delay of game penalties for seemingly his entire career. I don't know if this completely on him, the coaching staff, the technology staff, whoever it is, but this needs to be fixed. I'm not sure it can at this point. 

Second biggest mistake was the DJ Moore fumble early in the game. Not so much the fumble, but the failure from Ron Rivera to establish any sort of accountability to the team. Ron has his player friendly attitude and didn't bench DJ Moore like he should have. DJ has a history of fumbling. Fumbling on the opening drive of Week 1 is a BAD look, regardless of if it's totally his fault or not. He should have been benched for 1-2 series to send a message to the team. Chris Hogan and Jarius Wright barely played.

The most encouraging mistakes are the ones Cam Newton made. He missed some throws that he might be able to fix. 

Let's hope the team comes out and plays a mistake free game on Thursday.

 

[Khyber53]

So, if I read this right, if Cam's involved, it's excusable?

If Ron wasn't in the locker room taking a whiz, then anything that could be even loosely tied to him is his fault?

Just want to make sure I've got your narrative right. It's pretty similar to last year's, but I might have missed a nuance or two.

[Raleigh PF]

If you first say that Moore's fumble was excusable, but the coach should have kept him out of the next series, that really doesn't make sense. If you are penalizing the player by keeping him out, the only reason you do so is if you believe he made a mistake.

Clearly, Moore didn't take care of the ball. He was holding it like a loaf of bread as he was running, which made him susceptible to the fumble. Inexcusable. 

[hepcat]

2 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

So, if I read this right, if Cam's involved, it's excusable?

If Ron wasn't in the locker room taking a whiz, then anything that could be even loosely tied to him is his fault?

Just want to make sure I've got your narrative right. It's pretty similar to last year's, but I might have missed a nuance or two.

The delay of game penalty was also on Cam. Not sure why he can't call a play in the huddle on his own. Missed throws happen, he hit some tough throws yesterday. And he can't control a ball being tipped at the line.

His INT...I debated making inexcusable, but the defense did make a good play as well. What else could I have flipped?

[PanthersBigD]

This thread is inexcusable. 

[Dex]

I agree with most of what you said. But you did leave out the 5 or 6 passes that Cam let sail on wide open receivers. That is inexcusable and unforgivable.

 

[MasterAwesome]

Just to summarize for anyone who doesn’t care to read all that:

Any mistake attributed to coaching = inexcusable.

Any mistake attributed to players = excusable.

[DeAngelo Beason]

7 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

So, if I read this right, if Cam's involved, it's excusable?

If Ron wasn't in the locker room taking a whiz, then anything that could be even loosely tied to him is his fault?

Just want to make sure I've got your narrative right. It's pretty similar to last year's, but I might have missed a nuance or two.

I read it the same way you read it...