is the vaunted ron rivera defense just a silly myth?

[PhillyB]

I just pulled our overall defensive rankings from the Ron Rivera era. In chronological order:

2011: 28th

2012: 10th

2013: 2nd

2014: 10th

2015: 6th

2016: 21st

2017: 7th

2018: 15th

2019: 20th

 

I'm not going to dig real hard into these numbers, but a huge part of the justification for Rivera's mediocre records and mesozoic football philosophies has been that he's some kind of hard-nosed defensive guru. If overall defensive stats tell us anything at all, they tell us that the excellent Ron Rivera defense is a running myth. In his tenure with the Panthers Ron's defenses have averaged 13th in the league, about middle of the pack. He's only ever fielded a top five defense once.

As many resources as this team has spent over the years building a Ron Rivera defense and executing its gameplans on the field you'd expect something a little more impressive, right?

[Saca312]

oh wow im back out of my hole once more.

rivera's schemes are ultimately stuck in an era that has long expired and shown that they aren't effective in the modern NFL. After Sean McDermott left, this defense has dropped off significantly.

granted, part of yesterday's failures were also a result of poor effort up front. like really poor, alongside luke kuechly having his worst game ive ever seen from him. however, a lot can simply be attributed to how outdated ron rivera's scheme is in today's NFL. this defense has too much talent and should be a top 3 with proper coaching, but alas.

 

[Cuttinedge]

We have spent a lot of resources on this side of the ball. With little or no results.

Smoke and mirrors he fancies himself a defensive guru but u dam sure can’t tell it come game day. We shut down NO last year at our home but besides that most teams just have their way with ol Ron’s D. He gets out schemed weekly 

[ImfromClayton]

My frustration this year is not playcalling as much as the fact that we spent an entire offseason retooling the defense to run a 3/4. Then at cut time, we kept 5 DTs on the roster, making it next to impossible to run a 3/4 consistently. Fast forward 4 weeks and we lose KK. 

now we are stuck running all these nickel, and over/under sets with bodies playing positions and responsibilities they just aren’t capable of playing.

 

[Moose Hoover]

1 hour ago, Saca312 said:

oh wow im back out of my hole once more.

rivera's schemes are ultimately stuck in an era that has long expired and shown that they aren't effective in the modern NFL. After Sean McDermott left, this defense has dropped off significantly.

granted, part of yesterday's failures were also a result of poor effort up front. like really poor, alongside luke kuechly having his worst game ive ever seen from him. however, a lot can simply be attributed to how outdated ron rivera's scheme is in today's NFL. this defense has too much talent and should be a top 3 with proper coaching, but alas.

 

Hey bud! Welcome back!

[Moose Hoover]

Rivera is good at finding the right balance between Analytics, Gut Feelings, and wearing ties on planes. 

Also tshirts. He is low key leg-it on his tshirt game.

In his defense. 

[KillerKat]

57 minutes ago, ImfromClayton said:

My frustration this year is not playcalling as much as the fact that we spent an entire offseason retooling the defense to run a 3/4. Then at cut time, we kept 5 DTs on the roster, making it next to impossible to run a 3/4 consistently. Fast forward 4 weeks and we lose KK. 

now we are stuck running all these nickel, and over/under sets with bodies playing positions and responsibilities they just aren’t capable of playing.

 

Exactly. We weren't equipped in the first place for a 3-4 and then we just made it harder on ourselves.

[Jon Snow]

Yes it's a myth.  He's been living off his past accomplishments as a DC elsewhere.  Ron has run his course here.

[natty]

Great coordinator, subpar head coach.  Basically Wade Phillips.  

[Castavar]

It is a myth. I'm starting to think McDermott was the real defensive mastermind. In back to back years, he has fielded a top 3 defense. Just yesterday, the Browns had EIGHT chances to score from the goalline.....Bills stopped them all eight times. That is a sign of a real elite defense. Our defensive redzone efficiency is dead fuggin last. I don't care what players you have, if you are the defensive mastermind you are touted as, there is no fuggin way that should happen. His scheme is trash and outdated.

 

[Jus Rob]

5 minutes ago, natty said:

Great coordinator, subpar head coach.  Basically Wade Phillips.  

At this point I'll take Wade over Ron

[MountaineerChemist10]

4 hours ago, PhillyB said:

I just pulled our overall defensive rankings from the Ron Rivera era. In chronological order:

2011: 28th

2012: 10th

2013: 2nd

2014: 10th

2015: 6th

2016: 21st

2017: 7th

2018: 15th

2019: 20th

 

I'm not going to dig real hard into these numbers, but a huge part of the justification for Rivera's mediocre records and mesozoic football philosophies has been that he's some kind of hard-nosed defensive guru. If overall defensive stats tell us anything at all, they tell us that the excellent Ron Rivera defense is a running myth. In his tenure with the Panthers Ron's defenses have averaged 13th in the league, about middle of the pack. He's only ever fielded a top five defense once.

As many resources as this team has spent over the years building a Ron Rivera defense and executing its gameplans on the field you'd expect something a little more impressive, right?

True. But you're only looking at history here at Carolina. Look at his past performance as defensive coordinator before joining Carolina:

2004: 13th

2005: 2nd

2006: 3rd

2008: 15th

2009: 11th

2010: 10th

That's pretty damn good. Before yesterday's game we were #1 in sacks. We're still #3 in Ints & #11 in pass D. Right now, our main concern is run defense.

Fix the run defense = top 5 defense. Problem solved.

The question is how?

[Snake]

If your trying to say Rivera is a bad coach I don't think you will have too many disagree.

[Jeremy Igo]

Dom Capers