Ironic.

The Panthers defense, despite the 8 sacks, didn’t stop the Falcon pass offense all day….
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No team has been able to stop the falcons pass offense all YEAR. Great breakdown though, enjoy your 1-3 team.

Maybe that’s because it was a field goal?

I’m hardly a fan of the Panthers or any team for that matter. I just know dumb football calls when I see them.

If that were Bellichick, he would have went for it, especially having such a wild card like Newton to put the defense on its heels. I’d even bet that Mike Smith would have went for it since he did exactly that in the playoffs last January facing a worse down and distance.

Say you don’t get it. I’d think you would rather have 30 seconds instead of 5 to try to make something happen at the end of the game after your defense collapses yet again, don’t you think?

Furthermore, my point was that going on 4th was a higher percentage play than your defense stopping them from getting into field goal range (based on what had gone on in the game to that point) with a kicker who’s not exactly shaky in pressure situations.

It’s those kinds of tough decisions that HC’s get paid the big bucks for, and Rivera blew it.

No, I just checked the Falcon’s record… they won it.

Should have been a penalty and should have been newsworthy. Instead, we hear crickets.

The last play of the game was a long shot, but Newton couldn’t even get off a pass against a three-man rush.

Omitted from this write-up is the fact that Mike Smith called for and received a fourth timeout with :05 to play.
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Did you notice the announcers simply said Smith had called timeout without mentioning it was the fourth one? If that would have been the replacment refs, this would have been a national scandal.

The Panthers defense, despite the 8 sacks, didn’t stop the Falcon pass offense all day, and this game had the feel of a last person with the ball wins.

Rivera, instead of going for a pretty good chance of picking up a first down on 4th and inches, challenges and pushesh his team back even further, but still didn’t do the only thing a good HC who saw what was happening all day would have done, go on fourth and 1 to end the game there.

I said it aloud when the refs called it 4th and short after the fumble recovery, punt and you’ll lose. The point was just more absurd that they went from their 1 to the Panther 23 in less than a minute.

It’s the kind of decision that makes players tune you out, especially when the thing that held this team back most last year, the defense, which is supposedly his expertise, is still pretty lousy.