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If I'm a Carolina fan, I'd be pissed at Rivera for two game changing decisions:

In the first quarter on the Panther's opening drive, he went for it on 4th and 3 inside the 10. Even if it were 4th and 1, that early in a game, you ALWAYS take the points. Not only that, but he ran the same damn play twice in a row.

Then with 1:45 remaining in a tie game, he attempts a 50+ yard FG, always a challenge, rather than going for it. Even had he made the FG, he would have been giving us the ball back with a chance to at least tie the game with a FG.

And on our side of the ledger, WTF is going on with our burning timeouts on offense? We called two in the first half, which might have been utilized to get the ball back for another possession. Then we burned another one in the 2nd half on a 4th down and short when we knew that we'd be going for it if we found ourselves in that situation.

We've been mismanaging our timeouts all year long. Schott's acting like he's a newcomer at play calling.

Edit: Ugh, spelling in the thread title.

We traded with the Panthers til our defense shutdown them now if we can only dream of shutting down the a
Chiefs

Agree and agree. I said early on the decision to go on 4th and 3 might bite them. Yes our time out situation is maddening. But hey 6-5 in a rebuilding year with a sorta favorable roadmap to the postseason GO HAWKS!!!

That's football. Last year we argued that 3 FGs kept us from the playoffs. This year it may turn out to be a couple of decisions by an opponents coach.

Our SB year we should have lost to the Texans and maybe even the 9ers in the NFCCG but Sherman was able to make some plays. This is what I HATE about Pete ball, keep it close and win at the very end. This is ridiculous to think that we should do this every game as sometimes we come up short - especially when RW throws a pick, pick 6, gets strip sacked at the 10, etc.

idhawkman wrote:That's football. Last year we argued that 3 FGs kept us from the playoffs. This year it may turn out to be a couple of decisions by an opponents coach.

Our SB year we should have lost to the Texans and maybe even the 9ers in the NFCCG but Sherman was able to make some plays. This is what I HATE about Pete ball, keep it close and win at the very end. This is ridiculous to think that we should do this every game as sometimes we come up short - especially when RW throws a pick, pick 6, gets strip sacked at the 10, etc.

You might want to include the Green Bay game as one that was arguably won by a couple of game management blunders by our opposing coach. And I agree with your analogy, ie losing close games via a missed FG. Sometimes the margin between winning and losing is razor thin, but I'm of the belief that those types of breaks have the tendency to even themselves out over time so I rarely adapt a position that "we were a playoff team if it wasn't for that GD Blair Walsh", or something of that sort, and consequently, I'm not arguing that we won our last two games because of poor game management by the opposing coaches. They're simply one in a host of factors in the outcome.

This team is in its infancy, not too unlike Pete's 2010 version and the first part of his 2011 edition, so yea, we're going to see a lot of cliffhangers. Pete's SB teams didn't have a disproportionate number of close games.

Pete set an all time record for consecutive games played within a margin of 10 points and along the way, it gave two SB appearances and a Lombardi, so I'm happy with his style. This has been an extraordinary year, virtually blowing up the team yet we're in the driver's seat for a playoff berth.

RiverDog wrote:This team is in its infancy, not too unlike Pete's 2010 version and the first part of his 2011 edition, so yea, we're going to see a lot of cliffhangers. Pete's SB teams didn't have a disproportionate number of close games.

Pete set an all time record for consecutive games played within a margin of 10 points and along the way, it gave two SB appearances and a Lombardi, so I'm happy with his style. This has been an extraordinary year, virtually blowing up the team yet we're in the driver's seat for a playoff berth.

Agree with this somewhat. I don't think we did a complete blow up like Pete and John did in 2010 or even 2011 though. I feel like this team is more like the 2012 version that cam up :34 short in the Atlanta game. We are a dangerous team from here on out and can beat anyone anywhere. The problem is we have to be perfect in the last quarter of every game going forward. We can't come up :34 short again.

Peter King (in his column that used to be the original MMQB) is pretty sold on Russ. We're The Lead in this morning's column:

“You’re exactly right—playoff hopes on the line,” Wilson said. “Just thinking we have to make a play. That’s the play I saw.”

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2 ... R7hqB78TNo

idhawkman wrote:Agree with this somewhat. I don't think we did a complete blow up like Pete and John did in 2010 or even 2011 though. I feel like this team is more like the 2012 version that cam up :34 short in the Atlanta game. We are a dangerous team from here on out and can beat anyone anywhere. The problem is we have to be perfect in the last quarter of every game going forward. We can't come up :34 short again.

Very true. Plus we didn't have Russell Wilson. But nevertheless, the analogy is pretty valid. This team is not a finished product.

I agree with you about beating anyone anywhere on a given day. However, that can be said by about 3/4 of the teams in the league. Our advantage comes in the form of our running game. We are the best rushing team in the league, and by quite a bit. So long as we don't fall behind early, that formula will keep us in a lot of games, such as our two games vs. the Rams, when the talent difference is in favor of our opponent.

I'm really liking how our current team is shaping up.

RiverDog wrote:Very true. Plus we didn't have Russell Wilson. But nevertheless, the analogy is pretty valid. This team is not a finished product.

I agree with you about beating anyone anywhere on a given day. However, that can be said by about 3/4 of the teams in the league. Our advantage comes in the form of our running game. We are the best rushing team in the league, and by quite a bit. So long as we don't fall behind early, that formula will keep us in a lot of games, such as our two games vs. the Rams, when the talent difference is in favor of our opponent.

I'm really liking how our current team is shaping up.

Agree with this. We are I think the 3rd youngest team in the league right now. That is good if we can get the MOore's, Calitros, Thompsons, Flowers etc to develop into full players. I'm really upset that KJ is still sidelined as I think yesterday's game would have been a lot easier with him or Kendricks instead of Calitro. I'm concerned about our LB crew right now. Even Bobby picked some bad holes yesterday against McCafferey. I'm glad he stepped up on a few pass pros but his run stops he made some bad choices yesterday.