Tuesday Turtle Spotlight: Let’s talk about that two-point play

Confidence and aggression are funny things this season

This season started with an all but unified chorus against Ron Rivera’s eight years long penchant for running the ball and punting in all the wrong places. I’m not surprised that he has become more aggressive as the season has worn on. Play off scenarios tighten at the same time as the coaching staff is learning just who they can and can’t trust in make-or-break situations. This has been much of the recipe behind Rivera’s late season winnings streaks.

It is frustrating to watch, and creates opportunities to sink a season before it really begins, but it is who he is at this point. While it isn’t surprising to see Ron go for the occasional fourth down, I never thought I would see the day where half of the fan-base is yelling at this coach for a not-strictly necessary two point conversion attempt. This season got weird.

I have mixed feelings about the decision to go for it and the play they burned a timeout to call. But we aren’t going to dissect the play itself. This column is about coaching decisions, so let’s analyze the logic behind it and what that might mean for the rest of 2018 and beyond.

The easiest thing to see about that play is that it wasn’t why the Panthers lost. With three timeouts and over a minute left, it is hard to believe the Lions couldn’t get back in field goal range before the end of the game. Matt Prater was as reliable as our memories of Graham Gano. The Panthers were in a rough spot and I don’t think there was a right decision.

What I do like is the willingness to go for it. That’s an edge the Panthers haven’t had all year. It’s an edge they have to have so long their defense is treating every game like a walk through. If a team is trading touchdowns with you all day, which is what the Lions game easily could have been if Funchess could catch a ball and Kerryon Johnson had remained healthy, then the only way to win is to ultimately respond to their seven points with your own eight.

Monday Night Football showed us the future is offense. Not every game will feature 100+ points, but a true contender will need to be able to win those kinds of games. Maybe your team has a defense, maybe it doesn’t, but you need to have a plan to win a game either way. Sunday’s loss to the Lions showed an understanding of one basic principle of this new NFL: the team with the most points usually wins. That’s a new perspective for Rivera to acknowledge. That is progress I can root for.

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