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Critical Moments in Panthers Game

twg76

twg76

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So I am watching the game again today. This time I am not looking at individual players. Everyone does that all the time, and it is important. But there are also intangibles to a game that make a world of difference in the outcome - things like MOMENTUM.

I'm not going to bother with the second half because after the first drive it was all backups. So let's focus on the first half.

Miami had TWO CHANCES to score TWO TOUCHDOWNS. The first came on a 4th and inches. Ronnie Brown made a really bad decision. Better yet, it looked like he never made any decision at all. If you watch it again, you will see that all he had to do was bounce it outside instead of trying to run through 4 Carolina defenders. Ronnie is still making questionable decisions about holes at the line.

The defense stopped Carolina, thankfully. And the offense was back out on the field with good field position. They worked their way down to about the 5 yard line where Wes Welker took a huge shot from a Carolina LB, AND STILL HELD ON TO THE BALL. It looked like it didn't even phase Wes. You have got to go back and watch that. Watch the expression on Wes Welker's face. HE DOESN'T LOOK PHASED AT ALL.

So it is 4th and 1 near the 5 yard line. What does Nick Saban do? He kicks the field goal to tie the score. Miami is in a situation where they can take the lead with a TD and get the momentum going in their direction. AT WORSE, they are stopped at the 5 yard line and Carolina gets it back again with HORRIBLE FIELD POSITION.

That was the critical moment of the game. It was only 3 to 0. Miami was in a battle for the TD. Wes Welker held on after a huge shot. They could have pushed forward and got the one yard and scored a TD making it 7 to 3. INSTEAD, they kicked the field goal and tied it up at 3 to 3. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG THAT LASTED? It lasted for one commercial break. On the next kick off, DeAngelo Willams ran it back for Carolina making it 10 - 3. CAROLINA TOOK THE MOMENTUM.

If we would have gone for that 4th down, make it or miss it, Miami would have still been better off. I have no idea why Saban played it safe in preseason. But I totally disagree with his decision now as I did last night in the moment.

Football is about momentum. You have to create it with big plays. Wes Welker took a shot. He held on. That can get momentum going. Too bad Nick decided to play it safe. I had a Wanny flashback. And no, before some of you jump to your own conclusions, I'm not saying Nick is another Wanny. I just didn't like that decision he made.
 
Hmmm.....I agree with you about questionable decisions being made by players last night - I saw a LOT of that! However, it occured to me that - judging by the way a large percentage of our first stringers were tip-toeing around the field - they may be going ultra-conservative in order to avoid injury. Zach comes to mind particularly. You make very good points, and I do still have Ronnie on starter's probation. It will be interesting to see how Sept. 7 goes.
 
Gridiron Chica said:
Hmmm.....I agree with you about questionable decisions being made by players last night - I saw a LOT of that! However, it occured to me that - judging by the way a large percentage of our first stringers were tip-toeing around the field - they may be going ultra-conservative in order to avoid injury. Zach comes to mind particularly. You make very good points, and I do still have Ronnie on starter's probation. It will be interesting to see how Sept. 7 goes.
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Agreed. It is preseason.
 
The thing is that we already got stopped on a 4th and 1 and had no success running against their D. If we failed again, that would be a huge blow to the morale of the team. Instead, a very easy kick and the game was tied. It was the right move for a regular season game for sure, and I think for the general morale of the team for the rest of the game, a good move in a preseason game as well.
 
2xBlown said:
The thing is that we already got stopped on a 4th and 1 and had no success running against their D. If we failed again, that would be a huge blow to the morale of the team. Instead, a very easy kick and the game was tied. It was the right move for a regular season game for sure, and I think for the general morale of the team for the rest of the game, a good move in a preseason game as well.
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I totally disagree. You make no points at all. All you do is say that "morale" would have been lowered by missing it. No way. It would have been a good test to overcome adversity.
 
Miami had TWO CHANCES to score TWO TOUCHDOWNS. The first came on a 4th and inches. Ronnie Brown made a really bad decision. Better yet, it looked like he never made any decision at all. If you watch it again, you will see that all he had to do was bounce it outside instead of trying to run through 4 Carolina defenders. Ronnie is still making questionable decisions about holes at the line.
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uh on that play there WAS no opening. This isnt madden again, he wouldnt have made it far outside the line.. carolinas defense was sitting there.. also jeno pulled into his way.

Saban also didnt try the 2nd 4th and goal because... he missed the first one. Pretty easy to comprehend.
 
previous posted copied and pasted:

Originally Posted by cltchperf
There was nowhere for him to go. He had, literally three Panthers defenders right at him right when he got the hand. Near the end he did well, when he actually had blocking he made a nice run to on some sweeps in the 2nd quarter and don't forget the first down run where he dragged three carolina players, in what seemed like he would have been taken down well before the first down, but kept chugging away instead. Most of his runs he was surrounded, he picked his holes and went and made the right decision especially considering he had guys right in fornt of him on the handoff. There was space on the outside, which some people might think, BUT this is not Madden, he would have lost yards instead of gain a yard or two, because of the positions he was at and the angle. Defenses are two fast, things have to be right and there has to be space for a running having lineman right on top of him to change direction. The only player that could pull that off, or consistently was Barry Sanders, and well Barry is Barry.
 
I gotta agree with nikeair - we were stopped on the first attempt and we had a chance to tie the game in what looked like a low scoring game. As far as Ronnie on that goal line he had absolutely nowhere to go, and if he tried to bounce it to the outside he would've gotten stopped for a loss and given the Panthers offense some breathing room from their endzone.

Anyways Carolina is a team that most analysts including myself consider SuperBowl favorites for this year, so to hold their offense to a few touchdowns some of being long 50+ yards and one resulting from a punt return fumble. We basically lost because of some special teams mishaps and had no chance running against a very talented Panthers front-line Defense.
 
Is their actually "critical moments" in a preseason game? In a month nobody will remember what the score was or the Fins record anyway.

Granted it would have been nice to see a few nice runs, but it seems even Ricky W. would get alot of preseason games with 5 carries for 5 yards.

I just cant see Z. Thomas, Taylor, Traylor, Carter, etc... sitting on the sidelines and thinking "WHY didnt we go for it on the 4th and 1? Just think of the momentum we could have had the rest of this preseason game!"
 
and what if we went for the TD and got it....then they return the kickoff anywayz.....i believe they would still have the MOMENTUM
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gridiron Chica
Hmmm.....I agree with you about questionable decisions being made by players last night - I saw a LOT of that! However, it occured to me that - judging by the way a large percentage of our first stringers were tip-toeing around the field - they may be going ultra-conservative in order to avoid injury. Zach comes to mind particularly. You make very good points, and I do still have Ronnie on starter's probation. It will be interesting to see how Sept. 7 goes.


Agreed. It is preseason.



agree
 
Wes Welker took a huge shot from a Carolina LB, AND STILL HELD ON TO THE BALL. It looked like it didn't even phase Wes. You have got to go back and watch that. Watch the expression on Wes Welker's face. HE DOESN'T LOOK PHASED AT ALL.
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I noticed a lil grin on his face after that shot he took....
 
In a true critical 4th and inches situation, I sneak my 6 foot 5 inch 265 pound QB up the middle every single time.
 
Mr. Reality said:
In a true critical 4th and inches situation, I sneak my 6 foot 5 inch 265 pound QB up the middle every single time.
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That probably would've been the call but it's too risky in the preseason. We used it once during the Carolina game and it worked great. I think we would've done the sneak on the first 4th and Goal if it were the regular season...
 
I just listened to Saban's press conference today. I really like his philosophies about being a championship football team. He definitely understands what it takes. So I know the Dolphins are in good hands with him.

But he should have went for it after that Welker catch. That is a fact. If it was the regular season, I would be devestated by the decision.

GO FINS!!!! :dolphins: :dolphins: :dolphins:
 
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