John Fox's conservatism helps Broncos blow a big one

John Fox stayed true to his conservative roots Saturday night in Denver – and it cost the Broncos dearly in a classic AFC playoff game.

Baltimore beat Denver on the road, 38-35, in double overtime, and Fox will and should be second-guessed just like he used to be in Carolina for playing it so close to the vest when the game was on the line.

But that’s Fox, as we all know in the Carolinas. He doesn’t like to gamble. He told me 11 years ago the first time we talked at any length – just after he took over the Carolina Panthers for what became a nine-year stint -- that “a punt is not a bad play.” He’s conservative even when he has Peyton Manning on his side.

Leading 35-28 and with Baltimore out of timeouts, Denver had the ball and faced a third-and-7 at the Denver 47 with exactly two minutes to go. If Denver throws the ball just once -- for one more first down – then the game’s over.

Instead, the Broncos ran it (Peyton Manning would say later he audibled to a run, but if I'm the Bronco coaches I don't let that even be an option in that situation). They didn't get it. And they punted. And then Baltimore scored on a 70-yard pass to send it to overtime (that was eerily reminiscent of the way Carolina punted to Atlanta in September, only to see safety Haruki Nakamura allow a 59-yard pass over his head that set up the Falcons for a winning field goal).

But still… Denver is getting the ball back at its own 20, the game tied at 35, the home crowd in its favor, timeouts in its pocket. What does Fox do?

He has Manning kneel down once to send the game into overtime. Even the CBS announcers couldn't believe that one.

Now this game wasn’t all Fox’s fault by any means (Manning would say later he called a run audible on third-and-7, and of course the offensive coordinator has something to do with all this). In overtime, both teams possessed the ball twice, with plenty of chances to win, before Manning threw a bad interception and Baltimore converted it into the winning field goal. Who’s to say if Fox had made Manning throw the ball in those earlier two situations that Manning wouldn’t have thrown another interception?

But then again, if you’ve got a hall of fame quarterback on the field and you don't use him any better than that, I think you deserve to lose.

Bottom line: Fox mismanaged this one. I think Manning would have completed a third-and-7 pass at aruond midfield late in the fourth quarter. I don’t think the Ravens would ever have gotten the ball again for that last-gasp Hail Mary TD, and there would have been no overtime.

But now we’ll never know. (Photo credit: Associated Press)

Shula logical next step to replace Chudzinski

With the Thursday-night news that Rob Chudzinski will coach the Cleveland Browns next season, Carolina Panther head coach Ron Rivera has a very big decision to make. He needs a new offensive coordinator – someone who can shepherd the development of Cam Newton, manage the volatility of Steve Smith and figure out how to get all those running backs the right number of carries.

Unless Rivera can land a really big fish, however -- and it sounds like Norv Turner is going to join Chud in Cleveland -- the correct choice is already right in front of him: Mike Shula.

Shula, the Panthers’ current quarterbacks coach, knows Newton better than anyone left on the current staff. He has been an NFL offensive coordinator already (at Tampa Bay) and a college head coach and quarterback (at Alabama).

I’m not recommending Shula because of his famous father. Don Shula was a hall of famer and one of the all-time greats, but he has nothing to do with this. Mike Shula has done well on his own in Charlotte, and he’s ready for this promotion.

Plus, the Panthers could use some continuity on the coaching staff, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Rivera just fired the running backs coach and the wide receivers coach this week, so those jobs are about to turn over. Now Chudzinski – quite suddenly – is gone.

Shula is a calming and thoughtful presence on the sideline who was originally hired on Chudzinski’s recommendation (and because he has long had a reputation for nurturing young quarterbacks). I asked Shula once if he was satisfied being a quarterbacks coach with Carolina, since he has been on bigger stages many times before.

“I’ve said for the last 15 years,” Shula says, “that as long as I’m around the QBs, I really don’t care if I’m quarterbacks coach or the coordinator or the head coach. I played the position, and there’s something about coaching it that is so challenging and exciting.”

Well, he can still be around the QBs if he gets this promotion. But unless Rivera has someone like Ken Whisenhunt stashed in his back pocket as a backup plan or the reports are wrong on Turner going to Ohio – then I think Shula is the logical next step for Carolina.

Give me your best one-liner about Panther record

UPDATE: Because of other sports news and the great outpouring of entries, we are going to publish the column based on this post and the reader responses in our biggest newspaper -- Sunday's -- and will put it online then too. Thanks for so many fine responses -- you guys are a lot funnier than I am and have made my first "crowdsourced" column a lot of fun to do... Scott. It is still fine to submit entries for your own amusement and those of others, but the contest deadline has passed to be under consideration for publication.

I wish I could dash off one-liners. I admire comedians or writers who only need a single line to make someone laugh. I can't do it well at all.

So I'm asking for your help. For an upcoming column I'm tentatively titling "The Curse of 7-9," I'm exploring the Panthers' history with that very common record.

The Panthers have now finished with a 7-9 record seven times in their short history, a record more than twice as common for Carolina as any other outcome. All four Panther head coaches went 7-9 at least once, and of course it was Carolina's record in 2012.

What does that have to do with you? I'm looking for your best one-liner, since I'm sure it will be better than mine. Winners' entries will be published in my upcoming column -- either anonymously or with their names attached, their choice -- and will also receive a Panther-themed book. All you have to do is finish this sentence (and please make this your original work, I don't want any plagiarized one-liners from Jerry Seinfeld):

Every time the Panthers go 7-9, it feels like ________________________________.



Major points will be given for originality and humor. Don't make this a treatise, please. I am looking for you to finish that one sentence with however many words you want. That's all.

Send your one-liners (please limit yourself to no more than two tries per person) either as a comment on this blog below or in an email to sfowler@charlotteobserver.com. You can comment anonymously and still enter. I will notify winners through another blog entry and via email and with my Twitter account (@Scott_Fowler). Deadline is 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan.9th.

Former Panther Jeff Lewis dies at age 39

Former Panther quarterback Jeff Lewis (above) died Saturday in Phoenix at age 39. The cause of death has not been released at this time. (MONDAY UPDATE: Over the weekend, police in Phoenix said foul play was not suspected and that Lewis suffered from a pre-existing health condition, but would not say what that condition was.

Stoltenberg (AP)

(SUNDAY UPDATE: I didn't know this until several alert readers pointed it out, but a center on the Panther team who played at the same time Lewis played and who often snapped Lewis the ball in practices and games died Friday. Bryan Stoltenberg, who started 18 games for Carolina between 1998-2000 and played in 20 others, was 40 years old. He recently underwent several surgeries after a serious car accident last month and a blood clot is suspected as the cause of death, according to the University of Colorado website. Stoltenberg passed away at his home in Sugarland, Texas, and is survived by his wife and three sons, ages 16, 14 and 11. This is so sad -- and very strange, as it came about 24 hours before Lewis's death). Here is a link to my column on the deaths of both men, which expands upon the blog items below.

Lewis had been coaching the wide receivers at Northern Arizona, his alma mater, a job he took prior to the 2012 season. The school put out a statement announcing his death (his Northern Arizona bio and a "Getting to Know Jeff Lewis" video can be found here). Lewis was a four-year starter at Northern Arizona from 1991-95 and was in the college’s hall of fame. He also had previously spent three years as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville and done some high school coaching as well. His official school biography had said Lewis was the “proud father” of one son but did not mention any other family. Funeral arrangements are pending.

The Panthers traded for Lewis in 1999, shortly after hiring coach George Seifert. Seifert was very enamored with Lewis, who had the sort of mobility that he had liked and had been considered the heir apparent to John Elway in Denver before he blew out his knee in a pickup basketball game and fell out of favor with coach Mike Shanahan.

The Panthers gave up a third-round pick in 1999 and what turned out to be fourth-rounder in 2000 for Lewis. Seifert wanted Lewis to eventually replace Beuerlein as the starter. Beuerlein kept playing too well for that to happen, however – making the Pro Bowl in 1999 and then also playing decently in 2000.

In the spring of 2001, Seifert sped up the timetable by making one of the most bizarre moves in Panther history – he released Beuerlein with the idea of making Lewis his starter. That backfired badly. Lewis had two awful games in a row in the 2001 preseason – in one, throwing three straight interceptions -- and the mercurial Seifert first demoted him to fourth team and then cut Lewis outright before the season began, handing the starting job to rookie Chris Weinke. The Panthers then went 1-15.

Lewis was sensitive to his mistakes during his three rocky years in Carolina, understanding that he had not fulfilled expectations. He never threw a touchdown pass in 11 exhibitions and in his limited regular-season duty for Carolina. Yet the Panthers paid him more than $7 million and gave him a three-year contract extension before he had ever taken a snap.

“I’m not going to make any excuses, " he said after being released in 2001. "Obviously, I'm disappointed it didn't work out. I tried as hard as I could. I probably tried too hard."

When asked if anything could have been different about his time at Carolina he said then: “I want to take the high road on this whole thing. I played as hard as I could every time I was out there.”

And he did. He just wasn’t a very good player. In fact, he was really bad by NFL quarterback standards and never threw an actual NFL TD pass.

But by all accounts – including mine -- Lewis was a very good person. I did not get to know him well, but I always respected him as a player who tried to make the best out of one bad situation after another. And it wasn’t his fault Seifert invested so much in him -- hey, he was just trying to do his best, and he attracted the attention of a coach who at the time had a great reputation with quarterbacks. So I am very sorry to hear of his passing, as I am sure all Panther fans are.

Lewis and Stoltenberg become at least the sixth and seventh Panthers I can remember who have died. If I am missing someone, please tell me. The others I recall are: Curtis Whitley (former center for the 1995 and 1996 Panther teams); Fred Lane (running back, 1997-99); Reggie White (defensive end in 2000); Sam Mills (linebacker, 1995-97) and Al Lucas (defensive lineman, 2000-01, thanks to both Mike Rucker and Greg 'Catman' Good for reminding me about Lucas, who died after a serious injury in an Arena Football league game). I talked to Rucker Sunday afternoon and he said Lewis was a "great, clean-cut, lighthearted" guy and that Stoltenberg had a fine sense of humor and was known in the locker room for "having some of the biggest calves known to man."

• Guest Book for Jeff Lewis: Post thoughts, condolences

• Guest Book for Bryan Stoltenberg: Post thoughts, condolences

Panthers do the right thing and keep Rivera

After an unsettling week, Ron Rivera is now settled in for another season.

A Panther spokesman said Saturday that Rivera (13-19 in two seasons) would return for a third season as the Panthers' head coach, which is a move I've been advocating for the past three weeks. Rivera has improved as a coach, and he deserves one more year. This was the right thing for Panther owner Jerry Richardson to do, even though waiting six days to do it was awkward and unnecessary.

I also believe it was fine for Richardson to make the call on Rivera rather than wait for a new general manager to come in and do it. Richardson has seen Rivera's style up close and personal for two years now. He's more familiar with him than any GM would be. If he's comfortable with Rivera, hey, he's the one writing the checks.

I asked Rivera a few weeks ago if he thought he was better as a head coach compared to January 2011, when the Panthers hired him. “Without a doubt in my mind,” Rivera said. “I think the biggest thing is management, more than anything else…. I'll put myself up against anybody with X’s and O’s. I feel very confident about that. But I've had to learn a lot about management. When you're managing 26 people and five coaches [as a defensive coordinator] and now you're managing 61 people and 17 coaches, it's a little bit different.”

A man who can't admit to mistakes will never learn from them. Rivera deserves one more year to get this right.

Panther silent treatment is doing no one any good

(UPDATE: Panther coach Ron Rivera is now scheduled to meet with team owner Jerry Richardson Saturday -- following that meeting, Rivera's fate will likely be decided).

So while we're waiting for a decision on Ron Rivera, here are four quick thoughts:

1) Rivera better not be twisting in the wind here. It's a cruel and unnecessary punishment if team owner Jerry Richardson is going to fire Rivera now, several days after the season, or allow a new GM to fire him after leaving the coach hanging out there for so long. That's not the way you fire a coach and a good man. Seven other NFL teams fired coaches, and they all did it the day after the season -- the so-called "Black Monday" -- which is the right way to do it. You cut somebody loose and then give them a chance to get in the mix for other jobs (same goes for the assistant coaches, as staffs fill up quickly in the NFL).

2) Given that Richardson hasn't fired Rivera yet and the team owner is an honorable man, I tend to think the longer this goes, the safer Rivera probably is. In the past three instances where he's fired coaches, Richardson has done it far more quickly than this. He fired both Dom Capers and George Seifert on "Black Monday" -- on the day after the 1998 and the 2001 seasons, respectively. Richardson announced two days before the 2010 season even ended that John Fox and his coaching staff weren't going to be retained (and that move was long expected that season).

3) The wild card in this, of course, is that the Panthers are searching for a general manager. My colleague Tom Sorensen believes the new GM should decide Rivera's fate, not Richardson. I respectfully disagree. I think Rivera has earned his shot at a third year, and that Richardson should tell the new GM he and Rivera will work together for one year, and then, if there are no playoffs in 2013, the new GM is free to hire whomever he wants. The new GM is going to have enough to do anyway given that the Panthers find themselves in salary-cap jail once again, and so soon after the contract purge of 2010.

4) In the meantime, the Panthers' official "cone of silence" is doing no one any good. If Rivera is going to be retained, the Panthers need to say so. If the new GM hire is going to come first, they need to say so. And if Rivera was going to be fired, they needed to have already said that on Monday.

Five postgame notes on Duke's win over Davidson

-- The crowd was listed at 13,607 for Duke's 67-50 win and was legitimately loud. About 2/3 of the crowd was for Davidson and the other third for Duke -- no one was neutral, and every basket brought a roar.

-- Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was far more complimentary than he had to be of Davidson coach Bob McKillop after the game, calling McKillop a "treasure" and "really one of the most coveted coaches in the country."

-- Davidson really played well to lose by 17. The Blue Devils defended Mason Plumlee (10 points, six turnovers) and Charlotte's Seth Curry (3-for-11 for six points) about as well as anybody has all season. And Davidson outrebounded Duke 34-33 and was tied with the Blue Devils at halftime. But Davidson could afford no lapses in this game and had one at the beginning of the second half. Duke scored 12 straight points and that was it.

-- Krzyzewski spent about two minutes longer than everyone else on the court at the halftime break to argue about a play Duke was trying to run with 00.3 seconds left. The clock started as soon as Duke threw the inbounds pass, meaning it ran out before anyone touched the ball. Coach K talked with all three officials and a couple of folks at the scorer's table about it, finally leaving with a slight shake of his head.

"Sometimes you have an argument with your mate," Coach K said later with his wife Mickie in the back of the press room. "You know you can't win. You just walk away. She [Mickie] lets me walk away with dignity. They messed that one up.... Thank goodness it didn't have a bearing on the game."

-- Davidson's De'Mon Brooks had an excellent night rebounding (12 boards to lead everyone) but a poor night shooting, missing a lot of shots in the paint and having several others blocked. Jake Cohen (19 points in 19 minutes) was very effective as a scorer but couldn't stay in the game due to foul trouble. That left Clint Mann (2-for-12) to take far more shots for the Wildcats than he usually does, and that didn't turn out well. Davidson's three starting guards also shot 3-for-14 combined and Nik Cochran in particular (three turnovers, three fouls, two assists, two points) never seemed like he could get comfortable against Duke's quick guards.