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One of the “bonehead” coaches I had in mind when I wrote my “preface” to this season’s projections was Norv Turner, architect of the Panthers’ loss on Thursday night. A proven loser as a coach, he has nevertheless found employment with 8 different teams, based unquestionably on memories of “his” erstwhile success with Jimmy Johnson’s Cowboys more than 25 years ago! Calling offensive plays through the fog his brain is enveloped by, he absolutely nailed the Panthers’ loss last night, with his call of a trick run on a 4th and inches on the 2 yard line that had no hope of succeeding. This is a man who stubbornly persists in strategies which haven’t worked in decades, who blunders repeatedly by forgetting what his team’s strengths are; yet, never fails to find forgiveness by the legion of fellow bonehead GMs and head coaches who hire him – over and over again. What I find frustrating, as a numbers guy, is that last night the better team lost, and it’s down to a variable I can’t effectively measure.[b]

I'll have to totally disagree with you. Newton made the TB Defense look like the second coming of the steel curtain.

He was errant all night and made very poor decisions. You can't blame Turner for what he did on the field. The O line couldn't keep TB out of the backfield either. They stuff McCaffrey almost every play as well.

Regarding their final play, it wasn't that bad, it just wasn't executed properly. Everyone visioned a QB sneak or a run up the middle. The best way to have made that play work was Cam under center fake the hand off and pitch it to his left. That would have caught them off guard. Once Cam went to the line, everyone knew what was up. Again all about execution but the Bucs deserved the win.

Only person to blame on this loss is Cam Newton. It's time for Carolina to move on from him. He is no longer a good QB period and hasn't been for quite some time. Superman is dead........

Can’t disagree with you on Newton. Completing less than half his passes made TB’s defense look a lot better than they are; and, if he won’t run – what good is he? That said, if you’re going to try something tricky – which, in that situation, was the wrong thing to do – why give it away by having Newton move out of the backfield before the snap? And, big surprise, McCaffrey got the carry? And the entire TB defense followed him every step he took. (I’ve watched that dumb play 10 times, and no defender even looked at Newton, let alone went for the fake reverse). No – every analytics study in recent years has shown that, in a short-yardage situation, a QB sneak has between a 70% and 90% chance of success, a 20% better chance than a run up the middle, and a 25%-30% better chance than a friggin sweep – let alone a slow-developing one. Given the minimal distance Newton would need to cover – a sneak was the right call for Turner to make, but making the right call in this day and age is simply not in his wheelhouse. And – on top of everything else – I teased this turkey of a game, taking the under, and all I needed was a straight-up Carolina win! Bugger Turner, Newton, and all the rest - LOL.

Thing is all he had to do was jump in the air and extend the ball.

He is certainly not the same, blame it on injuries or whatever, but he looked tentative and afraid to truly get hit running.