There's times I want to praise the hell out of Pettine, but there's also times where I look at my T.V wondering what the hell he's thinking.
Perfect example: End of the 1st half yesterday. WTF was that? Supposedly, he "didn't want Tampa to get the ball back"...
Well, there was under a minute left & you were in Tampa territory. Yes, it was 3rd & long, but to not call a TO there with still a ton of time left (50 seconds or so), tells me you don't have much confidence in:
A) Your offense that they'll convert the 3rd down, and
B) Your D that they'd stop Tampa deep in their own territory with around 40-45 seconds to go in the half.
Really no excuse for that.
Another thing is we've got to come into games more prepared and full of energy (for lack of a better phrase). Too many times we've had to crawl back into games because we come out looking like we didn't prepare 2 minutes for that game.
Overall though, it's tough to place a ton of blame at Pettine. We're 5-3, have a huge win over Pittsburgh, and are right in the thick of the AFC North race while battling injuries & being without one of the top WR in the game.