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When the Panthers lost to the Falcons in Week 11, it was easy to question Ron Rivera’s end-of-the-game decisions. Carolina’s coach defended himself in the immediate aftermath, but a month later, he’s willing to second-guessing his strategy during the 19-17 heartbreaker.

“I was conservative there. I thought we could grind it out,” Rivera said Monday, less than a week before a Panthers/Falcons rematch decides the NFC South title.

In the first meeting, the man nicknamed ‘Riverboat Ron’ deferred aggression. He instead opted for a plan that called for three straight runs after the Panthers drove to the Falcons’ 32-yard line with 1:42 left. Rivera wanted Atlanta to use its remaining timeouts, which it did. But the plan was ultimately undone when kicker Graham Gano hooked his 46-yard go-ahead attempt wide left.

“It’s a fine line between second-guessing yourself and learning from it,” offensive coordinator Mike Shula said Monday. “When it doesn’t work there is always a tendency to do that.”

But considering how they played in late-game situations the last two weeks, second-guessing since the Atlanta loss may have helped the Panthers. With what Rivera termed “lessons learned,” he charged his team to be more aggressive while it clinged to one-score leads.

Up by two with 3:11 to go against the Bucs in Week 15, the offense picked up a pair of first downs by passing on two of their first three plays of their final drive. And while leading by four with just under three minutes to go Sunday against the Browns, quarterback Cam Newton completed a second-down pass to tight end Ed Dickson for a gain of 34 yards.

The Panthers will now head to Atlanta for a winner-take-all game that seemed highly unlikely after the first matchup. Rivera now calls that loss, which was Carolina’s fifth in a six-game skid, “a kick in the gut.”

But while that encouraged the Panthers to be proactive late in games, what they’re doing before that is still an issue. Ranked 27th in red-zone efficiency, they’re still having trouble finishing drives. Against the Falcons, they were 0-for-1 in the red zone, and despite eight trips inside Atlanta territory, Carolina finished with just 17 points.

“We can’t get down to the red zone and kick field goals. We’ve got to punch it in like we did the last two times we got down there,” Rivera said. “We can’t expect to win this game by kicking field goals.”

So maybe ‘Riverboat Ron’ is back. But instead of gambling on a bunch of 4th-and-1’s, Rivera’s now willing to go all-in during the game’s final hand.

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