You did a good job summarizing the game. I agree with all most all of your comments. One of the minor points I want to question is "3rd/4th down defense was a complete F'ing nightmare". 4th down D was a nightmare but 3rd down D was stellar. The Jags were only 4/15 on 3rd down. Give me a 74% success rate every time. Granted 3 more series were converted on 4th down but they did what they needed to on 3rd down.

Originally Posted by: wpr 

You are right. I guess I was just focusing more on the 2nd half when they gave up all of those long long drives where they had multiple 3rd/4th downs early in the drives and couldn't finish. The one that really bugged me was I think in the 2nd quarter when they had 3rd and 18 or something and gave up like 12 yards while playing a soft defense to give them a reasonable 4th down which they converted and ended up scoring. Overall it was a good day for the defense though so I'm not going to complain too much about it but they definitely have some things to clean up.

Originally Posted by: steveishere 

That drive was a bad one for the D. They did stiffen and only gave up 3 which was a bit of a relief.

And you are also correct when you point out the yards gained on 3rd down are important. Technically giving up 23 yards on 3rd and 25 is a failed conversion but allows a team to go for it o. 4th down when they probably wouldn't if it was 4th and 20. Stats don't tell the whole story. I was thinking of looking at every 3rd down play but that takes too much time. I knew you would have a few ex in mind.

Originally Posted by: wpr