Quote:I get this, and you could certainly make that argument.

 

I just think that with a little more help from the offense-perhaps as little as maybe 3 extra first downs in that second half, the defense gets the rest it needed and doesn't give up those plays.

 

I disagree. I think more offense definitely would've helped. But the 3 TD's the defense gave up were all on mental mistakes. Everyone keeps pointing to how gassed the D was, but, none of the 3 TD's the D gave up were on them being "beat." Had that happened, I'd be more ok with the loss. But the 4th and 1 run was right after half-time, so there's no excuse for them to be gassed. They were just lazy getting set and instead of anyone having the smarts to call a TO, they let the play start with most of the guys rushing to get in position. The other two passes involved blown coverages and guys being left wide open. Sure this is a young team, but 3 mental mistakes that large in one game? I don't even know if there was a single rookie on the field for any of those 3 plays. I thought Bryant, Clemons, and Poz' veteran leadership was supposed to make sure this team didn't have embarrassing gaffes like that? Granted Poz was out on the 4th and 1 run, but I don't know who else was in or out on the plays. That's what got me about this game. The amount of mental mistakes and how big they were.

 

More first downs could have helped the offense score in the first half, when the offense was clicking and driving. I'm with you that it was infuriating seeing a power back like Gerhardt not pick up 1 or 2 yards on any of those short yardage situations because of how awful the line looked. But, I just don't think any larger output of offense in the 2nd half, outside of scoring TD's, would have impacted the game more than marginally. Mental mistakes don't disappear just because the defense got to spend an extra 2 minutes sitting on the bench.

 

The rest of your initial post was well-thought out though and a welcome addition to the board compared to all the other "fire Gus" and "kill Henne" posts though. :thumbsup:

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