Balance
 

Offense
Scoring #2
ToP #2
Total Offense #2
Passing #2
Rushing #23
3rd Down % - #5
1st Downs/Game #4


Defense
Scoring #4
ToP #2
Total Defense #7
Passing #3
Rushing #24
3rd Down % - #3
1st Downs/Game #4

At the end of the day no matter what you believe about our financial loading, we are the most balanced team in the NFL Offensively and Defensively.


If you were coming to argue the balance between running and passing try back later, I am under no delusion that we have that, or need that.

Points against that delusional need:
Ground game opens Passing game - Don't need any more of that
Ground Game is key to ToP: Not so much

Re: Balance
 

Good stats. Those D numbers look so much better than last year!

Re: Balance
 

I've always hated averages out of context. The Bucs have the 3rd best defense but they're 0-7. I really would have liked to see us not get gashed by the run so much. Maybe I'm reliving last week, but the teams up next are ones who run with authority and who are not walking MASH units.

Re: Balance
 

Two of the next three big games are at home. That's huge.

Re: Balance
 

Yes, the run stats on both sides of the ball worry me, especially considering we play 4 legit Superbowl contenders over our next 6 games.

But I'll take it. They're just as worried about playing us as we are them.

Re: Balance
 

True^^^ But of those contenders, how many can them can score with the Saints. If Saints limit turnovers, they are hard to beat.

Sent from Note 2 in Style

Re: Balance
 

The D does look much better but there were a few plays there that I thought we were back to 2012. We still need to eliminate the run gaps.

Re: Balance
 

We had a good bit of starters sitting on defence

Re: Balance
 

I still cant belive we have a top 10 defense! Thats more unexpected than being 7-2! Im a happy camper!

Re: Balance
 

It a matter of if we can get/stay healthy down the stretch.

Colston was huge last night, indicating that he may have not been playing at full speed since early in the season. His presence opens up the secondary. His down-flied blocking also was a highlight of how well the screen passing game worked last night. Those little things are big.

If we can get our key D personnel off of IR and back on the field we should we able to snuff out any late-game comebacks. Backups getting major playing time due to insured starters will pay dividends.

Re: Balance
 

As a commentator pointed out last night the gashing we have taken as been in big part to the 4-3 slanting and out DE getting crushed inside leaving open field. .

Re: Balance
 

Rob Ryan had the 3rd ranked D in Oakland one year and they sucked. You give the team short fields all the time, you don't give up nearly as many yards.

(3rd ranked in yards, not points, but that's all NFL.com seems to care about...for some reason.)

Re: Balance
 

Last night there were 38 rushing att. to 41 passing attempts. I'd say that kind of balance worked pretty well.

Dallas D sucked and our O-Line played better -- but still keeping a D off-balance and unable to read your mind is always a good thing.