Fun fact: Our only second-half drive that didn't feature a 1st down RB rush ended with a punt after three straight incompletions.
"a" first down RB rush is doing a lot of work there.
Reverse spin: our only second half drive that didn't feature a 1st down pass attempt (or
start with one, for that matter) was a turnover.
Second half drives:
First (TD) first downs: incomplete, incomplete, 4 yard completion, 2 yard JH run, 3 yard HK run - probably can't give the 2 yard JH run too much credit here.
Second (TD) first downs: 2 yard completion, 8 yard HK run, 0 yard JH run, 6 yard Hosley run - the 6 yard Hosley run on first down from the 11 was certainly a big help
Third (FG) first downs: 37 yard completion, 5 yard HK run, 1 yard Hosley run - here we ran up the gut three straight times before kicking a FG; FG from 1st-and-goal on the 7 isn't a great success
Fourth first downs: 3 yard JH rush,
fumble - oops
Fifth first downs: 19 yard completion, 10 yard completion, incomplete -
the one you're referring to - of course,
Sixth (FG) first downs: 22 yard completion, incomplete, 2 yard HK rush, 4 yard Gordon rush (FG on this set of downs, probably would've been good without the first-down rush, and it would've been nice not to lose 17 seconds of clock there)
OT (TD): 5 yard HK rush, 1 yard HK rush -
no RB 1st down rushes here either
None of the first down rushes were particular glorious either.
Quickly scanning the first half we had:
- 6 first down completion
- first down incompletion
- 6 first down RB rush
- 3 first down HK rush
Mostly ineffective here as well on the first down RB rushes.
(the final drive had an HK rush first down but I didn't count it as a 16 second clock drive...)
Second:
- 6 first down completion
- 4 first down incompletion
- 6 first down RB rush
- 4 first down HK rush
Lumping all the pass attempts together that's:
First half: 7 passes, 6 RB rushes, 3 HK rushes
Second half: 10 passes, 6 RB rushes, 4 HK rushes
OT: 2 HK rushes
So we shifted a
bit towards the pass on first down in the second half, especially on the last couple of possessions where we needed a FG. Hard to criticize the drive with those 3 first down pass attempts given that it was right after a crucial first down fumble by an RB.
And it makes sense: RB rushes averaged fewer yard per play than the alternatives, and had a turnover, unlike the alternatives. Enough that you could probably argue we should've done it more, earlier (for instance, before that fumble...).
