Before you continue I have to give you fair warning because I happen to like stats when it comes to sports, so I'm going to throw some numbers your way. They don't tell the whole story but add a lot I think.
Alright so that game wasn't the prettiest win, but one I will take nonetheless. Now I'm not going to sugar coat the fact that the Jacksonville game and first half of this game our Offense looked rough, but this is the NFL. All 32 teams have professional players, and their win loss record doesn't paint a complete picture. Let's take the Jaguars. Yes I thought we should have had no problem with them, but after taking a step back you can see somewhat how we could have stumbled. All I hear is how much better the Steelers are than us yet even they were shut out in the second half of their game against the Jags. A look at some numbers, Jacksonville is 10th best in pts allowed and 7th best in yards allowed per game. Anyway enough of Jacksonville, let's look at this Arizona team we just played and the game itself.
Offensively Arizona is averaging 20pts a game and putting up 319 yards a game which has them in the bottom of the league in points and middle of the road in yards. Defensively they're at the bottom. Averaging 26pts a game which is good enough for 29th and 391 yds a game which is 27th out of 32 teams.
I'm not going to get up in arms about how close this game was because you take away a sack fumble and a pass that goes off your rookie receivers hands. Both leading to Arizona having a short field to work with you're talking about a 30-13 game.
Starting out I thought all was going to go good this game. I mean Ray Rice had 10 carries 41 yards through the 1st qtr and part way through the 2nd, and then Flacco was sacked and fumbled. That lead to a Ari TD and the next drive we get pass happy have to punt and it's ran back for another Ari TD. Right now sitting 17-3 we start our next drive off with a pass that goes off the hands of Torrey Smith and intercepted. Leading to yet another Ari TD. You talk about getting UGLY QUICK. You had a 3-3 game in which you were establishing a nice offensive rhythm and then all heck breaks loose. We get the ball back and drive down field to get a Cundiff FG to make it 24-6.
Second half I was very happy with. The Offense came out and got in rhythm thanks to a very determined Boldin. When all was said and done Flacco ended with 336yds and a INT, Boldin had 145 receiving, and Rice had 99 total yards and 3 TD's. The one thing that gives me a lot of hope for the future of this offense and the upcoming games is seeing how Flacco, Boldin, Rice, and T. Smith reacted in the second half. There was a fire, a passion, leadership, and communication that seemed to be lacking so far this season. Guys were talking and discussing the previous drive, there was a hurry up offense that has been in slow motion.
Ugly win this week, but a big one and one that may give this offense the spark they needed.
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