No need to over analyze this one. It was a stinker, plain and simple. The best part may be that I no longer feel compelled to do an in-depth comparison of the 2005 Hawks and this version. So, here we sit at 9-5, guaranteed of finishing no better than a third seed and no worse than a fourth. The lower seed will have the easier road this year, but if we lose enough to get us to that point, it may not matter. I admit to splitting my attention between the game and the TNT Lord of the Rings marathon, so take my observations with a grain of salt:
- Congrats to Bobby E on 1000 yards this year. Good for him
- This game was on the offense and on our lack of pass pressure
- I can’t remember the last time our leading rusher had under 20 yards rushing
- The defensive gameplan was conservative, and the Panthers were bad enough that they still only scored a few points. I think we would have seen a much more rattled QB if we brought the pressure early and often.
- No turnovers today on defense
- That lapse on third down that led to a Panthers TD instead of a FG turned out to be a big deal. There is no guarantee we score the TD if they had gotten the FG, but you never know.
- Plackemeier had his best day punting in quite some time (yes, it was that kind of game that gets those kind of observations)
- I think Chris Gray and Rob Sims are killing us. Womack should be a starter at this point for one of them.
That’s really all I’ve got. Time to go forget this game happened.