Congrats LV.

Although it was an exciting game to watch it wasn't what I was expecting. I thought both defenses would have a great showing and the offenses would need to step up to make the difference in the game. Although the offenses made plays, they seemed to both be out of character.

I didn't expect our ST unit to be so dominant today. I took a page from the Ush/JJ book to make sure to invest in ST and they really made the difference today.

On defense, the goal was to apply pressure yet have enough horses to not only cover the TE but to make tackles after the catch - both areas of concern going into this game. We only blitzed 10 times, which is actually more than I was trying to do, and we still got more than enough pressure (4 sacks, 16 hurries, and 11 knockdowns). Defending the TE is the single hardest thing to do in this game IMHO, so I took the risk of not doubling V-Dub (only 5 plays of double coverage) in order to address Voinovich (1/16 11 yds) and Sims (2/3 10 yds). We were willing to let March get his (as evidenced by 0 plays with a safety in the box), as I was planning on the run game not being able to score enough fast enough.

I like to play against running teams that hope to minimize our offense through time of possession. While I agree with that concept IRL, I have found that with a properly run FOF offense you can still put up enough points with a minimal time of possession. This forces running teams to bail on their game plan and have to play catch up, where a properly designed defense can tee off down the stretch. That being said, I over-analyzed this game and went to a shorter passing game plan and tried not to focus on Conley or Finch too much out of respect for the Detroit secondary. However, Conley (3/8 63 yds) was able to produce on some big plays, so I should have given him more opportunities. Our run game was stifled as expected, but you cannot go into a game without making an honest attempt to try to run it. I think we were set to a 40/42% run bias on 1st/2nd downs. I think I should have dialed back a few attempts in the run game, left some of my medium/long plays in place, and focused on Conley/Finch a little more.

Congrats on a great season, especially so early in your tenure. Unfortunately, only one of us could win this one.