My take, fwiw:
Our DL played pretty well when asked to play aggressively. It seemed to me that at the end of the first half and the end of the game we went back to more gap-control rather than attack.
Our OL played pretty well the first half. Rod Gilmore was an idiot for talking about the lack of rushing yards from Taquon. Their D took that away, but our OL was able to seal off the LB's, and our A-Backs made yards on the perimeter.
During the second half, whether it was footing problems because of the rain, fatigue from having our OL playing more snaps against a more refreshed DL, or a change in what the D was doing, our OL were less successful in getting our blocks.
I have no idea what people are talking about when they say that CPJ became more conservative. It seemed to me that we were running the same plays that worked in the first half with less success (see last paragraph).
Also, we need to keep in mind that we were relying on Quaide because of Benson's injury. While I appreciate those who would've preferred Jerry, and I'm sympathetic to that view, at a certain point you have to trust the coaches that see them every day in practice to decide who gives us the best chance to win. If we had played Jerry, and he had fumbled in the rain, I'm sure that the same people would've been complaining about how obviously wrong it is to play a fumble-prone running back during a driving rain.
That being said, we had well-designed plays with bad luck--Qua slipping down when wide open, dropped/broken-up pass to Brad Stewart. We dropped the ball on both O and D in the second half. I think those complaining about Roof are reacting to seeming getting beat by alignment for several plays rather than just getting out-played. If it weren't for the illegal block below the waist, they would have had their FG without the big 4th and 10 catch.
Everybody who has concern that our team just doesn't have the "killer" instinct or the "refuse to lose" mentality echos my thoughts after the Tennessee game. This game reflected my fears of what we were in store for after that game.
That being said, I'm hopeful that this game prompts another turn around like we saw last year.
Go Jackets.
