Being at the game yesterday and being so close to a victory with all the orange colored glasses in the stands booing every ref call that went against them even the very clear and obvious, made the drive home even more frustrating on what might have been!
I see all the focus discussed on the missed ref call on the 3rd down, the secondary and some of the play calling, but another killer yesterday was our kickoffs all day! Our kicker couldn't kick the ball past the 10 yard line, giving them great field position most of the day except for I think one time when our coverage team got there even though it was a short kick and kept him from little return. Everyone of their kickoffs to us were into the end zone and a few times we did run it out either getting stopped or penalties that had us in bad field position in second half! Than on the most important kick off of the day right after our score to take back the lead, we kick the ball out of bounds giving them the ball at the 35 yard line to start the final drive. If we don't have such a bad kickoff there maybe the returner fumbles or they have a penalty and start that drive at the 10 to 15 yd line rather than the 35, the field position there was huge on that final drive. Anyway haven't seen it mentioned, but being at the game felt the kickoffs for us along with that final out of bounds were a huge impact and negative for the good guys on the day!
I see all the focus discussed on the missed ref call on the 3rd down, the secondary and some of the play calling, but another killer yesterday was our kickoffs all day! Our kicker couldn't kick the ball past the 10 yard line, giving them great field position most of the day except for I think one time when our coverage team got there even though it was a short kick and kept him from little return. Everyone of their kickoffs to us were into the end zone and a few times we did run it out either getting stopped or penalties that had us in bad field position in second half! Than on the most important kick off of the day right after our score to take back the lead, we kick the ball out of bounds giving them the ball at the 35 yard line to start the final drive. If we don't have such a bad kickoff there maybe the returner fumbles or they have a penalty and start that drive at the 10 to 15 yd line rather than the 35, the field position there was huge on that final drive. Anyway haven't seen it mentioned, but being at the game felt the kickoffs for us along with that final out of bounds were a huge impact and negative for the good guys on the day!
