Penalties, Turnovers and Miscues: Making Things Tough for Ourselves

[#98QBKiller]

Every game we've played so far has been close.

Whether it's the Lions/Rams/Browns or Cowboys/Eagles/Cards the game has been tight.

People say we're "playing down to out competition." But that's not the case.

If you look at the stats we're a very good football team. We're putting up points on the board, racking up yards and keeping other teams out of the end zone.

The reason why we find ourselves in such tight games in the 4th quarter is because of stupid mistakes.

Nearly every game so far we've had a chance to open things up and take a 2+ TD lead but we've either commited a stupid penalty, fumbled the ball and given the other team a chance or just made an execution mistake that has come back to bite us.

The first time I really remember it hurting was against the Cards:

-We're up by 7 against an explosive Cardinals offense. We have a chance to go up on them by two TDs when Jason Campbell finds Devin Thomas WIDE open for a 60+ yard TD.

Result: The play is negated by an unnecessary roughness call on Stephon Heyer and Suisham ends up missing a long FG.

The next week we're @ Dallas:

- it's in the 3rd and we're tied 17-17, we get in the Red zone and Portis punches it in for a TD

Result: TD is nullified because of a holding call on Rabach

-4 plays later on 3rd down, JC escapes a big Dallas pass-rush and completes a pass to ARE who struggles into the end zone for a TD

Result: Rabach called for ineligible reciever downfield. TD negated and we have to settle for a field goal

The next week, the hapless Rams come to our house, fresh off their bye week with a new head coach and nothing to lose. We're favored by a lot of points (don't remember how many). But we get up by one TD early when Steven Jackson fumbles near the end zone.

-It's early in the 2nd, we're up 7-3 and driving in Rams territory. Campbell finds Cooley for a big first down and bam! Cooley fumbles with St Louis recovering.

-A few punts back and forth and we end up with the ball again. We're driving in Rams territory and bam we cough up the ball again. With a chance to fall on it and preserve the drive, Pete Kendall opts to take the ball and run with it. The ball is smacked out of his arms and ran back for a TD, putting the Rams up 10-7 and giving them their only TD of the game.

We end up losing.

It's early in the 4th against Cleveland at FedEx, we're up 14-3 and just made a serious goal line stand stopping Cleveland at the goal line on 4 straight tries.

We get the ball back with a good chance of coming away with some points and putting this one away.

-CP busts off the edge for a 24 yard gain but is stripped at the end of his run with Cleveland recovering putting them back in the game and making this one another nail-biter.

Yesterday we get to the goal line at the end of a very pretty offensive drive.

-JC misses Portis on a handoff and has to scramble himself setting us back 2 yards.

-Jansen gets a false start a few plays later and we have to settle for a FG, when we should've punched it in for a TD

We force a punt, get the ball back and are driving after a couple of good passes to Devin Thomas and Todd Yoder when JC is hit from behind and fumbles the ball. Detroit takes the ball and puts it in the end zone putting them up 7-3.

Another drive in the 2nd Shaun Alexander picks up a key 3rd and short...Jansen is called for a facemask (a phantom one though) and we end up missing a field goal.

We're driving right before the half and have all of our timeouts. A holding call on Jansen and an offensive pass interference call on Cooley guarantee that we have to settle for a FG before the half, preventing us from cracking open a lead.

To summarize, we could've taken all of these games well before the 4th if we limited our penalties and turnovers. This is an issue that MUST be addressed during bye week.

Zorn has to work on preventing the holding and false start calls because they destroy an otherwise productive team.

We have a great team with the ideal mix of veteran leadership and young talent but we are holding ourselves back from being truly dominant.

Thank god for Campbell being smart with the football imagine if he had thrown a handful of picks already this season. There's a good chance we wouldn't be 6-2.

If we address these problems there's nothing stopping us from making a seriously deep run into the playoffs and possibly getting a game or more at FedEx in the postseason.