We had to wait 21 games for a defensive showing to succeed with. Little did we know that it would be hiding in Charlotte but thanks to Harrison Smith, Marcus Davenport & DJ Wonnum it was not only not a liability, it was the better of the two primary phases of the game!
Now with a month of executing Brian Flores' way it might become much closer to an even operation. They will need to find ways to confuse & pressure Mahomes next Sunday for the performance to have lasting validity. However successful or unsuccessful the crew is a week from now, we know it's possible for them to have a vintage performance so we can have that to look forward to as the season progresses!
The most consequential part of this game is that, with the defense finding that stride, they showed that they can overcome mistakes by the offense. We're unlikely to see another 99-yard pick-six this season but to be able to overcome turnovers of all sorts will be invaluable, since that has yet to be removed from the offenses' tendencies.
It's not complimentary football but they have to learn how to crawl first. Today's game seems like it would qualify for that!
Building on last week, Alexander Mattison continued to show marked improvement from the opening weeks of the season while Cam Akers didn't miss a beat, adding more juice as a ball-carrier. Getting into the 120+ yards range during even half of the remaining games would take immense pressure off of Cousins as he works to find Jefferson, Hockenson, Addison & Osborn.
Also will help if one sack of Cousins can be the norm, but that could be crazy talk.
For the positives to take from the victory, if they don't continue to improve then there are only three games the rest of the way in which they will be favored. So we learned some things but that only moved them from a failing grade to an incomplete.
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