[Paintrain]

Originally Posted by dgack

Not sure why this is so shocking. As we saw in the GB game, put the ball on the ground just once and you very well could be done for the day. With the defense playing the way it's been playing, getting up early then riding it out seems like a perfectly reasonable philosophy.

The trick is that we don't have an earth-moving front line anymore, so we can't run it down opposing teams' throats and control the clock in the second half. But turning to the air exclusively is way too risky.

The mentality of playing not to lose and being scared is why we've lost games where we held a 2nd half lead since 2004 than anyone else in the league.. You can't 'ride it out' in the NFL anymore.. Did you hear Belichick today? He put his starters back in because the Dolphins(!) were 1 possession away from a 14 point game.. When you have the lead, that's when you put the foot on the other team's throat and crush it not just hope to 'ride it out'..