This is a belated version of Digging Deeper for the Bears game.

Offense

This was another poor game for Michael Turner, and if not for a few good runs in the second half, it could’ve looked much worse.  His first four runs were for 1, 1, -3, and -2 yards.  That kind of “production” is putting the offense in tough spots with long to-go situations.  He ended up with a 46% Success Rate (6/13) compared to 100% for Norwood (4/4) and 67% for Snelling (2/3).  He has always been a bit of a boom or bust type runner, but so far there has been too many “busts” and not enough “boom”.  Turner wasn’t the only player to start off slow, though, with the offense going 3 and out the first three series of the game (and the first two series of the second half).

Actually, the whole offense was broken on first downs.  Runs on first downs had a 55% Success Rate – Passes only had a 45% Success Rate, including an Interception.  There were zero Successful Pass Plays on first down in the second half (well, unless you count a 7 yard scramble by Ryan a “pass play”).

Part of the problem on offense was that Ryan seemed to be forcing the ball to Tony G – he only had 4 Receptions on his 9 Targets (44% Catch Rate).

Defense

This was DeCoud’s coming out party with the two Interceptions.  It was just another great game by Lofton and Peterson, with the high Stop Rates and multiple Defeats.  Quietly, Babineaux is having another very good season.  His Defeats included a Forced Fumble and half of a Sack (shared with Abe).  On the negative side, I want to know what’s going on with Stephen Nicholas.  I haven’t seen anything that seems like he’s doing a bad job, but he is losing playing time to Coy Wire, Nickle packages with an extra defensive back, etc.

Special Teams Tackles: Coy Wire and William Moore 1.5 each; Stephen Nicholas, Kroy Biermann, Christopher Owens, and Curtis Lofton 1 each.  What is Lofton doing on Special Teams?  I don’t know – I didn’t even check the tape to see if that was a mistake, I went straight from the play-by-play.

Reminder:

Successful Play – 45% of yardage needed on First Down, 60% of yardage needed on Second Down, 100% of yardage needed on Third or Fourth Down.

Stop Rate – Percentage of Plays stopping the offense short of a Successful Play.

Defeat – A Stop on Third or Fourth Down, and Interception, or a Play that results in a Fumble (whether the defense recovers or not – that means the defender who causes the Forced Fumble gets the Defeat, not the guy who comes up with a Fumble Recovery).