All or Nothing
Pass or Fail
Right or Wrong
Good or Bad
Pass or Punt
Get it?
Good.
The team trusted in Dan Bailey and he came through. There will probably continue to be a pit in my stomach for the next two games when he steps onto the field but when the team needed him he came through. That's all that can be asked or expected from any kicker. But considering how rocky the previous two outings were it was a welcome occurrence!
Two members of the MV3 continued their assault on the league. 159 total yards by Cook were accompanied by 104 from the Jefferson on 11 targets. Since the other two had those kind of numbers either Thielen got the primary focus of the defense or he was limited in some way today. I find the first idea very unlikely, even with as good as AT can be but he wasn't listed on the injury report, so it may be option three - just not his day. In any case, his low numbers were the gain of the younger guys. His running mate at receiver took another giant step toward supplanting Randy Moss in the record books and now stands alone with the most receptions by a rookie in team history. Few records are untouchable but when the Detroit game is over his will be pretty close!
With Kyle Rudolph out some speculated that Irv Smith would have another standout day but on the contrary, his average season continued while another tight-end showed up mightily. Nearly matching his season high in yards just today, Tyler Conklin showed more in the last few hours than he had at any point publicly in most of three seasons. It was an aberration if there's every been one, but made for a few fun moments!
After 11 weeks without an interception by a cornerback, Cam Dantzler has hauled in two in the last three. His first one was a good play, today's was even better because it prevented a touchdown and showed receiving skills rarely seen at that position. The next step for him (& Jeff Gladney) will be to make big-time plays against better quarterbacks than Trubisky & UI. In the meantime, the progress is clear and should be appreciated!
On the flip side, no defense should give up 33 points to a Trubisky-lead offense. MT got help by a still-ascending David Montgomery but it's hard to imagine the second-year back doing better against anyone than he did against the Purple today. So even with the highlight at the end of the game it was very clear that the defense is broken. It's no mystery why, what with all the absences at this point in the year, but it's still a troubling display.
On the bright side, that was really the only negative today.
It's a doozy of a downer but in a loss that's about as much as anyone can ask for!