3rd down breakdown (must read)

SB’s new writer does good work.

Now that we’ve (exhaustively) analyzed these third downs, we can see the difference between third down failures in the first half and third down successes in the second half is largely due to the little things: technique, coverage, finishing, fundamentals, etc.  The difference is Lacey making a tackle he’d previously missed or Hagler playing a tendency or Brown challenging the receiver for the duration of his route and attempted reception.  The Patriots only capitalized on one third-down conversion in the second half, and it wasn’t some magnificent chance in defensive scheme (although some coverages were tweaked certainly) that sparked it.  It was just a matter of players shaping up the rough edges, taking care of the things they’d previously neglected to do.