WEEK 8 THOUGHTS --- BEFORE & AFTER THE GAME

I have waited until now to do this because I was trying to fight off the stigma of the loss, and actually still am. There isn't a lot to be happy about here, so let me get right into it.  We lost, the Falcons won. Which was pretty much what was expected considering our record against the Falcons, especially at Atlanta. Along towards the end of the game it appeared as if the Panthers might fight their way through and pull out a win on the back of a LONG and hugely exciting pass play to DJ Moore, which was part DJ, part PJ, and a large part LUCK.  Any "Hail Mary" pass like that is always a large part "luck". But, sometimes, it's your turn and the Lady smiles on you. This was just our turn.

Having said that, let me say that the throw was well executed. PJ escaped the pressure and made the throw. The LOS was our 38 (+/-) and PJ launched the ball from the 35 (+/-). The pass traveled about 68 yds in the air (which is really quite remarkable..) to the point where DJ captured it about 3 yds deep in the end zone. So the pass was 'officially' a 62 yd TD (from the LOS to the Goal line..). Supposedly the longest pass "Completion By Air" since the advent of the NGS (Next Gen Stats) era.... which works out to 2016. So, no matter how you figure it, it was worthy of the highlight reel.

But then the wheels came off, and the rest is history.

So, quickly then, lets parse the game and take a look. The score obviously favored the Falcons. The 'Time Of Possession' also favored the Falcons, 36.5 min. to 31.5 min.. '3rd Down Efficiency' favored the Falcons as well (50% vs. 38.5%). '4th Down Efficiency' favored the Panthers I guess.....at 50%, although the Falcons did not attempt any 4th down plays. '1st Downs' were very close (22-21) in favor of the Panthers, plus one more by penalty. The Panthers had 3 more 'rushing' 1st downs, while the Falcons had 2 more 'passing' 1st downs.

The "yards" and "scoring"  numbers are also very close. The Rushing 'plays' are about dead even (37-36) and the 'yardage' is also about dead even (169-167). The passing 'yardage' favored the Panthers (317-253)...... BUT, the Panthers had a LOT more passing plays. The "Passing Completion %" is one of the 'important' statistics and it tells a big part of the story. Walker's numbers showed 19-36, which is 53%....which is NOT good by any metric. Mariota's numbers showed 20-28, which is 71%.... which IS good by all metrics. In the NFL, a QB needs to have his completion numbers in the 60-70% region, and the higher in that "region", the better. 65%+ is what you're looking for. Anything over 70% is considered to be 'top-line' numbers.

Total yardage then, favored the Panthers by about 70 yards (478-406--net)..... But when you include the "K.O. return yards" in the equation which favored the Falcons (74-0)...... the numbers were once again about dead even.

So, looking at the stats, it would appear that the game was very close. And, this time at least, the stats don't lie..........