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God, that prediction of a Broncos playoff run looked REALLY rough for a while, now it looks like a lock
I’ll say it again, every reason to have been excited about the 2022 Broncos is still there, only they went from Mr “dick around for 3 minutes and play for a 65 yard field goal” to Mr “Onside kick at halftime of the Super Bowl”. They were bound to be better.
Part of it is modern defenses are not built to stop every play. They have a certain amount of bend to then to not give up bigger plays.
So, what you’ll often see from the Eagles, is they take those 3-5 yard buffer plays (a quick checkdown to Smith, a run up the middle). Then on third downs, defenses usually play the sticks, trying to force a punt. The Eagles push this to take the easy yards and come up short on 3rd down, specifically knowing how common 4th-1s can be.
What you saw in the Jets game (and early on against Kansas City and Buffalo to a degree), was the defense selling out to stop those little plays - extra pressure on first down, right coverage combined with blitzes. The goal was to set up 4th and long, rather than just 4th down.