Intangibles
The intangibles of this one were palpable – The offense looking spry. Stroud hitting all his targets on the opening march. The defense scoring. The team getting that winning feeling back right before embarking on the most important time of year.
That last sentence leaves a lot to unpack. DeMeco Ryans wants the squad to play with a relentless mindset and joy. They did.
In a playoff game, you wouldn’t want to see a 15-yard celebration penalty for emptying the bench after Barnett’s TD. But in this game, it was almost warranted.
Seeing Stroud and Mixon, in their long sideline stay-warm capes, invade the huddle prior to a Mills-Pierce series was, dare we say, endearing. It showed a ‘fun’ side to the team that we haven’t seen enough of recently.
Now comes the hard part. And the prospects about performing well in the playoffs already feel different than they did prior to this outing. There’s a spring in their step. There are smiles on their faces. There’s an optimism and energy that’s back after getting stolen by the Grinch on Christmas.
Bring on the postseason and all the drama. They’re ready. Certainly more ready than a lot of ‘experts’ thought a few days ago.