Yes this certainly helped the Defense and by association Staley. It was a good defense but not the #1 overall in my opinion.

My question is still why did they run the offense they did? Is that McVay not having confidence? Goff undisclosed injury? No deep threats?

McVay left a lot of guys in to block on a lot of plays and in my opinion that made it harder on Goff and easier on Defenses to defend. Counterintuitive that leaving more guys back would mean more pressure but it's true.

I expect the defense to take a step back for a number of reasons. The offense though has more room to go up so that is key to a good and balanced team.