I'd rather give up the explosive play here an there than let teams have 16 play 9 minute drives. It keeps our offense on the field more. Also gives our DBs a chance to make some explosive plays of their own when we challenge other teams to go to deeper parts of the field.
Where was the defense ranked on 3rd and long?
Also, the offense's slow methodical time consuming drives also greatly helped pad McDs defensive numbers the last two seasons. It really didn't pass the eye test in recent memory.