I didn't watch the 2nd half, I didn't like what I was seeing so I did my laundry instead. At least the 2nd half seems to have been more enjoyable.
W.r.t. going for it early or late, I've always wondered why that "conventional wisdom" has been preached by every talking head and many coaches have adhered to it. Do they belive that you have a larger chance of conversion because it is 10 second left than you have with 5 minutes left? Common sense says any such difference is marginal, so in terms of success, it should be the equal.
And as others have said, the one advantage of doing it early is that on failure, you KNOW that you are in desperation++ mode and need two scores and can play with complete abandon in playcalling and hurrying; nothing to lose! If you do not have that information early, it is harder to go all-out and you are much more likely to end of with less time for an onside and a final drive.
I suspect the TV talking heads get freaked out by the word "analytics" since it seems to imply a magical box that spits out the answers that they have spent a lifetime trying to acquire. And then they get a "DEY TUK AAAR JAAABS" kind of reaction. In this case, it isn't much magic or even math, so I don't get that fear. It is quite simple: The more input you have early in a decision process, the more you can adapt to that reality.
