I listen to the GM shuffle podcast and Michael Lombardi talks a lot about the middle 8 minutes of the game. The 4 minutes before and after half time. These really matter for setting the tone and can win games. It's all about either lining up two scoring opportunities for your team or preventing the other team from getting those two in a row if you aren't receiving in the second half.
I don't agree with him on everything, but I do think this matters. We just slopped our way through the first 4 and if the offense doesn't come out and score in the 3rd quarter, we'll have 100% lost the middle 8.