Knights said his team's efforts before the long break were the catalyst for its seven-goal-plus defeat.
"We were well and truly off the boil in many areas, whether it be our contest or our last kick inside 50 or our defensive play," he said post-match.
"We just had to reassess at half time and I thought in our second half, we upped the intensity and our level and we weren't able to make any ground on Collingwood.
"But we maintained it around about 40 [points] and it ended up being about 40 [points], so we were a touch better in the second half, which was pleasing."
Knights said his side had a kicking efficiency of 58 per cent, which was "disastrous".
"We didn't give ourselves the opportunity to win the game. When you go at 58 per cent with your kicking, you need to be going up around 75 to 80 per cent and that's what the good sides do. I guess there is scope for improvement – an element there," he said.
"We went inside 50 43 times as opposed to Collingwood's 40 and there were 19 scoring shots to 23, so a couple of the areas were pretty close, but they just took their opportunities magnificently, I thought, Collingwood."
The second-year Essendon coach said his side's inability to execute its handballs with precision was also telling.
"You've got 200 handballs and 200 kicks a game, so it's [an] underrated skill in the game – you have to be absolute elite at handball, as well as kicking and Geelong typifies that," Knights said.
"They're beautiful with their hands and they don't make too many errors or blues at all.
"Both kicking and handball are as important as each other these days."
