As I said in the post, the lash was actually tighter and I backed the ring gear off a little. That improved the pattern. It moved the pattern back, closer to the middle of the gear. Especially on the drive side.

As I try to at least reduce the rear noise going down the road, I am also trying to understand the cause and effect of changes. So, since I pulled the ring gear away from the pinion and that improved the pattern by moving it back away from the toe and more into the middle, will moving the pinion away from the ring gear (as suggested) do the same thing while allowing me to move the ring gear back closer to the pinion giving it a tighter lash, as suggested?

Thanks for the help!