The Razor's Edge

One of the reasons I often feel at odds with the way the NFL is discussed is a core assumption I make at all times. It's nothing earthshaking in itself. It's actually a sort of truism. Yet, it gets forgotten, IMO, in so many discussions.

Anyway, here it is:

The gap separating winning from losing teams in the league is very, very thin. A razor's edge.

Obviously, there is a talent gap in the league. But, IMO, it's pretty narrow. Consider the fact I often bang on about: in the last few years, with lousy QBing, we have lost several games a season FROM WINNING POSITIONS. And, in addition, we have STOLEN several games against much "better" teams.

There is so much talk about our poor talent level before Fisher. Yet, in his 1st year, with little roster improvement, Fisher's team battled much "better" teams close and won some of those games. And in the intervening years, as our talent level has risen, the pattern has not changed: stolen wins and puzzling losses.

Why do I raise this point? Well, it keeps popping up in my head as I read discussions of various issues. What was possible this year? Are we a lousy or an underperforming team? What are we capable of down the stretch? How close are we to breaking through next year? When our '17 schedule is announced, how many games can we reasonably expect to win?

I believe that, to get a good sense of those things, we need to remember the razor's edge.Almost by virtue of a constant principle, we are capable of having won or lost 2-3 more games. This didn't have to be a lost season. Neither did last year, or the year before. Bad QBing? Sure. But even WITH bad QBing we have won and competed enough to remind us that the gap is always razor thin.

Now, even if one takes my premise, the question of diagnosis remains. How does a team close the gap and turn losing into winning?

This leads me to my 2nd belief. In football, coaching matters. Coaching makes a big, big difference. Precisely BECAUSE the talent gap is so fine. Good coaching, at its core, is about competitive discipline. Winning teams sustain sound play play after play, quarter after quarter, down the stretch in tight games, and throughout the season. Poorly coached teams do not. They play with a looseness that leads to erratic performance.

And in the competitive furnace of NFL games, the competitiveness gap between 2 teams produces an enormous divergence of achievement. Last week's shellacking does not demonstrate that NO is massively superior to us. It does demonstrate that we are a team that collapses under competitive pressure.

And consider the previous game. The defense played stellar football for almost 40:00. Then it collapsed. It lost control of that razor's edge.

I attribute a lot of this to Fisher. And to Williams.

But, to me, that's a source of hope. If Fisher is replaced by a good HC, one who can sustain the team's competitive discipline, then I think our talent level is high enough that we can win a lot of games next year. I honestly believe that. We have enough special talent to do it, however the scheduling wheel turns.

We just need to command that razor's edge.