I really feel that this team, for all its achievements, is having trouble shifting into top gear.
The defense, obviously. It frustrates the hell out of me and seems a serious obstacle to going where we want to go.
But, you know, what is so maddening about the defense is that it just seems to be badly underperforming its own capacity. How in the hell can THAT DL give up all that running? Seriously. How? I know the LBs are limited, but my God, there has got to be a way to tighten that up. And the entire world KNEW that SEA would be committed to running.
I don't get it. And I don't see that this group is playing anywhere near its ceiling.
But to me the offense, also, is frustrating. It consistently produces yards and points. But it also consistently leaves points on the table.
And the worst thing is coming up short on key drives, a recent and alarming trend. One of these cost us the NO game.
Our D had actually gotten a stop with like 5:00 left. If I recall, we were down 3. "OK," I said to myself, "The offense has the game in its hands. Nice long, steady drive and a TD with no time left. And we win."
Now, to me, that's not too much to ask from THIS offense with a fabulous running game. But no sale. A quick punt and Brees gets the ball back and you know the rest.
As badly as our Defense yielded to Brees, and it was bad, our offense had the chance to win that game. And it fizzled. Sunday, we had the ball after the SEA score with a chance to kill the game as we did earlier in the year. Quick punt and RW almost beats us.
I dunno. We've been eking out these wins, all but one. Our offense really looks elite. Our defense usually gets key, late stops.
But we are sputtering. We just seem stuck in a lower gear.
I think we have it in us to win rings this year. But we are playing well enough to get, say, to a title game and then concede. Right now, NO is I think demonstrably the better team playing at a higher level. We'll see about KC this week.
I keep hoping for us to come out and play a no-questions game. It's worrisome that it isn't happening.
