I thought that would get your attention. And, no, it's not because it's Whiners week. (Although ... crap ...)
Remember how that Whiner team was never beaten? Remember how scared we were late in a game we were leading? Remember how often he stole games in the last minute?
And that team is far from the only example. The great QBs on the great teams in NFL history knew how to take control of the final minutes and come away with a W. Often after having "played poorly" all game long. After how many hundred of NFL games have opposing fans limped away from games gnashing their teeth after having come up agonizingly short against an elite team?
You know exactly what I am talking about.
Which brings us to the Rams. And, you know, I am chuffed by our last 2 games. We shot ourselves in the foot in both. And posted Ws.
The ability to get the win late in a poorly played game is an enormously important asset for a team aspiring to greatness. It is one of the most important assets a team can have.A team that can do this intimidates the hell out of opponents. Again, if you're old enough, remember how we always felt against Joe. We had good teams then, but they had the passing game that we couldn't contain in the last minutes. It wore on Ram fans and it strained the team's confidence and execution.
Now, I don't know if I have ever felt that way about our Rams. The GSOT didn't really have the knack, though, to be fair, they often didn't need it. We old timers can remember a few big late game wins here and there, but I don't think teams have often feared our closing punch.
Maybe that's why we Ram fans are so fixated on the ideal of a dominant game. If we don't dominate and win by 17 points, if we make blunders in the game, we have a damn hard time enjoying a win. We have never been able to rest in the assurance that we have a killer end game.
Of course, this is absolutely NOT to say that poor performances don't matter. They do, enormously. But then again ... they don't as much as we think.
So when does a poor performance matter? I think it matters when it testifies to a significant team weakness. Suppose you win while giving up yards on the ground or QB sacks, or multiple STs returns. If these problems fit in with a continuing pattern, then I think it's appropriate to say, "We can't keep getting away with this."
But, you know, other teams get paid to perform too. Sometimes they just make plays. A win marred by some breakdowns that are NOT ongoing patterns of error should be celebrated without fretting about glitches that aren't really problems. I am always annoyed when people say, "Against better teams we can't get away with ..." The fact is, teams can and do get away with errors against quality opponents. It's impossible to "clean up" every mistake made in a game.
And the fact is that the ability to steal a game at the death trumps a great deal of the other stuff. A team that builds up an earned reputation of walking away with Ws in late-game surges enjoys a tremendous asset.
So. Is that us? Well, not quite. Not yet. But we have just won 2 games ugly with tough 4th Q offense. We are getting there ... I hope. And that prospect thrills me more than a perfect game against a wounded team would have done.
