FanPost

Our teams' problem is simple...

... to articulate. But search me on how to solve it. We make too many mistakes. Period. Those of us focusing on individual plays, players, coaches, or even whole units, are missing the forest for the trees.

This last loss to the Giants was a perfect example. First off, as much as it pains us, give Eli the credit he's due. He made pass after pass to the right place at the right time with pressure in his face and often in under 3 or 4 seconds. He just had a damn good game, especially at the end.

With that out of the way, lots of folks are blaming the loss on the defense. Or ST. Or the missed pass/catch. Or (fill in the blank). Yes, they all contributed, but the big picture is that we make too many mistakes. All teams make mistakes, but the ones that make the playoffs and win playoff games tend to make few enough that they can overcome them. We make too many to overcome. I believe our team has the talent. I think we've shown many times that we can play good enough football for long enough stretches that based on talent alone, we belong in the playoff picture. Where we fail is getting in our own way. To wit:

1) The missed pass/catch

2) The bad punt at the worst possible time

3) The blocked FG

4) The strange fumble-toss at the end of the first half

5) The offside that negated the Giants' fumble

6) The PI in the end zone that turned a goal-line stop on 3rd down into a 1st and goal from the 1

7) Blown coverage/personnel/playcall on the Maningham TD

8) Not calling a TO sooner before NY scored their last TD

9) etc...

In other words: too many mistakes.

So if I were running the show, I wouldn't trouble myself with the red herrings of "replace the defensive backs!", "Romo doesn't have what it takes!", "Fire Dave Campo!", "Rob's too fat!", "Joe's got to go!", "Run more!", "Run less!", "Hire an OC!", etc. All that is noise. I'd focus on one thing: How do I get my team to make less mistakes? And that is no simple matter. It's not just a player here or a player there or this unit or that unit. Seems almost everyone contributes to our mistake-fests. Even the coaches! But I guarantee you, if this team could cut its mistakes in half, we'd not only get into the playoffs, we'd do well. Very well.

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