"The Lull"

SaintsBro · 12-06-2010, 04:29 PM

Serious question here. Does it look to YOU like this year's team routinely comes out in the first quarter looking like one of the greatest football teams EVER ASSEMBLED, then seems to take a nap in most of the second and third, only to wake up startled in the 4th, and then has to pull some magic pixie dust out of their collective offensive/defensive backsides to win the game at the last possible moment?

Last year it was like, we owned the 4th quarter. At the end of the 3rd quarter, whatever the score, I could turn to my friends and say, "who plays lights out in the 4th, fellas?" and they'd all smile knowingly. You could FEEL the defense ratcheting it up all through the game, you could SMELL the greatness of the offense percolating like coffee.

This year, it's like we own the FIRST quarter, maybe a two minute drill before the half, and not much else. Then the last four minutes of the 4th, we will suddenly look SCARY GOOD again, but it's entirely nerve wracking, gut-wrenching, and sometimes tremendously unpleasant to sit through. Even when we win!

What are you folks seeing. What are your impressions. I want to know what people think about WHY this year's games all sorta look like this, with the LULL in them, where the other team hangs around or claws their way back in. It has to be something more complicated than just "Payton takes his foot off the gas" because I dunno. Is he really taking his foot off the gas? That just doesn't seem like something he would do in the second quarter... I think it has to be something else, or a combination of things, but I don't quite know what that IT is.

Thoughts? Theories? Ideas?

12-06-2010, 04:29 PM	#1
SaintsBro Site Donor Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: in line with my ridiculous CLEAR PLASTIC BAG Posts: 3,650 Blog Entries: 3	"The Lull" Serious question here. Does it look to YOU like this year's team routinely comes out in the first quarter looking like one of the greatest football teams EVER ASSEMBLED, then seems to take a nap in most of the second and third, only to wake up startled in the 4th, and then has to pull some magic pixie dust out of their collective offensive/defensive backsides to win the game at the last possible moment? Last year it was like, we owned the 4th quarter. At the end of the 3rd quarter, whatever the score, I could turn to my friends and say, "who plays lights out in the 4th, fellas?" and they'd all smile knowingly. You could FEEL the defense ratcheting it up all through the game, you could SMELL the greatness of the offense percolating like coffee. This year, it's like we own the FIRST quarter, maybe a two minute drill before the half, and not much else. Then the last four minutes of the 4th, we will suddenly look SCARY GOOD again, but it's entirely nerve wracking, gut-wrenching, and sometimes tremendously unpleasant to sit through. Even when we win! What are you folks seeing. What are your impressions. I want to know what people think about WHY this year's games all sorta look like this, with the LULL in them, where the other team hangs around or claws their way back in. It has to be something more complicated than just "Payton takes his foot off the gas" because I dunno. Is he really taking his foot off the gas? That just doesn't seem like something he would do in the second quarter... I think it has to be something else, or a combination of things, but I don't quite know what that IT is. Thoughts? Theories? Ideas?