The offense can't make that excuse in the games where they were at their worst. The defense showed up in all the games where the offense went silent.

So while I agree in principle with what you're saying about playing catch up, it didn't necessarily apply to this team. When we only needed a decent performance from the offense, they were terrible. In games when we only needed the defense to have a slight pulse, they didn't have one.

On average, the defense was obviously the bigger problem. But the offense had no excuse in those games where they completely disappeared. Add in the horrid special teams play, and the bottom line is this team couldn't find a way to play together often enough to win. They found ways to lose.