I suppose I have to now explain the difference............
Players not executing up to their normal standards happens, I'm talking about an instance when something that had zero influence on the play itself bailed the team out.
There are some plays in which you can say that the penalty influenced the outcome of a play.
Here's some examples...
Example 1) An INT thrown in which a defender committed pass interference to get into position to make the interception.
Example 2) An INT thrown on a 'wishful throw' that was thrown ONLY because the QB knew he had a free play.
That did NOT happen here. Other than ultimately having a flag on him, Dee Ford had zero influence on the play. Whether he was where he was or two feet back (in an onside position) the play would have transpired the same. The only difference is that with him being offsides, the entire play was nullified.
Another situation would be 2007 at Baltimore. The Pats were stuffed on 4th down on that last drive. The game was and should have been over. The Pats lost, or at least would have, if they had not been bailed out by Rex Ryan's ill-fated time out.
And even if accepted your position, it would still only strengthen the overall point being made........it just further confirms that the Pats had a small margin of victory. The margin was so small it would not have survived a Gronk mistake. Do we think that margin of victory increases or that all the other players' abilities to make mistakes goes down with Hoyer? i would think not.