A couple of things:
There were 2 gassed defenses. Only one of them could dig down and get the stop at peak gassed-ness and peak importance. You know, the one that can't rush the qb, can't stop the run, has the worst linebackers in the league, and has an underachieving secondary.
Not the one with the three-leet pass rush.
Near-term I'm concerned as heck. Longer term, still concerned. If this shapes up into a juggernaut type team, fine. But Most of us (who have not hung ourselves because we're 2-1) understand that this is a gut-it-out, next-man-up year.
We have a tendency to think our opponents are 10 feet tall (to explain poor performance) or are comparatively incompetent (to exaggerate the poorness of the performance.)
In the end, it's football. It's a game. Somebody wins. Never quit even on a terrible deficit, and your chances of winning increase. I like that we saw this philosophy play out, and we've got the greatest ever at making this philosophy play out.
That said, this game wasn't in hand and we barely got the W. We're behind schedule in becoming the 2017 SB-winning edition.
Injury excuses aside: plot our progress against others and project the rest of the series, and it looks bad. Apply observed trends from past years and it's ugly but will get prettier.
And of course, past results do not guarantee future performance.
Getting to the "you have to account for 3 elite pass rushers" stuff... look, the online has to get better. There is time to do so. But that's a place where we're behind the season-long curve. Just like a video game: if you stand still, something will eventually kill you.
It's a W but not a good W. looking forward to/hoping for improvements.
