Keith that explains a lot. I posted earlier about how it is clear that Kubiak has taken his foot way off the gas and stopped doing all of the things that made our offense dangerous. We scored at will through that 5 day stretch of November when the defense temporarily collapsed, and then just shut it down. I thought Kubs was probably keeping most of the playbook in reserve (including all of the bootlegs), but this confirms it. He is once again falling back on the tried and true shanahan/denver days. When looking at your stats I can even see some of that last year, when we stumbled through Yates down the stretch and then played two of our best games all season (regardless of QB) in the destruction of Cincy and the defensive marvel in Baltimore.
With that said, I think Kubs could be an idiot here. It is one thing to take a deep breath down the stretch and gear up for the playoff unveiling when you have a veteran team led by John Elway (and the unshakable confidence that comes with being led by John Elway). I don't think Schaub/Kubs inspire the same unshakable confidence that Elway did. I think we run the real risk of our team's psyche being dented by the losses, especially if we give away home field and have to go into NE or Denver.
With that said, a win Sunday and we are perfectly positioned with a dream playoff path, mostly healthy, completely under the radar (with the best record in the conference and wins over 2 of the 3 division champs), and are uniquely setup to take NYG style "nobody believes in us" motivation while also being the home team.
I hope that I am wrong and Kubs is right and this team can flip a switch in the playoffs. I want to believe we have that kind of mental toughness and confidence, and next month I'll know.
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