We need more consistency. Our offense arguably outplayed the greatest offense in the history of the game. The problem is, we also have the ability to score 6 points against the worst defense in the league. I give the offense a pass because Romo was noticeably hurt the past few weeks. He looks healthy and he outplayed the great Peyton Manning. I wish we had a little more consistency in the run game, though. The OL is young and much improved over last year. And I like our young playmakers in Dez, Beasley, even Williams and Escobar. Our offense lives and dies with Romo. Problem is, as good as he played today, it wasn't a real shocker when he threw a careless INT to seal the game.
All in all, though, I think the offense is good enough to win a championship this year. The problem is, the defense is soooooooo bad. A bad defense is the reason guys like Peyton, Rodgers, Brees (and even Brady) don't have more Super Bowls. I don't think people realize how bad our defense is and has been all season. We were all drinking the Kool Aid after we forced 6 turnovers in the season opener..... and we still let Eli throw for 450. We overestimated the street free agents we picked up on defense and we underestimated the veterans who weren't able to play this season. Also, we overlooked the potential catastrophy a sudden switch to the 4-3 could cause. Lee was elite and Carter was up and coming, and now neither are very impressive. Ware hasn't looked like a threat. We invested in two corners (draft and free agency) only to switch to a scheme that doesn't suit them. The Saints had one of the greatest offenses of all time last year and still missed the playoffs at 8-8. Fortunately for us, 8-8 is probably good enough to win the NFC East.
Colin Cowherd was saying the other day (when talking about the Browns' sudden success) that being 8-8 is the worst thing to be in football. You're not good enough to be a contender but not bad enough to get a franchise player via the draft. It's football purgatory. I just don't see us getting out of it...