In both of those games, our HC went into a shell (FS did it anytime he ever got a 17 point lead) and nearly got beat by inferior teams. In those instances. like this past Saturday, the closeness of the game was a direct result of poor game day coaching. Very little, if anything to do with altitude.
TO rarely went into a shell, but we were ranked #2 that year and it was late in the season. TO likely thought our defense would hold well to retain our #2 ranking, which would get us one step closer to the playoff game. Hopefully, SF wasn't going into an FS-like shell and the offense just needs more fine tuning.