off one's game

Prepositional phrase

1. Playing or competing below one's usual level of performance.
   • One fellow I knew once was off his game the whole first half because some idiot was flying a kite over the field advertising some one's pills.c. 1910, Ralph Henry Barbour, “The Dub”, in The New Boy at Hilltop and Other Stories
   • Then the latter, as every golfer does at times, suddenly went right off his game.1922, P. G. Wodehouse, “A Woman is only a Woman”, in The Clicking of Cuthbert
2. (broadly, idiomatic) Performing in any activity below one's usual level; behaving in an irregular, inept, or awkward manner; feeling unwell.
   • Big Bertha, the crowd-pleasing sand tiger shark who survived an astonishing four decades at the New York Aquarium, has died. "She was off her game. She slowed down. She wasn't quite right," said Hans Walters, the animal department supervisor.2008 April 2, Tracy Connor, "'Mellow' shark dies," Daily News (New York) (retrieved 9 Sep. 2008)
   • Adam found himself answering the viewer's questions while also trying to cook—which threw him off his game.2008 July 28, Christopher Rocchio, “Aaron McCargo Jr. wins The Next Food Network Star's fourth season”, in Reality TV World, retrieved 09 Sep 2008

   Antonyms:

   on one's game