1200 Elo is confusing.

I just hit 1200 elo recently and am very confused on the actual skillness of people my level, sometimes I feel like I should be higher and sometimes I feel like I should be 900.  For example 

This game the dude was crushing me, he stalemated but he obviously should have won.

But in this game the dude played some pretty garbage moves and eventually blundered mate in one.

Is there just a humamongus skill gap in the 1200s or did I just play bad the first round

Edit: just played another dude my level and its crazy how bad some 1200s can be