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Season recap through week 6.


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Been seeing just a terrible fanbase reaction to the season so far. Thought I would so a summery as I see it at least.

 

The Offense:

 

The Line - Man the fanbase lose to take keywords and run them into the ground, and also have unrealistic expectations in the process. Sure the oline needed time to get some work together, but thats to clean up the communication and other fine details in order. I know some people are joking with the "oline needs to gel" comments, but some arent, some of yall really expected just to trot out a top 5 line day one with no problems.

 

you saw the RT who is on a new team, in a new offense with new teammates next to him, just had back surgery in the offseason and is playing through the hurt and pain right? this fanbase just talks shit. and this fanbase very very clearly only sees players make a bad play, not a single people in here is rewatching games and watching individuals, not that you need to to be a fan, but i dont understand the strong opinions of players if you arent. "well ive watched nothing but he sucks" is basically whats going on here. Collins had a rough start, the injury and things arent helping the cause.

 

One of the other two new guys had an injury as well, so 2/3 of the new free agents hurt in camp.

 

Then the volson carman abortion at LG. seems no one has heard the "an offensive line is only as good as its weakest link" type phrases. LG is worse than it ever was last year. Spain must have fucked someones wife cause there is no other reason he didnt get a call to come in during camp.

 

Jonah is average and unless you can catch lighting in a bottle of a really good LT, you dont throw away average. and yes average costs 8+million. casue 10+ teams would love to have average over what they got.

 

The running game:

 

 

 

The pass game: volson sucks. Tee has been hurt and missed 2 games, both losses, the o-line seems to have an issue getting engaged and keeping hands down, too many batted balls. oh side note, my favorite complaint when a ball is batted down on a drive, is shitty play calling in here. i go through game threads and after a drive where it ends on a batted ball or a batted ball stalled a drive partially, the playcalling sucks, as if... we are calling a batted pass play or something.... .  we call a few tee higgins pass drop plays today too? we call the burrow sack play again?

 

 

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the offense - continued.

 

my biggest beef with the offense is the scripted plays, the first two drives in the nfl are scripted ahead of time, its like a trust the film and dont lock yourself into one dimensional plan sort of thing, been done for decades. its only worked on teams without veterans on defense i think, like teams young enough that they didnt change up their scheme a ton for us, like the jets. and maybe dolphins due to injuries? Iam a traditionalist to an extent, but even im like: throw that shit out and just call plays.

 

I think if we have higgins for baltimore we win that game, if we dont lose our long snapper we win pitt game, the two division losses are tough. but we are tied for tops in the division and there are only 3 teams in the entire AFC with more than 3 wins. and out next oppoents for the next 5 weeks arent anything to be scared of, if we play well we could rip off a nice chunk of wins.

 

The over reaction of the two early losses was bananas, we lost to pitt and dallas? lame just means we MUST beat, like NE and Tenn to make up for it. if we arent 2 games over .500 5 weeks from now we are for sure a wildcard team who needs to get hot in the playoffs, if we are, we just need to handle business to finish out and the division could easily be on the line in game 17.

 

now the defense...

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Run Defense:

 

I just read a few pages in the gameday saints thread about how we cant stop the run. go watch nfl matchup this week where they break down the saints run schemes, its the best in the league, also Kamara isnt too shabby, and the shady shit they do with hill obviously works or they wouldnt do it. also did you know we lost Reader? and then his replacement and are on the 3rd string DT/NT in the middle? you just think that doesnt change anything? we should somehow, with a bandaid center of our front 7 should be a brick wall?

 

what. in. the. world. are. yall talking. about??!?!?!??!!

 

our dudes are hurt + they are GREAT at what they do in the run game, and everyone around here is acting like its NUTS that they can run the ball with success?!?!?!

 

now with Wilson out thats about to get a lot worse. just so you know, teams are gonna be able to run on us in general for the next few weeks.

 

Pass defense: 

 

Apple sucks, and Bates seems slow on making plays. and if you think apple hasnt sucked until today he has, he has a terrible pass coverage rating on the year.

 

for those thinking taylor britt is going to play, i think someone said next week due to apples performance, i wish, but there is no chance in hell, lou LOVES apple, britt isnt even dressed for any games yet, there is no chance in hell he is taking over for apple, if they were going to gives some snaps away it would be Dax, and after his offsides on teams that probably isnt too likely either, even though they are unrelated.

 

i dont have a ton else to say about the defense, they start slow but end strong, they havent given up over 23 points yet i dont think? and thats incredible. our weakness next few weeks is gonna still be run D, so we cant give teams a lead and let them run the day away, the saints had a nearly8 minute drive to start the second half. the offense was off the field for like an hour of real life minutes.

 

i hope to go 4-1 in the next 5, put us at 7-4 going into the tougher close of the schedule.

 

hopefully we can all enjoy the season and maybe a little less "well this game is over" in the first quarter of games.. 

 

its impossible to come in here after a loss, the doom and gloom is off the charts, apparently every coach needs fired and the best players on the team are terrible and regressing and so on.

 

wtf is wrong with people?

 

the blind eye to the fact that we have shortcomings prevent things from being smooth out of the gate, and that, in fact, new bad things can happen to players making the lack of smooth operation continue in new bad ways is also a reality.

 

have some fun, eh?

 

 

 

 

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Before the Stinger Missiles begin arriving, I was thinking:

 

There are 11 games remaining. Figuring a minimum of 9 wins to even make the Playoffs, that would mean going 6-5 hereafter. 
 

I will let Amish do the math analytics, but based on your (precise) construct, where do those 6 come from? 
 

Personally, I see winning the AFCN as the most plausible way—but now that would have to include involve a sweep of Cleveland. With this group, I’m not so certain. 
 

 

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This is what I see.

 

Offense

Until yesterday I was worried this unit might cause us to be a .500 ballclub and miss the playoffs. Yesterday I was encouraged by what I saw. A team that might have figured out how to beat 2 high. And my concern was not about Mixon, as I figured he would eventually get going. My concern was that 2 high safety leaves soft spots in coverage over the middle of the field and we were not attacking that in the passing game. We've had a few batted balls but nothing that prevented us from not sucking against cover 2. I think we can build on that moving forward.  The more different types of schemes Joe can get used to and learn how to pick apart the better.

I still think we play too much shotgun for my liking and think we aren't very good at the play action pass when we do go under center. The shotgun think is imho partly because the Oline cant sustain blocks long enough for us to not be in shotgun, but some of it feels like Joe can see the field better and diagnose things better, something he needs to improve on doing it under center, the PAP thing he just needs to get better at period.

 

Typically I measure linemen by not having to talk about them and that means Cappa is the best followed by Karas, Volson, Willams, and then Collins. All of them have screwed up at some point but overall I'm pretty happy with Karas and Cappa, the rest could play a bit better.

 

Oline has slowly gotten better but I disagree with you about Collins, he has missed several assignments that have caused plays to stall out, the Mixon to the edge and the goal line last week come to mind, neither of which we about his physical play. I think he can and will get better but he has been the worst on the Oline imho so far.

 

Mixon needs to do a bit better at picking up blocks though the sacks yesterday were his fault.

 

Defense

No TDs in the 2nd half by any team is pretty fucking impressive. That said we are really missing DJ Reader, the run D is not good right now and if Wilson and Reader are both out could be a problem. We all knew how important Reader was after losing him for the season his first year here. I had hoped drafting Tyler Shelvin would at least provide some assistance if Reader missed time, so far it has not. We may have to draft a Nose Tackle in the offseason. Jessie Bates has not played like a top 5 Safety, in fact Von Bell has played better than he has, and at least at this point in the season I would prefer to resign him, Maybe if we make it to the playoffs he'll turn it on again, but so far he's just been average. If we can get Reader back soon I'll worry less about the unit going forward. I'd hate to see the Offense finally figure it out and the Defense take a step back, that could spell a .500 ball club. Reader is key to that not happening.

 

Teams

Sucks we lost the 1st game to losing our long snapper, other wise this unit has overall been mostly fine. The fumble this week was not helpful but overall it's not been a consistent problem. And while Huber is not the guy he once was (father time always wins) he's not as bad as some want to make him out to be.

 

 

This team is either going to end up at .500, or be in the playoffs and fighting to win the division at the end of the season. Alot will depend on health and them building on what they did play calling wise this past week. Bills and Chiefs still look like world beaters, but it's a long season and we will the chance to show our metal against them before the playoffs begin.

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As I see it, at this point in the season we are 3-3.

We should have won the three games we lost for various and sundry reasons.

We won a game yesterday with the help of a shanked punt BUT we'll take it.

 

I can't see us going into the playoffs as a wild card.

QFA and win 6-7 more games and take the division. 

The losses to Pittsburgh and Baltimore are going to hurt.

Kansas City, Buffalo and Baltimore at home are going to be barn burners.

 

QFA and do it.

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We have won 3 of 4, the only loss in a month being a walk-off FG to Justin Tucker.

 

The OLine is getting better.  Sure, when they get beat is seems like ALL of them get beat at the same time.  But that's happening less frequently as we get deeper into the season.  It still needs improvement, and will continue to be our Achilles until it does, but their performance vs New Orleans was better by far than in any of the September games, win or lose.

 

Tee and Mixon are the key to our production.  If Tee's on the field he has to be taken seriously.  If Mixon keeps increasing his YPC as he has in three straight weeks, DCs won't have enough bodies to cover everyone, leaving Hurst, Boyd, and yes, Chase, under protected.  

 

The biggest shortcoming IMO is that we still seem to be playcalling for a porous OL, like we had to do last year.  ZT is at his heart a gambler, and having a reduced every-down playbook to call plays from is forcing him to feed that itch with weirdo calls at critical junctures.  If the OL improves just a little, and if Mixon and Tee are able to be slightly more threatening, we get to expand the playbook significantly....  sating ZTs need to gamble, and improving things offensively across the board.

 

We're close.  As long as the defense can continue to buy the offense time and prevent Katie or Mike from intervening with a panic attack - which isn't their style anyway - I really honestly think we'll be right as rain in as little as 2-3 weeks.

 

Beat ATL first.  Avoid injury.  Execute.  Block.  Hit the proper inside lanes Joe, get your foot healed Tee.  Let's Ride.

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2 hours ago, Jamie_B said:

This is what I see.

 

Offense

Until yesterday I was worried this unit might cause us to be a .500 ballclub and miss the playoffs. Yesterday I was encouraged by what I saw. A team that might have figured out how to beat 2 high. 

 

 

 

If a defense takes away the deep ball and the sidelines the offense struggles.  Can't run block for shit, can't pass block long enough for crossing routes etc.  It's a very limited playbook that is fairly easy to defend.  It takes exceptional play from QB & WR's to move the ball under these circumstances.

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7 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

 

 

If a defense takes away the deep ball and the sidelines the offense struggles.  Can't run block for shit, can't pass block long enough for crossing routes etc.  It's a very limited playbook that is fairly easy to defend.  It takes exceptional play from QB & WR's to move the ball under these circumstances.

 

They largely did take away the sidelines and deep ball yesterday and Mixon started to get going and we found balls over the middle. That just needs to be consistent going forward and it will force teams to put the Safety in the box which will open things up

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8 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

 

They largely did take away the sidelines and deep ball yesterday and Mixon started to get going and we found balls over the middle. That just needs to be consistent going forward and it will force teams to put the Safety in the box which will open things up

 

 

To my untrained eye it's what we've been facing all season.  Hurst, Mixon, Boyd will all have opportunities. 

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1 hour ago, High School Harry said:

QFA and win 6-7 more games and take the division. 

Let’s just say it’s an overall split at 3-3. You now have 6 wins. Where do the other 3 come from? 
 

And what about the Rats? Outside of the division, they play pretty much the same teams the Bengals play—past or future. They have already played BUF…they don’t play KC..and really only Tommy Bay looks like a danger game. They currently are in the 4 slot. What is going to bring them down? 
 

It’s still a way-stacked AFC. As up and down as the Bengals have been, I’m not really seeing that second half of season “kick” looming that will get them into the playoffs, let alone win the division. 

Respectfully, 

 

Worst Fanbase Ever 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

Do you guys realize we are 8 points away from being undefeated?

 

This talk of no way we make the playoffs is a bit eeyoreish

 

 

So what?  8 points or 80, what's the difference? If a frog had wings..

 

Team is 3-3.   Probably need to win at least 7 of the remaining 11 games to see the postseason.   I think that's certainly possible but also far from a given right now. 

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2 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 

 

To my untrained eye it's what we've been facing all season.  Hurst, Mixon, Boyd will all have opportunities. 

 

I kind of blame the coaches for not anticipating that teams were going to play 2 high and prevent us from doing go routes. They should have evolved the playbook much earlier to anticipate that going into the season.

 

It is what it is at this point though. 

 

But yeah get Mixon, Boyd, Hust more involved, hell you can run those middle of the field routes with Chase too, lesser with Higgins as he is not built for it but is the go to guy for Joe on the slant routes it seems 

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2 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

 

 

So what?  8 points or 80, what's the difference? If a frog had wings..

 

Team is 3-3.   Probably need to win at least 7 of the remaining 11 games to see the postseason.   I think that's certainly possible but also far from a given right now. 

 

10 games won us the Division last year, 9 games gets you the wild card imho

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11 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 

Yeah I'm thinking 10 wins to be certain, anything less and we're in the realm of tie breakers and hoping so-and-so loses.

Even if there is a split down the middle 3-3 in the AFCN, 4 wins would likely have to come from the 4 remaining outside division AFC games… which are KC/TN/BUF/NE. No certainty that even 10 total wins does it if 3 of 4 of those AFC games are not part of it. 
 

 

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