(07-28-2024, 06:36 AM)Caldrac Wrote: (07-28-2024, 12:39 AM)JagFan81 Wrote: Damn I like that starting lineup. Suddenly we have a roster with quite a lot of experience on it.
Agreed. Hopefully it all comes together this season. There's still some question marks out there that need to be answered.
1. Can the offensive line finally gel and get it together in one summer to complete the offense and balance it?
2. Can the interior of the defensive line finally get penetration and maintain the point of attack?
3. Can the kicker, whether it be a rookie or veteran, be trusted to make the kicks in crunch time?
4. Can Pederson show a little more restraint and a little less gambling when the probability of three points is there?
5. Can Lawrence scale down his turnovers while elevating his touchdowns?
The other thing is the depth. Again, we're entering another season where the team will be relying heavily on inexperienced players. Bigsby and Strange have to be able to spell Etienne and Engram when needed. The expectations on Brian Thomas Jr?
Smith and Jefferson are going to have to fill in immediately when needed and not blow their gap's, get over zealous and jump the line early, etc. The secondary will be relying on guys like Antonio Johnson from last year along with newcomer's in Jarrian Jones & Deantre Prince.
Special teams could very well likely be leaning on Little as a rookie Kicker and Robinson as a Return Specialist with the new rules to make some crunch time plays.
In a game where the margin of error is small most of the time on a weekly basis? Any one of these rookie or second year players above could make or break this team's chances in the W/L column. One bad kick, one fumble, one blown assignment. That's all it takes. It'll be a fun season either way.
I expect double digit wins in 2024. Whether they make the play-off's or not will be decided on how the rest of the AFC plays and whether or not this team was able to overcome it's injuries from the previous year and whether or not their depth pieces did the job when called upon.
I think you nail all the concerns fans have for the season ahead. I know last season ended in a disappointing fashion but there was also plenty of good stuff we did too.
1- That feels the biggest thing that can determine how good/bad this season can go. The line has definitely been improved and plays like Harrison have a year of experience. Morse brings in a lot of experience and playoff experience and there is talent on that oline, its high draft picks and big ticket FA'S so they have the ability. It may take a few games to get it all together but I think this is an area Doug knows needs to be better.
2- Yep, that really hurt us down the stretch. I'm looking forward to see if Walker takes another step this year and Armstead is nice experience to add for the younger guys. Hamilton was such a miss last year and didn't look right when he came back. I'm not sure what exact scheme we'll line up with on D but I think it will depend on the DB's giving the line tike to get home and the Dline getting home to help the coverage. Unless it all works together, none of it will work.
3- Ah kickers, the lowest guys on the roster but so many times the deciding factor. It will be an interesting camp battle to see who we keep and is the starter. It kind of leads into point 4 as if Doug has faith then I see him settling for 3's (but staying aggressive in certain situations) but if he doesn't have faith in the K....yeah that usually hurts you.
5- That's his big priority. Having the Oline keep a cleaner pocket and giving him time will certainly help, WR's not tipping balls up will help but he needs to try and limit it. If he can do that but still keep being aggressive then he'll have an MVP level year.
Every team at some point needs to rely on the 3's and 4's on your depth chart and rookies. You don't need them to be superstars but just 'do their job'. For players like Bigsby and Strange, they'll have their chances, it's up to them to take them and earn more. For me, it's up to the coaches to find what they excel at, give them those opportunities in games and if they do well then give them more. How the coaching staff respond to injuries and players/schemes not working will be a huge factor.
I'm very confident for us this year. We had a brutal schedule last year and were 8-3 with L's to the Chiefs and Niners (both went to SB) and a Houston team who had a great year. We beat good teams and we have another tough schedule this year but that's what we need. If we want to get to deep playoff runs and winning SB's your going to have to beat the best so embrace the challenge. I think everyone in the building from Shad down knows we are going the right way and need to respond to the end of last season and that's why I think they went for experience in FA to be a difference in the locker room if we have a bad couple of games and turn it around.
