Quote:Unfortunately 5 or 6 wins is a very real possibility if Thomas, Marks and Lee are out a significant amount of time.  You can't be missing 3 of your top 5 players on a thin roster for a third of the season and expect to win a lot of games.

 

Don't forget Fowler being out the season.  Anyways, that is why 6-10 doesn't tell the whole story.  

 

From GM stand point, things feel different.  Our roster is set, had difficult cuts to make and that hasn't really been the case since Caldwell has been here.  

 

From a coaching stand point, our offense looks better, less predictable and the QB seems to have taken a giant step forward.  The o-line looks improved though still not where you want it to be.  Julius Thomas is going to give us a boost, but won't do that until he plays.  Defensively we seem more disciplined which is good, but our pass rush looks inept.  With Fowler and Marks available, our depth looks pretty solid.  Without them, it looks barren.  We have a promising player in Michael Bennett, but he is a 6th round draft pick.  Clemons has started late this year and may take some time to get going.  Sample looked very promising in OTA's, but broke his arm and missed crucial time for a rookie.  Cyprien I'm assuming is starting along with Sergio Brown.  Cyps been out and coming off an underwhelming year where he looked lost at times.  I feel pretty good about our CB's, but until Marks gets back, we are going to need the offense to overcome our defensive deficiencies.  I just think there are two many things to overcome on defense to expect us to make a leap forward early on.  Maybe we see it as the season goes on.  I have high hopes for James Sample.  

 

Anyways, whether we consider the above excuses, reality or a combination of both, they are factors on how we do this season.

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