(08-31-2023, 10:26 PM)Caldrac Wrote:

(08-31-2023, 07:37 PM)JagFan81 Wrote: There were definitely bad plays and mistakes early on last year and they hurt us. I felt he lost a lot of confidence that rookie year and didn't get a lot of help or coaching to get him NFL ready. That's what I felt the start of last year was, a hangover from that rookie year but this time we had a HC that fixed those errors. 

The way he improved through that mid-season stretch and against top teams in the league was seriously impressive. I watched the highlights of the game I Tennessee the other day and he was just fantastic and you just saw his confidence grow and the victories followed. That Chargers playoff game was almost a snapshot of his NFL career. A horrendous start but balling out and bringing it back. Was a real sight to see.

The AFC is going to be a crazy fight for the next few years. So many stong teams and so many great QB's but with Lawrence it feels like we are right in the pack with them. That's the key thing for me, we can challenge the Chiefs, Bengals, Bills etc and this is still a work in progress team, we are going to be in the mix for a good while. Doug and Lawrence are the key and it feels after searching for so long for a QB and a HC we've managed to find both at the same time.

I have high hopes for this season, I'm not saying SB but I'd consider Division round/AFCCG a successful season as it would be a sign of new expectations and standards for this team. Playoffs are always a lottery and I felt the big difference between us and the Chiefs (beside Mahomes being a freak) was that experience in big games and the playoffs so you never know.

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You know, I think you may be right. Theres a few ive noticed. I'm sure they'll suddenly appear after Lawrence's first pick saying what a terrible decision it was and last year was a fluke.

I think the key with the Chiefs, Bengals and Bills is just playing keep away. We struggled last year sometimes running the football at will when we really wanted to or needed to. I think the goal in the offseason was to fix this issue.

They added Johnson and Bigsby to compliment Hasty and Etienne. They added a downhill blocker in Strange at TE that can also create some mismatches in the short to medium passing game once the run game does get good and we can sell the fakes and screens better. 

Being able to chew up the clock, punch it in for six and put the pressure back on these QB's with less time on the clock gives our defense more opportunities to focus on getting after them. It's the defense that really needs to step it up in these matchups.

That's a great point and I completely agree. It's a pass first league and RB's are getting kicked around right now money wise but running the ball and chewing clock are big weapons for teams, especially when you have O's that can get huge chunk plays in no time at all. Doug wants 2 TE's who can pass and block so you can use heavier packages but D's still need to play the pass and run. Like you say as well, you need to be able to get TD's. Settling for FG's isn't going to do it against the Chiefs 

One other hope I have. I look around the AFC and the North, East and West look like really tough divisions. The rest of the South are rebuilding and depending how successful they are it could be competitive again soon but I think of the AFC North in the mid 2000's where you had the tough Steelers, Ravens and Bengals and they would beat the hell out of each other and usually 2 of them would meet in the playoffs, and whatever team of walking wounded was left for the next round usually got beaten as how much effort it had taken to get there.

Now the league isn't that physical anymore but if we can take this time of the South rebuilding and win 5-6 of our division games, I look at the rest of the AFC divisions and they all look like they are capable of beating each other. If we can use those extra wins advantage and rival teams beating each other, we can sneak up those seedings and I'm not saying #1 seed but trying to get as many home playoff games as we can.

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