Luv ya brother, but that's a horrible measuring stick. Da Raidahs O was way off last year, we kind of caught them in a perfect storm for 60 minutes. If you ask me we're going to grade out top 15, no higher. As has already been said, a lot will depend on how the rooks step up. One thing I love is the addition of Payne to our D-line. Along with a recuperated Allan and others, we should finally be able to stuff the run and make teams beat us through the air. I am so over seeing us get gashed from one end of the field to the other with mediocre running games.
Yeah that one was a bit smoke'n'mirrors.
We went into that game early in the season thinking that the Raiders were the team from the previous year that looked like SB contenders till their season was derailed when Carr bust his leg.
I admit that watching us disassemble them in that game was a joy, but it became evident afterwards as the season progressed that they weren't the same team at all, finishing 6-10/
I do believe still though that early in the year our D was really starting to turn a corner and showing some real swagger, the Raiders game was a part of that. The Raiders game kind of showed that. Even if in hindsight they weren't the team we thought they were we STILL stomped on them and that's what teams are supposed to do to bad teams, and is something the Skins have long been accused of not doing. Too many times have we shown up against superior opponents only to stumble badly against teams we should beat handily. It's that inconsistency that has been doing my noggin in over the last few (many) years.
I think if our D hadn't been derailed by injury then we'd have seen steady improvement all year. I'm hoping that's what we see this year. I'd like to think we'll be fairly solid out of the gate and if we can stay healthy we'll gel and become a real force as the year progresses and our rookies get reps.
As usual I'm an optimistic soul, but I'm not sure I'd project top 5. Top 10 to 12 maybe... I think we have the players now to be certainly above average this year. Then I'll look forward to a step up in year 2 as our rooks have a year under their belts and get more in tune to the NFL game and life.
If we do manage to force them to go to the air, I just hope that Norman is an all-pro, Scandrick has some left in the tank and that Dunbar is what the coaches think he is and we don't miss Fuller too much.
If we can put together an above average Offense and an above average Defense so we at least have a balanced squad, I think we'll start going places. And, fingers crossed, poise ourselves for a step forwards again next year when Smith has a year of familiarity in the system and after we draft some more Alabama defense players
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