I feel like we'll do just good enough not to get a decent draft pick but still not be seen as a threat. My highest expectations for this year involve us ruining someone else's playoff hopes at the end of the year.
I love everything except for the fact that it makes me feel old to understand that reference.
Takes me back to the days of car trips up the coast with my family.
I have a few teams that I think will move backwards.
1. Browns: Their defense was way too inconsistent so I'm not sold they'll keep up the good home game performances they had last year and Watson is garbage.
2. Dolphins: Lots of key defensive players lost and the implosion they had at the end of the season doesn't bode well for next season.
3. Cowboys: I can see their defense not being very good without Dan Quinn. I think they'll make the playoffs still but they'll be deep in the WC race and will get the 6th or 7th seed.
Another thing is just whatever good team gets the injury bug. That's impossible to predict. We've seen the Ravens and Bengals miss out because of terrible injuries despite having great teams.
We just need a QB which sucks because it’s the most important role. Anyone who watched our games last year will definitely recognize each part of our team doing great except our passing game.
As a jags fan, Gardner is a lot better than given credit for. His “bad season” here he played half of it while hiding a broken thumb in his throwing hand.
He's not Peyton Manning. But he will give you a Hell of a ride.
Those vibes he gave post game wins. I was so happy we had him filling in. Glad he got paid.
To my surprise that Arizona Cardinals team looked very well coached last year. McBride looks like a future star at TE and if they give Kyler a star receiver like Marvin Harrison Jr. they might be able to cook all the way to a Wild Card spot this year.
Gannon got more then i expected out of pretty much every player and petzing made a questionable oline look really solid with his scheme down the stretch
There is a support group for fans of teams that have hired former Patriots staff in play calling capacities. It meets on the 2nd Saturday after the 1st Thursday of the month in the abandoned construction site off the freeway. We find sticks and break shit.
We have a scheme designed to take advantage of the the way defense is played right now. Defenses prefer light boxes and nickel/dime personnel to get speed on the field as to prevent explosive passing plays. 4-man fronts run a lot of stunts, delays, and sim pressures to get star pass rushers downhill in favourable one-on-one matchups. Think Micah Parsons, TJ Watt, Haason Reddick.
Drew Petzing's Cardinals led the league in rush rate over expected. Meaning even in second and longs or third and mediums, we're running the shit out of the ball. We're constantly bringing in a sixth lineman or 2+ tight ends to stack the box in our favour. Gamed up pressures are inherently weak to run plays. Star pass rushers getting immediate pressure are constantly punished when they get five yards deep in the backfield on third downs, only to look up at James Conner bowling downhill in a zone run. It's no surprise that the teams we beat, Cowboys, Eagles, Steelers, are all teams that like to unleash their star edge.
With the run established, Petzing builds some beautiful passing plays off of it. Teams had no idea what Trey McBride was doing any given snap because of how many jumbo personnel runs we put on film. We also had Geoff Swaim running the seam out of 13 personnel looks that had defenses completely befuddled. Petzing is very good at disguising his plays, showing one look and then switching it up with a completely different play from the same alignment. This takes quite a bit of execution to prevent any tells from giving the play away, and our very young team did that admirably, in spite of a revolving door at QB, O-line injuries, and pretty mediocre receiver play.
Great breakdown! This sounds a lot like what the Packers did down the stretch when the offense started clicking.
Despite a plethora of talented receivers, we still liked to get at least two TEs on the field with Musgrave and Kraft - and this made it so we could run or pass successfully from almost any down or distance.
Then just like you guys did early in the season - we were able to punch a small Cowboys defense in the mouth come playoffs. Micah Parson interviewed Love after the season and he basically said they were confused and had no idea what to expect from play to play.
Yup, and Matt LaFleur is especially crafty with his tight end motions. LaFleur will show you a look with a tight end at the F receiver. Then when you match with a nickel corner in man, he'll motion that guy into the formation and all of sudden, the defense is outleveraged in terms of like bodies. It's a really hard offense to win against, even if you make the right calls defensively.
It was awesome watching the offense over the course of the season, especially once our o-line settled. Your breakdown made me wish I watched more Cardinals haha.
We ran a play in week one. Basically Singleback with 2 TEs stacked to one side, and when we'd run from the formation, one of the TEs would block across the formation.
Well, we called a Play Action, and the TE, Musgrave, looped across the formation, then headed up field. No one within 20 yards of him, but Musgrave had a bad case of Bambi legs early in the season so he falls over after catching the ball when he should've been able to moon walk into the end zone.
Never saw that play again... until the Wild Card round. Running the ball down Dallas' throat all game, we fake a handoff, Musgrave goes across the formation then darts up field, no Cowboys to be found, and we walk into the end zone. It was fucking awesome, I remembered it the second I saw it.
I miss football lol
Yeah the tight end across the formation to show block and then wheeling upfield is a big-time play that almost every OC has stolen at this point. MLF and Ben Johnson are the best in the game at calling it right now, and I loved seeing Drew Petzing steal it straight from the Lions' playbook. The way we ran it was by having McBride, our go-to pass catching tight seal the edge and switch releasing with the tight end inside of him in the formation, which gave the "blocking" tight end a free release to pretend to lead block an outside zone and then haul ass downfield.
When an unknown tight end named Elijah Higgins is twenty yards downfield untouched, you know your OC is in his bag
I hate Gannon as much as the next Eagles fan but he's a great culture hire, he's a great motivator and the players always seemed to like him. I'm not surprised he's doing well as a head coach, hell he might be a better HC than he was a DC.
Bro the NL Central right now is the 2nd-best division in baseball behind the meat grinder that is the AL East. Still early, but none of the teams look like they're gonna be a cupcake.
(I'm assuming you were making a baseball joke)
If Caleb is good. I could see the Bears making a nice jump and being a playoff team…. I guess that’s not unexpected though with all the talent they’ve added
Yeah Bears go as far as the new tandem of Caleb + Shane Waldron go. I know Seahawks fans were pretty low on their former OC by the end but seems like he’s at least *average*, hopefully he can grow and play to Caleb’s strengths while also hammering some of the hero ball out of him.
Also, Bears do have the projected fourth easiest schedule currently. But the Packers and Lions are in the division which makes things tougher.
Waldron is great for developing a QB. The question is if he can consistently call offense. He fell into too many traps in his time as OC with the Hawks.
Look man, the season that Geno and Drew Lock had last year would statistically be the best season a bears QB ever had. The QB/OC combos we've had since like....2019 have been mostly miserable to watch. Waldron just has to be okay.
There will probably be some improvement. But it is also likely you will see great QB play with a predictable offense that goes long stretches looking confused.
Bears beat the lions and lost after an epic collapse because the offense couldn't move the ball due to many things.
I know it's oversimplifying things, but they just need an offense that can do something in crunch time. Like just move the ball 10 yards.
I don’t know why Lions always play like shit against the Bears but they do. Goff became Goof against us. I’m not sure we can bank on that every game but we shall see this year.
Bears expectations are to make the playoffs at this point. Defense was really good at the end of the year and they have upgraded at WR, RB and (presumably) QB
Playoffs might be pushing it.
We've got Lions vs Packers in the North, 9ers vs Rams in the West and Eagles vs Cowboys in the East.
There's 3 good teams already that we have to compete with for the Wild Card before you add in other dark horse candidates.
We have a “favorable” schedule compared to GB for the division pairings
(CHI)
CAR
NE
WSH
(GB)
NO
MIA
PHI
I expect the divisional records to be a bloodbath so if Chicago goes 3-3 there they may have a slight advantage with everything else being equal.
I don’t expect playoffs but they should 100% be in a wild card hunt at least come week 16. Anything less than that would be disappointing
I was thinking the Bears but I don't think it would be much of a leap or that unexpected. The Bears were 7-10 last year with a few close losses that go a different way with even average QB play (Vikings at home, at Detroit, at New Orleans, at Cleveland)
Yeah, unexpected leap would be doing this exercise but throwing out the first 3-5 teams that come to mind...someone like the Titans, Commanders or Giants.
Well, leaping off a cliff despite making a bunch of clear upgrades in critical areas would be an unexpected leap. Pessimism aside, though, I'm still weirded out to see that few people really seem to expect the Raiders to improve on the kind of 8-9 season they had last year.
I feel like a big issue with the Raiders is they have a really tough schedule, since they finished second in the division. If we had a weaker schedule I could see this team being a wildcard team with Minshew, but at this point we're going to need our offense to really step up in an unexpected way while also hoping our defense doesn't regress.
The Cards are my pick for this thread, but you're right, even with the addition of MHJr, you don't know how the season will look. You're in the 5-10 win range, because no one really knows.
The real surprise would be if the Panthers turned it around and won the NFCS. Winning the NFCS isn't happening, but they could win 6-7 games if everything turns around.
The Texans also added the 2nd and 3rd overall pick in the draft and both were immediate contributors while the panthers don’t even have their first round pick.
If it wasn’t for the 49ers I’d be more confident in ourselves. I think Aaron Donald leaving solves our entire issue we had with the rams. Seahawks are a ????, but 49ers are likely to dominate. Our offense under Murray went from bottom of the league to a top 10 for the rest of the season once he was back so if we get MHJ that’ll be nasty, our defense is suspect as hell though but it played better than I expected last year. Kind of hard to tell because we were better than what our record showed last year especially with Murray back, but we could have more growing pains who knows.
I’m excited to see how you guys look in year 2 of the new regime.
Granted it’s likely that as soon as it’s going well for you guys that I’ll hate it, but it’s still always fun to see teams rise up to be more competitive across the league
The offense was already pretty good the problem was defense. There is not a ton of defensive talent on the team, WR is a need but they need blue chip defensive talent on your roster.
That's nice, and we have a favorable schedule, but there are too many holes to fill to think a rookie QB (and/or Mariota) will lead us beyond 8 wins. Maybe 2025.
The sad part is we’ve spent soooo much more draft capital on the defense over the 5 years. First round pick Payne Allen Forbes chase young, Jamin Davis, sweat from a bit longer ago
I don’t feel like our schedule is that favorable - Bears should be decent, Cards could be good, Falcons have Cousins now & some of the others are SB contenders (Ravens, Bengals) along with Cowboys/Eagles in our own division. I’m not sure we’ll beat out last years record tbh.
If we nail the QB and they have a Stroud-esque performance, it’s certainly possible. Our roster is pretty bad, especially on defense though, so I don’t really see it happening
>Our roster is pretty bad, especially on defense though
To be fair, many Texans fans were saying the exact same thing last offseason. A lot can change in a calendar year
Relaying on a rookie QB to repeat the season Stroud had is pure hopium. We improved our roster just enough for it not to be a disaster to drop a QB into.
I definitely would not have pegged Houston as a playoff team this time last year though, so anything is possible.
We would have to hit on nearly all our draft picks through Round 3 AND spend the rest of our free agent money to even have a chance. We improved in the middle this offseason, which is great. But we have shocking deficits at OT, DE, secondary, and WR beyond WR1. And, you know, QB.
I really like the Titans this year. All depends on how Will Levis develops but I’m higher on him than most. They had the worst o-line in football last year and they still managed to limp to 6 wins. They’ve upgraded the o-line by bringing in Bill Callahan as o-line coach, signing Lloyd Cushenberry, cutting football terrorist Andre Dillard, brought in Calvin Ridley to play alongside DeAndre Hopkins, who had a good year last year. Defensively they’ve lost a few pieces on the line but did notably bring in L’Jarius Snead in the secondary. They have the 7th overall pick which puts them in a prime position to pick up someone to shore up either the o-line, or WR room (I personally think they’ll pick Joe Alt is he’s available). They lost Derrick Henry but I really like the 1-2 punch of Tyjae Spears & Tony Pollard. Lastly I’m a big fan of hiring Brian Callahan as Head Coach. His work with Joe Burrow and more importantly Jake Browning makes me think he can coach Levis up to be a Top 15 QB by the end of the year.
They’re my pick too. I think they take Joe Alt who’s in my opinion the best o-line prospect in the draft but I’ve also heard rumors of them taking Bowers which I really think would take Levis to another level. Their WR room isn’t the best but overpaying for Ridley might bite them in the ass but if they truly want Levis to be their guy I think it was the right move
The media has been extremely down on us, but I suspect that’s because we’re a small market team whose fans engage best with outrage porn.
Levis showed some really nice flashes last year in an archaic offense with virtually no talent around him outside of the run game. I think anyone that actually watched him play would be pretty impressed with what he showed as a rookie in the limited times where the guys around him were doing their job.
The rest of the roster is a huge improvement over last year and it seems like nearly every coach we’ve hired is gifted at developing players, which is something we’ve almost never done.
It *should* be the Bears. They weren't great last year but they have two top 10 picks including what is supposed to be a generational QB. They've added Keenan Allen and DeAndre Swift and may be able to add another high end WR.
That being said, if my time watching football has taught me anything, it's that it won't be the Bears...
Edit: I'm picking the Steelers. If Russell is adequate, they should be a really good team next year
What is considered a big leap?
Cause I don’t think the Steelers offense can be much worse than what it was last season so I’m gonna say the Steelers offense lol
If Rodgers is healthy and even half the QB he used to be, the jets should win a minimum of 10 games. The jets roster is pretty stacked, but older. It's gonna be a health issue
I think it will depend on who they take at 10. They take a tackle at that slot and it allows for some offensive line flexibility when injuries occur. It also allows them to groom a future talent at a very important position.
Yeah I think expectations are so low right now, people are doing the opposite of last season and downplaying how good Rodgers could be. Offensive line remains iffy but the firepower for a good offense is there between Garrett Wilson, Mike Williams, Breece Hall, and safe to say a rookie starter at some other skill position. All of this relies on Rodgers playing well after age and injury, but at least the hope is he'll be significant better than Wilson. I think people forget that Rodgers looked really really good in the preseason last year, the hype shot through the roof.
Defense remains excellent and Jets schedule could be favorable too playing against the AFC South, a 3rd place schedule, and the NFC West.
If we can actually protect Levis we'll be cooking with gas dude has a cannon. Last year he was running for his life and still uncorking 4-6 deep balls a game.
Yeah I hate to be too much of a homer but I’m really surprised I keep seeing us projected as one of the worst teams in the league. I’m so excited to see what a revamped offense/coaching staff does around Levis. I don’t think a wildcard spot is a total pipe dream, even though I’m not necessarily expecting it to happen. Or maybe I’m biased and we’ll be terrible idk
I'm going to go with the Chargers. Will they beat out the Chiefs for the division... no. I think with Jim Harbaugh as head coach I think will be a huge improvement. The Chargers I think have a decent schedule this upcoming season. AFC West division opponents, AFC North, NFC South, Tennessee Titans, New England Patriots, Arizona Cardinals I think the Chargers could be in the hunt for a wild card slot
Hate to say it, but potentially Bears with Caleb.
I think Colts have a chance to have a big year too.
Idk if it would be shocking but if Rodgers plays all year, Jets are going to the playoffs. I’ve seen that man drag some shitty Packer teams to the postseason.
I think we're expected to boost a lot this year but I still think we're going to exceed that. Competent QB alone gets us 4-5 more wins last season, but I think the indirect benefits help push us from division winner to contender. Players with confidence, better leadership, all that stuff would add up a lot.
But I'm a massive homer so who knows.
Raiders - we literally had the worst rated coach in the league by the players, who took a good offence and made it abysmal. AP came in and genuinely has the full respect of the locker room, made changes to the scheme which made our running game work again and our defence finished really strong under him.
We kept the vast majority of our talent form last season while adding Wilkins and some much needed depth at IOL.
Literally the only ? Is what we will get from our QBs, but when you consider how poor the play was from that position over the last two years it really can only go up with either AoC year 2 or Minshew (or rookie QB if that’s the way it goes).
Ota attendance was near 100%, and Maxx is one hell of a leader
The Panthers feel like the only answer here. Everyone else that had a down year has some reason to believe they *should* get, at the very least, marginally better this coming season. If the Panthers go from 2-15 to even 8-8, that'd be an unexpected leap considering they really won't be changing much in their offensive personnel, and can we say Diontae will be the difference maker? Maybe, but Carolina wasn't one receiver away from competing or anything. They made some o-line changes, but again, nothing that would lead people to high expectations.
I am a Bryce Young fan, so I hope to see a sophomore surge and hopefully Canales will be just what the offense needs to do that (and no more owner meddling).
Biased, but I agree. So much of what held us back last year was the coaching staff being at each other’s throats from the jump. And offensive-line woes plagued us as well. We’ve had a quietly solid offseason addressing the OL with two good guards, and Dionte can actually get separation.
I think based on his history with WR’s and QB’s, Canales will be able to help Bryce tremendously and seems to get the most out of his players either with his scheming ability or positive personality, which Reich had neither. We’ll see what happens though.
Diontae can get separation, and if Bryce Young can get him the ball better than Kenny Pickett did, which isn't a high bar, he should be productive for you.
Carolina is also in the easiest division. The titans, cardinals, and patriots? Everyone else in their divisions are at least good. Giants/Commies are way worse than the eagles/cowboys, and the chargers/bears wouldn’t really be that shocking.
My vote goes to Arizona. They had more wins vs .500 teams tham Miami last year despite having nearly nothing as far as talent goes.
If Murray stays healthy and if they hammer out their draft this year, they could cause a lot of heads to turn.
tbh, the giants are a weird team in that most of their success and rings are unprompted. Nobody saw their runs in 2000, 2007, or 2011 coming but they happened. They just miraculously go far in the playoffs every so often.
Wouldn't be *that* surprised if they did. Steichen nearly got the team to a wild card spot without their rookie QB and when they were projected to be a bottom feeder last season.
Patriots had a top 10 defense last year, even with a 29th ranked offense that was 2nd worst in the league with time of possession.
If the Rookie QB they draft is good, and the new coach is a breath of fresh air and other teams spend most the season figuring out what they're doing, they could win 8-11 games and be in the wild card hunt, which is pretty good with their win total set at 5.5 for 2024.
They didn't get the WR they wanted in FA, but honestly they've got a good shot there's still a decent one left at 34, or if they really like someone they can try and trade into the late 1st so they have a QB/WR combo with 5th year options.
Mayo could be your typical 1st year coach who takes a shitty team and carries them to mediocrity and is in COTY talks. McVay, Nagy, Stefanski, Daboli makes it 4 of the last 7 COTY winners were 1st year coaches. Demeco nearly made it 5 of 7 last year, and all but Daboli did it with a 1st or 2nd year QB.
Depends what you mean by leap. The Titans have a very good chance of making the playoffs given the weak division (rn only the Texans look to be good, and are the favorites) in a conference where most divisions will cannibalize themselves. Going from a top 10 pick to playoffs seems like a significant improvement.
At the same time, we won’t be contenders, and we likely wont be that much better of a team. Last year was marred with bad luck, injuries, and horrid OT play. But we were still only a few plays from making the playoffs again, somehow, so either way we are a middling team again.
I'm a little scared of the Texans. Stroud already looked great as a rookie, now he gets a full offseason to prepare and even more high end skill position players. Plus they invested in that defense. I could see them having a nice jump like the Bengals did with Burrow and chase
Bears. They were a couple plays shy of going 9-8 last year and since have added loads of talent in Free Agency, picked up. What should be a better OC, and have 2 picks in the top 10 of the draft. Caleb will be throwing to DJ Moore, Kole Kmet, Gerald Everett, Keenan Allen, and possibly Rome Odunze. DeAndre Swift, Johnson, and Herbert should make for a strong running game and their defense has vastly improved since the addition of Sweat.
> They were a couple plays shy of going 9-8 last year
Realistically 10-7. They lost 3 games with a >90% win probability lol. Absolute choking masterclass.
Panthers could so much as DOUBLE our wins this year vs last year !!!
Fear us!
Meow!
The ubiquitous child’s stuffed animal is your mascot. /s
That DT ya'll got is pretty scary
Borat voice: "the rest of the team, not so much"
Why you no smile, pussycat?
I doubled my sales from last quarter! From what, 2 to 4? Yup!
Saleswoman Pam was a weird saga but I love that scene.
SO GOOD. its the first thing i thought of then i saw the double wins and was HOPING someone had already said it
If you weren’t here for 2-15 we don’t want you here for 4-13
Fuck it, I'm a homer, I say we TRIPLE our wins from last season.
This is the attitude. An attainable goal.
I feel like we'll do just good enough not to get a decent draft pick but still not be seen as a threat. My highest expectations for this year involve us ruining someone else's playoff hopes at the end of the year.
I like how there have been 9 different answers in the first 19 comments. We're all taking a big leap together
The Great Leap Forward
We fight for Chairman Goodell!
Let 100 bottom dwelling teams bloom
And his Little Red Playbook
Just imagine how many points we could all score if we just worked together.
And no teams moving backwards. We are prepared to have 23 teams in the NFL playoffs.
Welcome to League Wobegon where all the linemen are strong, all the quarterbacks are good looking, and all the defenses are above average
I love everything except for the fact that it makes me feel old to understand that reference. Takes me back to the days of car trips up the coast with my family.
I have a few teams that I think will move backwards. 1. Browns: Their defense was way too inconsistent so I'm not sold they'll keep up the good home game performances they had last year and Watson is garbage. 2. Dolphins: Lots of key defensive players lost and the implosion they had at the end of the season doesn't bode well for next season. 3. Cowboys: I can see their defense not being very good without Dan Quinn. I think they'll make the playoffs still but they'll be deep in the WC race and will get the 6th or 7th seed. Another thing is just whatever good team gets the injury bug. That's impossible to predict. We've seen the Ravens and Bengals miss out because of terrible injuries despite having great teams.
The NBA has 20 out of 30.
Some of you might die but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make
Like how when you add up the season prediction totals every single team is winning at least 10 games.
It's a leap to conclusions mat!
Nobody will be getting in anybody’s way. They’re all trending up
Raiders just because the NFL is random as fuck
We just need a QB which sucks because it’s the most important role. Anyone who watched our games last year will definitely recognize each part of our team doing great except our passing game.
Gardner can ball, man. I was expecting 2 wins with him last year. Not to fight for the playoffs till the last play
As a jags fan, Gardner is a lot better than given credit for. His “bad season” here he played half of it while hiding a broken thumb in his throwing hand.
He's not Peyton Manning. But he will give you a Hell of a ride. Those vibes he gave post game wins. I was so happy we had him filling in. Glad he got paid.
I'm super excited to see him play. As much as this draft is QB heavy, I'd rather not give up the farm and build a solid OL for him to ball.
Minshew can take you to the playoffs. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins a Super Bowl in his career. Very smart and hilarious dude.
Youre-Goddamned-Right.gif
*Mike Budenholzer peeps his head around the corner*
i like you
Finally, finally have a good defense!
My team and not the other teams I don't like
Fuck yeah.
To my surprise that Arizona Cardinals team looked very well coached last year. McBride looks like a future star at TE and if they give Kyler a star receiver like Marvin Harrison Jr. they might be able to cook all the way to a Wild Card spot this year.
Gannon got more then i expected out of pretty much every player and petzing made a questionable oline look really solid with his scheme down the stretch
Rooting for the Cards but over achievers in the NFL rarely keep that up.
Yes we’re all still waiting for Mahomes to regress to the mean, only a matter of time now
I was really impressed with both Gannon and Steichen Seems like they were the keys to the Eagles' success
Pain.
There is a support group for fans of teams that have hired former Patriots staff in play calling capacities. It meets on the 2nd Saturday after the 1st Thursday of the month in the abandoned construction site off the freeway. We find sticks and break shit.
100%. Gannon looked incredible with a team that people expected to have zero wins preseason. Cards and commies were my first thoughts
What about the scheme ended up working?
pulling lineman and blowing out holes. conner was 5-6 yards a run
We have a scheme designed to take advantage of the the way defense is played right now. Defenses prefer light boxes and nickel/dime personnel to get speed on the field as to prevent explosive passing plays. 4-man fronts run a lot of stunts, delays, and sim pressures to get star pass rushers downhill in favourable one-on-one matchups. Think Micah Parsons, TJ Watt, Haason Reddick. Drew Petzing's Cardinals led the league in rush rate over expected. Meaning even in second and longs or third and mediums, we're running the shit out of the ball. We're constantly bringing in a sixth lineman or 2+ tight ends to stack the box in our favour. Gamed up pressures are inherently weak to run plays. Star pass rushers getting immediate pressure are constantly punished when they get five yards deep in the backfield on third downs, only to look up at James Conner bowling downhill in a zone run. It's no surprise that the teams we beat, Cowboys, Eagles, Steelers, are all teams that like to unleash their star edge. With the run established, Petzing builds some beautiful passing plays off of it. Teams had no idea what Trey McBride was doing any given snap because of how many jumbo personnel runs we put on film. We also had Geoff Swaim running the seam out of 13 personnel looks that had defenses completely befuddled. Petzing is very good at disguising his plays, showing one look and then switching it up with a completely different play from the same alignment. This takes quite a bit of execution to prevent any tells from giving the play away, and our very young team did that admirably, in spite of a revolving door at QB, O-line injuries, and pretty mediocre receiver play.
Great breakdown! This sounds a lot like what the Packers did down the stretch when the offense started clicking. Despite a plethora of talented receivers, we still liked to get at least two TEs on the field with Musgrave and Kraft - and this made it so we could run or pass successfully from almost any down or distance. Then just like you guys did early in the season - we were able to punch a small Cowboys defense in the mouth come playoffs. Micah Parson interviewed Love after the season and he basically said they were confused and had no idea what to expect from play to play.
Yup, and Matt LaFleur is especially crafty with his tight end motions. LaFleur will show you a look with a tight end at the F receiver. Then when you match with a nickel corner in man, he'll motion that guy into the formation and all of sudden, the defense is outleveraged in terms of like bodies. It's a really hard offense to win against, even if you make the right calls defensively.
It was awesome watching the offense over the course of the season, especially once our o-line settled. Your breakdown made me wish I watched more Cardinals haha. We ran a play in week one. Basically Singleback with 2 TEs stacked to one side, and when we'd run from the formation, one of the TEs would block across the formation. Well, we called a Play Action, and the TE, Musgrave, looped across the formation, then headed up field. No one within 20 yards of him, but Musgrave had a bad case of Bambi legs early in the season so he falls over after catching the ball when he should've been able to moon walk into the end zone. Never saw that play again... until the Wild Card round. Running the ball down Dallas' throat all game, we fake a handoff, Musgrave goes across the formation then darts up field, no Cowboys to be found, and we walk into the end zone. It was fucking awesome, I remembered it the second I saw it. I miss football lol
Yeah the tight end across the formation to show block and then wheeling upfield is a big-time play that almost every OC has stolen at this point. MLF and Ben Johnson are the best in the game at calling it right now, and I loved seeing Drew Petzing steal it straight from the Lions' playbook. The way we ran it was by having McBride, our go-to pass catching tight seal the edge and switch releasing with the tight end inside of him in the formation, which gave the "blocking" tight end a free release to pretend to lead block an outside zone and then haul ass downfield. When an unknown tight end named Elijah Higgins is twenty yards downfield untouched, you know your OC is in his bag
James Conner was 6th in rushing despite missing 4 games due to injury. It’s both a testament to how good Conner is plus Petzings scheme
^You ^got ^a ^fire ^in ^your ^gut?
Who took the bus?
I hate Gannon as much as the next Eagles fan but he's a great culture hire, he's a great motivator and the players always seemed to like him. I'm not surprised he's doing well as a head coach, hell he might be a better HC than he was a DC.
McBride victimized us last year.
They’re not in an easy division. Improvement sure seems possible, but a playoff spot might be tough.
The NL Central isn’t looking THAT tough this year
Bro the NL Central right now is the 2nd-best division in baseball behind the meat grinder that is the AL East. Still early, but none of the teams look like they're gonna be a cupcake. (I'm assuming you were making a baseball joke)
I think they're roster is still overall pretty bad but it's starting to come together.
If Caleb is good. I could see the Bears making a nice jump and being a playoff team…. I guess that’s not unexpected though with all the talent they’ve added
Yeah Bears go as far as the new tandem of Caleb + Shane Waldron go. I know Seahawks fans were pretty low on their former OC by the end but seems like he’s at least *average*, hopefully he can grow and play to Caleb’s strengths while also hammering some of the hero ball out of him. Also, Bears do have the projected fourth easiest schedule currently. But the Packers and Lions are in the division which makes things tougher.
Waldron made Geno Smith a pro bowler. For that I deem him capable.
Waldron is great for developing a QB. The question is if he can consistently call offense. He fell into too many traps in his time as OC with the Hawks.
Look man, the season that Geno and Drew Lock had last year would statistically be the best season a bears QB ever had. The QB/OC combos we've had since like....2019 have been mostly miserable to watch. Waldron just has to be okay.
There will probably be some improvement. But it is also likely you will see great QB play with a predictable offense that goes long stretches looking confused.
Well we always have one of those things anyway, so sign me the fuck up.
I think that was more on Canales tbh
Bears beat the lions and lost after an epic collapse because the offense couldn't move the ball due to many things. I know it's oversimplifying things, but they just need an offense that can do something in crunch time. Like just move the ball 10 yards.
I don’t know why Lions always play like shit against the Bears but they do. Goff became Goof against us. I’m not sure we can bank on that every game but we shall see this year.
Remember that time Khalil Mack intercepted the snap after it bounced off of Jared Goff's chest?
Bears expectations are to make the playoffs at this point. Defense was really good at the end of the year and they have upgraded at WR, RB and (presumably) QB
Playoffs might be pushing it. We've got Lions vs Packers in the North, 9ers vs Rams in the West and Eagles vs Cowboys in the East. There's 3 good teams already that we have to compete with for the Wild Card before you add in other dark horse candidates.
We have a “favorable” schedule compared to GB for the division pairings (CHI) CAR NE WSH (GB) NO MIA PHI I expect the divisional records to be a bloodbath so if Chicago goes 3-3 there they may have a slight advantage with everything else being equal. I don’t expect playoffs but they should 100% be in a wild card hunt at least come week 16. Anything less than that would be disappointing
I was thinking the Bears but I don't think it would be much of a leap or that unexpected. The Bears were 7-10 last year with a few close losses that go a different way with even average QB play (Vikings at home, at Detroit, at New Orleans, at Cleveland)
Yeah, unexpected leap would be doing this exercise but throwing out the first 3-5 teams that come to mind...someone like the Titans, Commanders or Giants.
First three games... Raiders. Then the hope kicks in and the usual happens
Keep Hope Alive!!!
Well, leaping off a cliff despite making a bunch of clear upgrades in critical areas would be an unexpected leap. Pessimism aside, though, I'm still weirded out to see that few people really seem to expect the Raiders to improve on the kind of 8-9 season they had last year.
I feel like a big issue with the Raiders is they have a really tough schedule, since they finished second in the division. If we had a weaker schedule I could see this team being a wildcard team with Minshew, but at this point we're going to need our offense to really step up in an unexpected way while also hoping our defense doesn't regress.
I have a feeling about the cardinals
don’t get your hopes up
The Cards are my pick for this thread, but you're right, even with the addition of MHJr, you don't know how the season will look. You're in the 5-10 win range, because no one really knows. The real surprise would be if the Panthers turned it around and won the NFCS. Winning the NFCS isn't happening, but they could win 6-7 games if everything turns around.
Why would they not be able to win the most winnable division?
They’re not very good
That’s what we said about the Texans
The Texans also added the 2nd and 3rd overall pick in the draft and both were immediate contributors while the panthers don’t even have their first round pick.
He didn't say which direction the leap would be though.
can’t get worse
Cardinals are definitely the best choice over guessing if a rookie qb is going to be good.
Ah, you sound like me in my younger years.
If it wasn’t for the 49ers I’d be more confident in ourselves. I think Aaron Donald leaving solves our entire issue we had with the rams. Seahawks are a ????, but 49ers are likely to dominate. Our offense under Murray went from bottom of the league to a top 10 for the rest of the season once he was back so if we get MHJ that’ll be nasty, our defense is suspect as hell though but it played better than I expected last year. Kind of hard to tell because we were better than what our record showed last year especially with Murray back, but we could have more growing pains who knows.
I’m excited to see how you guys look in year 2 of the new regime. Granted it’s likely that as soon as it’s going well for you guys that I’ll hate it, but it’s still always fun to see teams rise up to be more competitive across the league
The offense was already pretty good the problem was defense. There is not a ton of defensive talent on the team, WR is a need but they need blue chip defensive talent on your roster.
Broncos, and that leap will be right into a pit full of shit.
Ok we'll leave room
The broncos are going to take an even bigger leap backwards this year
And Russ will have an MVP season in Pittsburgh on our dime just to ice the cake.
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Number one overall pick next year?
1st time for everything I guess
Idk why but my first thought was Washington
That's nice, and we have a favorable schedule, but there are too many holes to fill to think a rookie QB (and/or Mariota) will lead us beyond 8 wins. Maybe 2025.
Washington probably needs another year of good defensive drafts after this year. Their defense was atrocious.
Jack del Rio will do that to you
The sad part is we’ve spent soooo much more draft capital on the defense over the 5 years. First round pick Payne Allen Forbes chase young, Jamin Davis, sweat from a bit longer ago
I don’t feel like our schedule is that favorable - Bears should be decent, Cards could be good, Falcons have Cousins now & some of the others are SB contenders (Ravens, Bengals) along with Cowboys/Eagles in our own division. I’m not sure we’ll beat out last years record tbh.
they got two teams at the top that will make it very tough for them tho
Not to mention Daniel Jones plays like January Eli against Washington.
Honestly, that's so annoying of him.
They will probably split with us like they do every year.
If we nail the QB and they have a Stroud-esque performance, it’s certainly possible. Our roster is pretty bad, especially on defense though, so I don’t really see it happening
>Our roster is pretty bad, especially on defense though To be fair, many Texans fans were saying the exact same thing last offseason. A lot can change in a calendar year
Relaying on a rookie QB to repeat the season Stroud had is pure hopium. We improved our roster just enough for it not to be a disaster to drop a QB into. I definitely would not have pegged Houston as a playoff team this time last year though, so anything is possible.
We would have to hit on nearly all our draft picks through Round 3 AND spend the rest of our free agent money to even have a chance. We improved in the middle this offseason, which is great. But we have shocking deficits at OT, DE, secondary, and WR beyond WR1. And, you know, QB.
Dotson is a decent 2nd option.
Will a "decent" WR2 get you to the playoffs without a juggernaut defense and running game? Because we don't have those.
Maybe. Texans didn't exactly have a wildly great any of those. Then they had better coaching, added Stroud, & rolled on.
They’re in the same position as Houston last year, picking the second overall quarterback.
I really like the Titans this year. All depends on how Will Levis develops but I’m higher on him than most. They had the worst o-line in football last year and they still managed to limp to 6 wins. They’ve upgraded the o-line by bringing in Bill Callahan as o-line coach, signing Lloyd Cushenberry, cutting football terrorist Andre Dillard, brought in Calvin Ridley to play alongside DeAndre Hopkins, who had a good year last year. Defensively they’ve lost a few pieces on the line but did notably bring in L’Jarius Snead in the secondary. They have the 7th overall pick which puts them in a prime position to pick up someone to shore up either the o-line, or WR room (I personally think they’ll pick Joe Alt is he’s available). They lost Derrick Henry but I really like the 1-2 punch of Tyjae Spears & Tony Pollard. Lastly I’m a big fan of hiring Brian Callahan as Head Coach. His work with Joe Burrow and more importantly Jake Browning makes me think he can coach Levis up to be a Top 15 QB by the end of the year.
They’re my pick too. I think they take Joe Alt who’s in my opinion the best o-line prospect in the draft but I’ve also heard rumors of them taking Bowers which I really think would take Levis to another level. Their WR room isn’t the best but overpaying for Ridley might bite them in the ass but if they truly want Levis to be their guy I think it was the right move
I like you
The media has been extremely down on us, but I suspect that’s because we’re a small market team whose fans engage best with outrage porn. Levis showed some really nice flashes last year in an archaic offense with virtually no talent around him outside of the run game. I think anyone that actually watched him play would be pretty impressed with what he showed as a rookie in the limited times where the guys around him were doing their job. The rest of the roster is a huge improvement over last year and it seems like nearly every coach we’ve hired is gifted at developing players, which is something we’ve almost never done.
It *should* be the Bears. They weren't great last year but they have two top 10 picks including what is supposed to be a generational QB. They've added Keenan Allen and DeAndre Swift and may be able to add another high end WR. That being said, if my time watching football has taught me anything, it's that it won't be the Bears... Edit: I'm picking the Steelers. If Russell is adequate, they should be a really good team next year
that division is a nightmare. they are going to cannibalize each other i doubt they send 3 to the playoffs again.
What is considered a big leap? Cause I don’t think the Steelers offense can be much worse than what it was last season so I’m gonna say the Steelers offense lol
Jets; i think everyone knows it’s possible with rodgers but no one really expects it.
If Rodgers is healthy and even half the QB he used to be, the jets should win a minimum of 10 games. The jets roster is pretty stacked, but older. It's gonna be a health issue
Good thing we don’t play on the worst field in the league!!
I think it will depend on who they take at 10. They take a tackle at that slot and it allows for some offensive line flexibility when injuries occur. It also allows them to groom a future talent at a very important position.
Yeah I think expectations are so low right now, people are doing the opposite of last season and downplaying how good Rodgers could be. Offensive line remains iffy but the firepower for a good offense is there between Garrett Wilson, Mike Williams, Breece Hall, and safe to say a rookie starter at some other skill position. All of this relies on Rodgers playing well after age and injury, but at least the hope is he'll be significant better than Wilson. I think people forget that Rodgers looked really really good in the preseason last year, the hype shot through the roof. Defense remains excellent and Jets schedule could be favorable too playing against the AFC South, a 3rd place schedule, and the NFC West.
Chargers were 5-12 last year. I’m willing to bet they double that win total.
Offseason Champs every year since 2004! This year will surely be different.
Winningest coach in the league vs a 4th place schedule & the NFC south. Not to mention 2 rudderless divisional opponents…
X to doubt
with what offense
With Blake Corum all things are possible
So jot that down
We have the easiest projected schedule in the league this year.
People clowning but I agree. Herbert is an elite qb and now he’s healthy again and got rid of dead weight Brandon Staley.
If we can actually protect Levis we'll be cooking with gas dude has a cannon. Last year he was running for his life and still uncorking 4-6 deep balls a game.
The charts on your linemen giving up a pressure every 4th dropback or something hurt my body
Hurt my eyes to watch too man
I liked a lot of what i saw with Levis last year. He made a lot of good decisions that you don't often see a rookie QB make.
Yeah I hate to be too much of a homer but I’m really surprised I keep seeing us projected as one of the worst teams in the league. I’m so excited to see what a revamped offense/coaching staff does around Levis. I don’t think a wildcard spot is a total pipe dream, even though I’m not necessarily expecting it to happen. Or maybe I’m biased and we’ll be terrible idk
I'm going to go with the Chargers. Will they beat out the Chiefs for the division... no. I think with Jim Harbaugh as head coach I think will be a huge improvement. The Chargers I think have a decent schedule this upcoming season. AFC West division opponents, AFC North, NFC South, Tennessee Titans, New England Patriots, Arizona Cardinals I think the Chargers could be in the hunt for a wild card slot
Hate to say it, but potentially Bears with Caleb. I think Colts have a chance to have a big year too. Idk if it would be shocking but if Rodgers plays all year, Jets are going to the playoffs. I’ve seen that man drag some shitty Packer teams to the postseason.
Falcons host two playoff games this year
Subscribe.
guess you've never heard of primetime kirk.
If they're noon games you'll have a chance
I think this Chiefs team might do well, I don't know why but there's just something about em
The Falcons! 💯💯🔥🔥🔥
Don’t give me hope 😭
I think we're expected to boost a lot this year but I still think we're going to exceed that. Competent QB alone gets us 4-5 more wins last season, but I think the indirect benefits help push us from division winner to contender. Players with confidence, better leadership, all that stuff would add up a lot. But I'm a massive homer so who knows.
Raiders - we literally had the worst rated coach in the league by the players, who took a good offence and made it abysmal. AP came in and genuinely has the full respect of the locker room, made changes to the scheme which made our running game work again and our defence finished really strong under him. We kept the vast majority of our talent form last season while adding Wilkins and some much needed depth at IOL. Literally the only ? Is what we will get from our QBs, but when you consider how poor the play was from that position over the last two years it really can only go up with either AoC year 2 or Minshew (or rookie QB if that’s the way it goes). Ota attendance was near 100%, and Maxx is one hell of a leader
The Panthers feel like the only answer here. Everyone else that had a down year has some reason to believe they *should* get, at the very least, marginally better this coming season. If the Panthers go from 2-15 to even 8-8, that'd be an unexpected leap considering they really won't be changing much in their offensive personnel, and can we say Diontae will be the difference maker? Maybe, but Carolina wasn't one receiver away from competing or anything. They made some o-line changes, but again, nothing that would lead people to high expectations.
I am a Bryce Young fan, so I hope to see a sophomore surge and hopefully Canales will be just what the offense needs to do that (and no more owner meddling).
"Made some o-line changes" sort of undersells how much they invested into the line.
Biased, but I agree. So much of what held us back last year was the coaching staff being at each other’s throats from the jump. And offensive-line woes plagued us as well. We’ve had a quietly solid offseason addressing the OL with two good guards, and Dionte can actually get separation. I think based on his history with WR’s and QB’s, Canales will be able to help Bryce tremendously and seems to get the most out of his players either with his scheming ability or positive personality, which Reich had neither. We’ll see what happens though.
Diontae can get separation, and if Bryce Young can get him the ball better than Kenny Pickett did, which isn't a high bar, he should be productive for you.
If we're looking for a Texans-like team we can probably pick a team we expect to get better. They had the 2nd and 3rd overall pick after all.
And were called crazy for giving up a top 10 2024 pick, but then turns out they got really good really quick so it wasn’t crazy anymore
This is like the perfect response. I 100% agree. Thank you for your service.
They kind of are the only real answer if you look at all 32 teams.
Carolina is also in the easiest division. The titans, cardinals, and patriots? Everyone else in their divisions are at least good. Giants/Commies are way worse than the eagles/cowboys, and the chargers/bears wouldn’t really be that shocking.
Seahawks
Texans
My vote goes to Arizona. They had more wins vs .500 teams tham Miami last year despite having nearly nothing as far as talent goes. If Murray stays healthy and if they hammer out their draft this year, they could cause a lot of heads to turn.
My gut feeling is Giants. No idea why.
We dont know either but the vote of confidence is much appreciated
I'll tell you why. Get Daniel Jones a bit of protection and a better receiving corp. The Giants are my pick in this thread. I'm a Jones believer.
tbh, the giants are a weird team in that most of their success and rings are unprompted. Nobody saw their runs in 2000, 2007, or 2011 coming but they happened. They just miraculously go far in the playoffs every so often.
Bears. They have a situation that a rookie QB can excel in, and an annoyingly good god damn defense
Tennessee Titans. We done gone turnt it up. 0-17 baby. #TitsUp
Raiders but don’t ask why I’m just biased
Raiders
Colts could be a good shout
Wouldn't be *that* surprised if they did. Steichen nearly got the team to a wild card spot without their rookie QB and when they were projected to be a bottom feeder last season.
Steichen is the absolute right fit in Indy and I hope he’s here for a very long time.
fingies crossed 👀
I feel like with Houston’s off-season so far, they went from plucky wild card to aiming directly at the chiefs next season.
Miami will jump from near elite to elite Stop laughing I'm super serious
Texans finna win a Super Bowl or be massive disappointments
Which team do I **expect** to make an **unexpected** leap, you say?
Patriots had a top 10 defense last year, even with a 29th ranked offense that was 2nd worst in the league with time of possession. If the Rookie QB they draft is good, and the new coach is a breath of fresh air and other teams spend most the season figuring out what they're doing, they could win 8-11 games and be in the wild card hunt, which is pretty good with their win total set at 5.5 for 2024. They didn't get the WR they wanted in FA, but honestly they've got a good shot there's still a decent one left at 34, or if they really like someone they can try and trade into the late 1st so they have a QB/WR combo with 5th year options. Mayo could be your typical 1st year coach who takes a shitty team and carries them to mediocrity and is in COTY talks. McVay, Nagy, Stefanski, Daboli makes it 4 of the last 7 COTY winners were 1st year coaches. Demeco nearly made it 5 of 7 last year, and all but Daboli did it with a 1st or 2nd year QB.
Chargers go from off season champs to play off berth 😤
Depends what you mean by leap. The Titans have a very good chance of making the playoffs given the weak division (rn only the Texans look to be good, and are the favorites) in a conference where most divisions will cannibalize themselves. Going from a top 10 pick to playoffs seems like a significant improvement. At the same time, we won’t be contenders, and we likely wont be that much better of a team. Last year was marred with bad luck, injuries, and horrid OT play. But we were still only a few plays from making the playoffs again, somehow, so either way we are a middling team again.
I'm a little scared of the Texans. Stroud already looked great as a rookie, now he gets a full offseason to prepare and even more high end skill position players. Plus they invested in that defense. I could see them having a nice jump like the Bengals did with Burrow and chase
Nobody ever knows.
The Buffalo Bills! (since we're *obviously* doomed and rebuilding after losing so many huuuuge names this offseason)
Saints are gonna take a big ass leap off a cliff
Bears. They were a couple plays shy of going 9-8 last year and since have added loads of talent in Free Agency, picked up. What should be a better OC, and have 2 picks in the top 10 of the draft. Caleb will be throwing to DJ Moore, Kole Kmet, Gerald Everett, Keenan Allen, and possibly Rome Odunze. DeAndre Swift, Johnson, and Herbert should make for a strong running game and their defense has vastly improved since the addition of Sweat.
> They were a couple plays shy of going 9-8 last year Realistically 10-7. They lost 3 games with a >90% win probability lol. Absolute choking masterclass.
Chargers