You know, I aint bummed. We got the rings last year and went on a run. This team with its offensive woes and issues, its good we didnt make it as it shows that changes need to be made.
Anyways, Im high on Carolina. The seem like they can chain together a few wins and just go on a run.....
Guess I'll make my 1st round predictions. I'm not going to guess scores this year. I suck at it anyway
AFC:
Chiefs Colts
--I think this will be a high scoring game coming down to whoever has the ball last.
Chargers Bengals
--I'm not even going to flirt with the "upset" pick here. I usually make a couple first round but, yeesh. Should be a no brainer. Of all the games this round, I see this as the biggest lopsided win for a team.
NFC:
Saints
Eagles
--I see Philly as the weakest NFC wild card team, but it will be a shoot out like the KC-Colts game.
49ers Packers
--the Niners are my 2nd favorite team behind my Lions, so I'll root for them in the playoffs. But I think Green Bay just got that last minute rush with Rodgers being back and will make it to at least the NFC Championship.
Guess I'll make my 1st round predictions. I'm not going to guess scores this year. I suck at it anyway
AFC:
Chiefs Colts
--I think this will be a high scoring game coming down to whoever has the ball last.
Chargers Bengals
--I'm not even going to flirt with the "upset" pick here. I usually make a couple first round but, yeesh. Should be a no brainer. Of all the games this round, I see this as the biggest lopsided win for a team.
NFC:
Saints
Eagles
--I see Philly as the weakest NFC wild card team, but it will be a shoot out like the KC-Colts game.
49ers Packers
--the Niners are my 2nd favorite team behind my Lions, so I'll root for them in the playoffs. But I think Green Bay just got that last minute rush with Rodgers being back and will make it to at least the NFC Championship.
----
I do not disagree with any of your picks at all. I can see the Eagles beating the Saints but that's it. I like my chances of my Pats against the Bengals over any of the the possible opponents because they are so much worse on the road than they are at home.
That depends on which Dalton shows up. Yesterday was very....odd. Usually its either really good Dalton or really bad Dalton. HOWEVER, yesterday both of 'em showed up. Very, very weird. I'll take it though, especially eliminating a division rival.
I like my chances of my Pats against the Bengals over any of the the possible opponents because they are so much worse on the road than they are at home.
So very, very true. My boys barely beat yours Week #4... in a low scoring affair... and that was at Cincy. I think we'll beat the Chargers again (we beat them at San Diego a month ago), but beating New England twice in a season... and this time away, in the playoffs? That's a tall order for my Bengals.
But first things first... I'll be happy if we finally get past the first round!!!
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1) Overload on right side during Succop's missed FG attempt.
2) Fumble returned for TD.
I don't even care about the win, because the Chiefs were already locked into the fifth seed, but losing due to bad officiating is the worst.
Yeah those made me sick. Trust me as a Patriots fan this season I know all too well how bad the officiating has been this year. Just waiting to find out who will get screwed over first in the playoffs due to a bad call.
Look, there's going to be bad calls in games sometimes. No person is perfect, and the referees are people just like you and me. I've seen bad calls against the Chargers, and I've seen bad calls for the Chargers. It happens, though it shouldn't.
I'm used to people underestimating my team, so the picks for Cincinnati aren't surprising. At the beginning of the season, people would laugh when I said the Chargers are going to make the playoffs. In the playoffs, anything can happen. Don't count out the Chargers.
On the other hand, NO is a shadow of itself on the road and SF has been getting thrown on lately (Ryan 350 yds, Palmer 400 yds)
Yards don't mean much. Points do.
I don't see any logic behind people thinking that GB will beat SF. SF has beaten GB 3 games straight, and their team is better now than it was in each of those meetings. GB, in contrast, is worse. If you watched yesterday's game(which GB only won because Chicago was really dumb with that forward pass fumble), Rodgers is clearly not at full health. Even the weather shouldn't matter. The style of football that SF likes to play is completely situated for cold weather games. GB is the team I like second best in the NFL, but I'll be extremely surprised if they win this weekend. Not that it really matters, because I don't think either team can go into Seattle and win. Maaaaaaybe Carolina can do that.
NE really can't beat Denver without Gronkowski. It is that simple. Manning is a complete choke artist when it comes to high profile games(especially in the post-season), but NE's offense is just not the same w/o Gronk.
Ultimately, a Seattle/Denver SB seems really inevitable at this point.
The Ravens didn't make the playoffs because they an absurd amount of their salary cap money to a QB that is slightly above average, and accordingly, could not afford to resign their actual best offensive player(Boldin) and just gave him away.
And officiating this year definitely felt like the worst that it has been in..as long as I can remember.
NE really can't beat Denver without Gronkowski. It is that simple. Manning is a complete choke artist when it comes to high profile games(especially in the post-season), but NE's offense is just not the same w/o Gronk.
I can see where anyone would form this opinion for sure. However as a Pats fan I just want a shot at it. I am praying for the weather in Denver to be positive (<32 degrees and some kind of cold precipitation). Manning's record vs. Brady's in a cold weather game is astronomically opposite no matter what each has had for a team around them.
The Patriots have won many games they should have no business winning with or without Gronk and I hope they haven't run out of miracles.
Who knows, they may not even have to worry about it if the Chargers win they go to Denver and have already beaten them in that building once this year.
The Ravens didn't make the playoffs because they an absurd amount of their salary cap money to a QB that is slightly above average, and accordingly, could not afford to resign their actual best offensive player(Boldin) and just gave him away.
Can I ask you to please stop with this falsehood.
Flacco actually has less of a cap hit this year than Boldin (flacco's cap hit this year was about 6.5ish million, and Boldins would of been 7.5) would of had. The money we freed up from Boldin went to signing Doom and Daryl Smith and other defensive guys, which was a big weakness for us last year.
We expected Pitta and Jacoby to mainly step up, but we all know how Pitta got hurt and how Jacoby did as well.
Implying that Flacco's contract made us unable to sign Boldin is as big of a lie as A-Rod saying he doesnt dope.
I wasn't necessarily talking about this year. Over the course of a normal contract, Baltimore clearly was not going to be able to pay Boldin what he is worth while giving Flacco all of the money that they did. You are also ignoring(likely on purpose) my core point, which is that Baltimore grossly overpaid Flacco. Lastly, if your offensive capability is reliant on Dennis Pitta, then..well good luck.
@Whitemage: NE is certainly capable of winning..Brady is just an amazing QB that makes things like that happen. But they're a pretty big dog now that Gronk is re-injured. Before he got injured, I thought they would easily represent the AFC in the SB.
Pitta is a security blanket for Flacco. If Flacco knows he needs yards, he know Pitta will be there and will catch his balls. Same thing with Gronk and Brady. Brady knows that Gronk will catch a ball he throws.
As was said when the contract broke, the 120 was a nice looking number. In all actuallity, he'll be given this year as his free pass year, but if he repeats this next year, he'll likely be let known that a restructure/pay cut will be in order. All he is given is 55 million, which (memory serves) will have to be paid back over 6 years.
Personally, I'll admit that im pro-flacco, but thats mainly because the guy doesnt come off as arrogant and seems like a nice enough guy.
It wasnt a good year for us, but not mainly due to Flacco. Yea, he threw too many INTS and had a bad year, but our line was atrotious and Ray Rice did his best Trent Richardson performance this year.
And its good that we didnt make the playoffs as it shows "Hey, you notice the big change we did to the line, yea.... it kinda didnt work out." and hopefully that means that we get back to Ravens football.
If there's one thing that's always consistent about fan analysis, it's that the defense has 0 effect on the game, apparently.
Our defense wasnt bad per se, coming in 11th/12th in a lot of catagories. What we sucked however was a run game where Flacco was our leading rusher for most of it and an O-line that really really sucked.....
Our defense wasnt bad per se, coming in 11th/12th in a lot of catagories. What we sucked however was a run game where Flacco was our leading rusher for most of it and an O-line that really really sucked.....
Ah, it wasn't directed at anyone, or any particular statement, just in general, reading analysis from fans is always entertaining because they almost always a.)reek of recency bias b.)contain multiple ESPNisms and c.)Contain very little statistically accurate information.
Ah, it wasn't directed at anyone, or any particular statement, just in general, reading analysis from fans is always entertaining because they almost always a.)reek of recency bias b.)contain multiple ESPNisms and c.)Contain very little statistically accurate information.
Ah, okay.
Im actually a big believer in defensive football, but considering my team allegiance, its kinda easy to see why. Hell, Im rooting for the Panthers and Chargers in the post season because of 2 defensive players (Luke Keuchely[sp?] and Jarret Johnson [Former Ravens player who called into the morning show I listened to every tuesday and gave a football report. Nice guy]
)
While offenses win games, defense wins championships and even in this offense heavy league, having a capable defense is a very big key to winning.
Sure, but its still not a trend I'd feel comfortable with going to play a QB of Aaron Rodgers caliber on the road where weather will likely be a factor. And GB is far more balanced (and efficient) offensively than ATL or AZ.
I picked SF to win in each of the two teams last 3 meetings, but im increasingly less confidant in that pick this time around
one of my favorite ESPN misnomers/ESPNisms, is a team's need for a "franchise QB" As if having a good QB will magically every other lacklustre part of your team better. As the smart teams have found out, the great, franchise QBs are few and far between, and it's generally far better to spend average money on an average QB, because overall, they're easier to find, and generally(unless you're Buffalo) cheaper to come by. Note the teams that all buy into the QB hype, are the ones failing the most. QBs are almost single-handedly ruining any semblance of logic amongst GMs.
I think another big key as well is having a good coach. Have a guy who can bond with the players so they can trust him, but also know that he demands a lot and that what he demands, they can do. This probably also extends to the front office as well.
Andy Reid was a good example of this.
The Browns organization is a bad example of this. Seriously, look at this calender year and you'll see why the organization wont be anything until sweeping changes are made. You dont fire a coach like that after one season because he couldnt turn a team around in that time. Results are not usually instant.
A fun way to simulate the NFL playoffs. Just pick any two teams and it sims. It will even give you a box-score of the "game". You can also do historical fantasy matchups between any two teams from the past. Go Here:
This actually makes a lot of sense, even for a newbie, like myself.
I mean, sure guys like Brady and Peyton can carry a team on their shoulders on route to a good season (although even they can't provide Championships on their own), but guys like these 2 don't come around very often. apart from them, no QB can be a team's only offensive weapon. A good team, a championship team, has to have a lot of stuff going for them and the QB is just a (small) part of that. A good QB helps, but I rather have a good O-line and Recieving staff than a good QB. What you need is a strong O-line and then some decent players to take advantage of that.
You can't convince me that Russel Wilson is better than Tom Brady... and yet, I feel Wilson will be lifting the SuperBowl (or close to it) on February 2nd, while Brady will probably have finished his season a few weeks back.
NE was incredibly likely to appear in the SB until Gronkowski got injured, IMO. A team just only has so much to work with. Brady elevates the capabilities of those around him, but you can only do so much when your best receiving option is Edelman.
I agree with the franchise QB term/concept that is being thrown around, though. Of all of the starting QBs in the league, I would say that 7ish are legitimate franchise QBs(a QB that you can pay a ton of money to because they are so good that they will improve the perceived talent level at other positions if you have less to spend on those positions).
And defense will take you far in the playoffs right now, but these days it becomes less important with each passing year(pun recognized).
but you can only do so much when your best receiving option is Edelman.
The same Edelman that filled Welker's role statistically to a T? The Welker role was not an issue at all with this team. In fact the trade off is viewed in New England as a success because you got younger by giving Edelman a larger role and adding an Amendola and not losing production in the slot. The problem is your two-headed TE attack of Hernandez and Gronkowski was cut in half by prison and finished off by injury. The other issue is we still have no reliable outside threat, unless Dobson can stay on the field because he has shown flashes of brilliance.
My point is people wouldn't be saying "When the best option he has is Welker" if Wes was here. They still think of Edelman/Amendola as somekind of downgrade and I/we as Pats fans don't. Great slot receivers is all we have though. I will grant that.
Dobson, Boyce and Thompkins added to Edelman and Amendola has the promise of a high quality, well-balanced receiving corps, but all three of them are injured.
Underrated storyline to watch: the Patriots have run all over their last two opponents. LeGarrette Blount is emerging, Ridley is still an amazing running back when he isn't putting the ball on the ground, and Shane Vereen is an elite offensive weapon. James Develin is emerging as a very high end fullback, and their OL can push some guys around, even as injured as they are.
I don't like the Patriots' odds against, say, Seattle, and I'm hoping we don't draw Cincinnati in the playoffs, but I think we've got a good chance of knocking Denver out if we play them.
The crazy thing about all the Franchise QBs? Most of them were accidents, or pure luck. The one exception being Peyton Manning.
Peyton Manning - Drafted 1st Overall by the Colts, signed as a FA by the Broncos, not much happenstance here, an easy pick, followed by a huge FA bidding war.
Tom Brady - Drafted 6th round, 199th overall, we all know the story, only by being stuck with an indecisive Drew Henson and Lloyd Carr did Tom Brady magically do practically nothing at Michigan, has gone on to be one of the more consistent QBs in NFL History
Drew Brees - Drafted 2nd round, pick 32 by the San Diego Chargers, in the same draft as Michael Vick, the pick that the Chargers had was an easy one after trading down to 5 and taking LaDanian Tomlinson, however after the Eli Manning fiasco, and netting Philip "Cry me some" Rivers at QB, he ended up nomadically signing with the New Orleans Saints, at that time known more for their 'Aints moniker than the rampant success he and Sean Payton have brought them
Aaron Rodgers drafted round 1, pick 24 practically gift wrapped for the Green Bay Packers, shows how much draft evaluations don't always stack up. Alex Smith got a severe short end of the stick in SF, going through a different OC in each of his years there, but what Rodgers has done since taking over the helm at the Frozen Tundra has been nothing short of sensational. Ultimately just a "Best player available" pick, as Rodgers was deemed one of the top QBs in that years class.
Andrew Luck is turning into what might be considered a Franchise QB, and by some he already is(I like to wait five years before prompting elite status analysis) and after these guys we have guys whom are doing well, but we have yet to see substantive things from, guys like Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, Matt Stafford, with a few consistent years, these guys could be considered great, but we're not quite sure yet.
End of the day, this race for franchise QBs is enchanting, and makes for good TV, but it also makes for bad analysis, and what has routinely turned in to over compensation. It's cliche, but there are 11 other guys on the field, and 52 other guys on the active roster, and if they're all terrible, it doesn't matter who your QB is.
I am greatly disappointed. Almost to the point of tears.
Yet, I am also somehow satisfied. A 2-14 to 11-5 turnaround. Then we lose in the playoffs after losing Charles, Flowers, Avery, Houston, Davis & Robinson against one of the best comeback QBs in the league today. My greatest expectations were exceeded and then some on the season as a whole.
4 Keys to winning next year.
1) Draft a receiver in the first round that can actually catch the ball.
2) Cut Sean Smith and replace him with someone who can play football.
3) Improve at RT or cross fingers that Eric Fisher pick pans out.
4) Improve at TE or cross fingers that Travis Kelce pans out.
540 Peasant cube- Gold EditionSomething SpicyYou know, I aint bummed. We got the rings last year and went on a run. This team with its offensive woes and issues, its good we didnt make it as it shows that changes need to be made.
Anyways, Im high on Carolina. The seem like they can chain together a few wins and just go on a run.....
540 Peasant cube- Gold EditionSomething SpicyAFC:
Chiefs
Colts
--I think this will be a high scoring game coming down to whoever has the ball last.
Chargers
Bengals
--I'm not even going to flirt with the "upset" pick here. I usually make a couple first round but, yeesh. Should be a no brainer. Of all the games this round, I see this as the biggest lopsided win for a team.
NFC:
Saints
Eagles
--I see Philly as the weakest NFC wild card team, but it will be a shoot out like the KC-Colts game.
49ers
Packers
--the Niners are my 2nd favorite team behind my Lions, so I'll root for them in the playoffs. But I think Green Bay just got that last minute rush with Rodgers being back and will make it to at least the NFC Championship.
----
I do not disagree with any of your picks at all. I can see the Eagles beating the Saints but that's it. I like my chances of my Pats against the Bengals over any of the the possible opponents because they are so much worse on the road than they are at home.
That depends on which Dalton shows up. Yesterday was very....odd. Usually its either really good Dalton or really bad Dalton. HOWEVER, yesterday both of 'em showed up. Very, very weird. I'll take it though, especially eliminating a division rival.
So very, very true. My boys barely beat yours Week #4... in a low scoring affair... and that was at Cincy. I think we'll beat the Chargers again (we beat them at San Diego a month ago), but beating New England twice in a season... and this time away, in the playoffs? That's a tall order for my Bengals.
But first things first... I'll be happy if we finally get past the first round!!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah those made me sick. Trust me as a Patriots fan this season I know all too well how bad the officiating has been this year. Just waiting to find out who will get screwed over first in the playoffs due to a bad call.
I'm used to people underestimating my team, so the picks for Cincinnati aren't surprising. At the beginning of the season, people would laugh when I said the Chargers are going to make the playoffs. In the playoffs, anything can happen. Don't count out the Chargers.
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Yards don't mean much. Points do.
I don't see any logic behind people thinking that GB will beat SF. SF has beaten GB 3 games straight, and their team is better now than it was in each of those meetings. GB, in contrast, is worse. If you watched yesterday's game(which GB only won because Chicago was really dumb with that forward pass fumble), Rodgers is clearly not at full health. Even the weather shouldn't matter. The style of football that SF likes to play is completely situated for cold weather games. GB is the team I like second best in the NFL, but I'll be extremely surprised if they win this weekend. Not that it really matters, because I don't think either team can go into Seattle and win. Maaaaaaybe Carolina can do that.
NE really can't beat Denver without Gronkowski. It is that simple. Manning is a complete choke artist when it comes to high profile games(especially in the post-season), but NE's offense is just not the same w/o Gronk.
Ultimately, a Seattle/Denver SB seems really inevitable at this point.
The Ravens didn't make the playoffs because they an absurd amount of their salary cap money to a QB that is slightly above average, and accordingly, could not afford to resign their actual best offensive player(Boldin) and just gave him away.
And officiating this year definitely felt like the worst that it has been in..as long as I can remember.
I can see where anyone would form this opinion for sure. However as a Pats fan I just want a shot at it. I am praying for the weather in Denver to be positive (<32 degrees and some kind of cold precipitation). Manning's record vs. Brady's in a cold weather game is astronomically opposite no matter what each has had for a team around them.
The Patriots have won many games they should have no business winning with or without Gronk and I hope they haven't run out of miracles.
Who knows, they may not even have to worry about it if the Chargers win they go to Denver and have already beaten them in that building once this year.
Can I ask you to please stop with this falsehood.
Flacco actually has less of a cap hit this year than Boldin (flacco's cap hit this year was about 6.5ish million, and Boldins would of been 7.5) would of had. The money we freed up from Boldin went to signing Doom and Daryl Smith and other defensive guys, which was a big weakness for us last year.
We expected Pitta and Jacoby to mainly step up, but we all know how Pitta got hurt and how Jacoby did as well.
Implying that Flacco's contract made us unable to sign Boldin is as big of a lie as A-Rod saying he doesnt dope.
540 Peasant cube- Gold EditionSomething Spicy@Whitemage: NE is certainly capable of winning..Brady is just an amazing QB that makes things like that happen. But they're a pretty big dog now that Gronk is re-injured. Before he got injured, I thought they would easily represent the AFC in the SB.
As was said when the contract broke, the 120 was a nice looking number. In all actuallity, he'll be given this year as his free pass year, but if he repeats this next year, he'll likely be let known that a restructure/pay cut will be in order. All he is given is 55 million, which (memory serves) will have to be paid back over 6 years.
Personally, I'll admit that im pro-flacco, but thats mainly because the guy doesnt come off as arrogant and seems like a nice enough guy.
It wasnt a good year for us, but not mainly due to Flacco. Yea, he threw too many INTS and had a bad year, but our line was atrotious and Ray Rice did his best Trent Richardson performance this year.
And its good that we didnt make the playoffs as it shows "Hey, you notice the big change we did to the line, yea.... it kinda didnt work out." and hopefully that means that we get back to Ravens football.
540 Peasant cube- Gold EditionSomething SpicyOur defense wasnt bad per se, coming in 11th/12th in a lot of catagories. What we sucked however was a run game where Flacco was our leading rusher for most of it and an O-line that really really sucked.....
540 Peasant cube- Gold EditionSomething SpicyAh, it wasn't directed at anyone, or any particular statement, just in general, reading analysis from fans is always entertaining because they almost always a.)reek of recency bias b.)contain multiple ESPNisms and c.)Contain very little statistically accurate information.
Ah, okay.
Im actually a big believer in defensive football, but considering my team allegiance, its kinda easy to see why. Hell, Im rooting for the Panthers and Chargers in the post season because of 2 defensive players (Luke Keuchely[sp?] and Jarret Johnson [Former Ravens player who called into the morning show I listened to every tuesday and gave a football report. Nice guy]
)
While offenses win games, defense wins championships and even in this offense heavy league, having a capable defense is a very big key to winning.
540 Peasant cube- Gold EditionSomething SpicySure, but its still not a trend I'd feel comfortable with going to play a QB of Aaron Rodgers caliber on the road where weather will likely be a factor. And GB is far more balanced (and efficient) offensively than ATL or AZ.
I picked SF to win in each of the two teams last 3 meetings, but im increasingly less confidant in that pick this time around
Andy Reid was a good example of this.
The Browns organization is a bad example of this. Seriously, look at this calender year and you'll see why the organization wont be anything until sweeping changes are made. You dont fire a coach like that after one season because he couldnt turn a team around in that time. Results are not usually instant.
540 Peasant cube- Gold EditionSomething Spicyhttp://www.whatifsports.com/nfl/
NE was incredibly likely to appear in the SB until Gronkowski got injured, IMO. A team just only has so much to work with. Brady elevates the capabilities of those around him, but you can only do so much when your best receiving option is Edelman.
I agree with the franchise QB term/concept that is being thrown around, though. Of all of the starting QBs in the league, I would say that 7ish are legitimate franchise QBs(a QB that you can pay a ton of money to because they are so good that they will improve the perceived talent level at other positions if you have less to spend on those positions).
And defense will take you far in the playoffs right now, but these days it becomes less important with each passing year(pun recognized).
The same Edelman that filled Welker's role statistically to a T? The Welker role was not an issue at all with this team. In fact the trade off is viewed in New England as a success because you got younger by giving Edelman a larger role and adding an Amendola and not losing production in the slot. The problem is your two-headed TE attack of Hernandez and Gronkowski was cut in half by prison and finished off by injury. The other issue is we still have no reliable outside threat, unless Dobson can stay on the field because he has shown flashes of brilliance.
My point is people wouldn't be saying "When the best option he has is Welker" if Wes was here. They still think of Edelman/Amendola as somekind of downgrade and I/we as Pats fans don't. Great slot receivers is all we have though. I will grant that.
Underrated storyline to watch: the Patriots have run all over their last two opponents. LeGarrette Blount is emerging, Ridley is still an amazing running back when he isn't putting the ball on the ground, and Shane Vereen is an elite offensive weapon. James Develin is emerging as a very high end fullback, and their OL can push some guys around, even as injured as they are.
I don't like the Patriots' odds against, say, Seattle, and I'm hoping we don't draw Cincinnati in the playoffs, but I think we've got a good chance of knocking Denver out if we play them.
Peyton Manning - Drafted 1st Overall by the Colts, signed as a FA by the Broncos, not much happenstance here, an easy pick, followed by a huge FA bidding war.
Tom Brady - Drafted 6th round, 199th overall, we all know the story, only by being stuck with an indecisive Drew Henson and Lloyd Carr did Tom Brady magically do practically nothing at Michigan, has gone on to be one of the more consistent QBs in NFL History
Drew Brees - Drafted 2nd round, pick 32 by the San Diego Chargers, in the same draft as Michael Vick, the pick that the Chargers had was an easy one after trading down to 5 and taking LaDanian Tomlinson, however after the Eli Manning fiasco, and netting Philip "Cry me some" Rivers at QB, he ended up nomadically signing with the New Orleans Saints, at that time known more for their 'Aints moniker than the rampant success he and Sean Payton have brought them
Aaron Rodgers drafted round 1, pick 24 practically gift wrapped for the Green Bay Packers, shows how much draft evaluations don't always stack up. Alex Smith got a severe short end of the stick in SF, going through a different OC in each of his years there, but what Rodgers has done since taking over the helm at the Frozen Tundra has been nothing short of sensational. Ultimately just a "Best player available" pick, as Rodgers was deemed one of the top QBs in that years class.
Andrew Luck is turning into what might be considered a Franchise QB, and by some he already is(I like to wait five years before prompting elite status analysis) and after these guys we have guys whom are doing well, but we have yet to see substantive things from, guys like Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, Matt Stafford, with a few consistent years, these guys could be considered great, but we're not quite sure yet.
End of the day, this race for franchise QBs is enchanting, and makes for good TV, but it also makes for bad analysis, and what has routinely turned in to over compensation. It's cliche, but there are 11 other guys on the field, and 52 other guys on the active roster, and if they're all terrible, it doesn't matter who your QB is.
Yet, I am also somehow satisfied. A 2-14 to 11-5 turnaround. Then we lose in the playoffs after losing Charles, Flowers, Avery, Houston, Davis & Robinson against one of the best comeback QBs in the league today. My greatest expectations were exceeded and then some on the season as a whole.
4 Keys to winning next year.
1) Draft a receiver in the first round that can actually catch the ball.
2) Cut Sean Smith and replace him with someone who can play football.
3) Improve at RT or cross fingers that Eric Fisher pick pans out.
4) Improve at TE or cross fingers that Travis Kelce pans out.
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