AFCN - who do you fear the most in 2024?

[*pally*]

Ravens are the defending ACN champs until proven otherwise they are the ones to knock off

[SunsetBengal]

It seems like the popular choice being Ravens or no one. I get that the Ravens are the defending divisional champs, did they do enough in the offseason to offset their personnel losses? Those boldly claiming that they fear no one in our division, considering we only beat the 3rd string Browns in our division last year, is a bit shortsighted. As for me, I view the Steelers as having done the most to make themselves better this season. They added to what was already a fantastic defense, and with their rapidly developing OL, I feel like Russell Wilson will be a good fit for them.

[Whacked]

(06-24-2024, 09:08 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It seems like the popular choice being Ravens or no one. I get that the Ravens are the defending divisional champs, did they do enough in the offseason to offset their personnel losses? Those boldly claiming that they fear no one in our division, considering we only beat the 3rd string Browns in our division last year, is a bit shortsighted. As for me, I view the Steelers as having done the most to make themselves better this season. They added to what was already a fantastic defense, and with their rapidly developing OL, I feel like Russell Wilson will be a good fit for them.

Good point.

The Squeelers made it to the playoffs with Picket. Wilson > Pickett and will be looking to redeem himself from the Broncos debacle.

I think the Clowns and Squeelers are a “decent” QB away from being VERY good.
The RatTurds are already good and if Henry has anything left, good grief.

Losing Reader stinks facing Chubb and Henry this year. We shall see if our D-Line can bring it. Sam was special though. Seemed to time out his time to shine too!

IMHO, the AFCN will be the most competitive talent-wise it’s been in a long time, maybe ever.

I honestly feel any AFCN team can win it this year. It is so jam-packed with talent this year.

Should be one heck of a fun season to watch.

[XenoMorph]

Turf monster

[XenoMorph]

(06-24-2024, 09:20 AM)Whacked Wrote: Good point.

The Squeelers made it to the playoffs with Picket. Wilson > Pickett and will be looking to redeem himself from the Broncos debacle.  

I think the Clowns and Squeelers are a “decent” QB away from being VERY good.
The RatTurds are already good and if Henry has anything left, good grief.

Losing Reader stinks facing Chubb and Henry this year. We shall see if our D-Line can bring it. Sam was special though. Seemed to time out his time to shine too!

IMHO, the AFCN will be the most competitive talent-wise it’s been in a long time, maybe ever.

I honestly feel any AFCN team can win it this year. It is so jam-packed with talent this year.

Should be one heck of a fun season to watch.

Wilson has been greater than Picket but is Wilson Still Greater than Picket....  will be an interesting year if he returns to form

[KillerGoose]

(06-24-2024, 09:39 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: Wilson has been greater than Picket but is Wilson Still Greater than Picket....  will be an interesting year if he returns to form

Without question he is. Pickett was terrible. He started 12 games and threw 6 TDs, for reference. Here is another point of reference - in 2022, Russell Wilson's poor season, he only threw 16 TDs. That is still more TDs than Pickett has thrown for in his entire career. 

The Steelers aren't getting Seattle Russ, but they are getting a QB that is multiple levels better than Pickett was. 

[grampahol]

The dreaded Zebras.. 

[XenoMorph]

(06-24-2024, 09:42 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: Without question he is. Pickett was terrible. He started 12 games and threw 6 TDs, for reference. Here is another point of reference - in 2022, Russell Wilson's poor season, he only threw 16 TDs. That is still more TDs than Pickett has thrown for in his entire career. 

The Steelers aren't getting Seattle Russ, but they are getting a QB that is multiple levels better than Pickett was. 

i am expecting some Wildcat formations for fields

[grampahol]

Definitely the toughest division in the league by a pretty good margin. Winning the whole thing has been illusive the past several years for the division though. Used to be all ratbirds and squeelers, but now the entire division is the division every other division in the league has to go through..New era of hard knocks,  eh? 

[grampahol]

I guess it's possible for the entire AFCN to win at least 10 games..maybe more, but let's just say 10 minimum each.  That's 40 games right off the top for the rest of the league to get through. It'll suck if we all win 12 and nobody gets a bye through the playoffs.   

[Joelist]

(06-24-2024, 09:42 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: Without question he is. Pickett was terrible. He started 12 games and threw 6 TDs, for reference. Here is another point of reference - in 2022, Russell Wilson's poor season, he only threw 16 TDs. That is still more TDs than Pickett has thrown for in his entire career. 

The Steelers aren't getting Seattle Russ, but they are getting a QB that is multiple levels better than Pickett was. 

Yeah, the Steelers with a competent QB are a lot more of a challenge. 

[Joelist]

(06-24-2024, 09:08 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It seems like the popular choice being Ravens or no one. I get that the Ravens are the defending divisional champs, did they do enough in the offseason to offset their personnel losses? Those boldly claiming that they fear no one in our division, considering we only beat the 3rd string Browns in our division last year, is a bit shortsighted. As for me, I view the Steelers as having done the most to make themselves better this season. They added to what was already a fantastic defense, and with their rapidly developing OL, I feel like Russell Wilson will be a good fit for them.

I really don't know if they offset all those losses. 3 starting offensive linemen, Queen, Stone, Clowney and I think I am missing 1-2 more all left. Not to mention the churn in coaching. 

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

Until we starting beating the Browns consistently they are the team that seems to give us the most trouble.

Myles Garrett and Nick Chubb are just beasts. Maybe the Chubb injury will weaken him I don't know.

[Soonerpeace]

The Ravens are who I fear. Derrick Henry is still plenty good.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(06-24-2024, 09:49 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The Ravens are who I fear. Derrick Henry is still plenty good.

They lost a lot of good players, 3 starting O-lineman, their Defensive Coordinator McDonald etc.

Derrick Henry was King back in the day, but he could easily fall off at any time with how many carries he has had over his career and being a
RB where it is probably the shortest lived position in football. If the O-line of the Ravens isn't very good, Henry doesn't scare me, I know we 
had DJ Reader when we pretty much shut him down before but I think Lou knows what to do.

Our Defense will be much better stopping the run this year I am pretty sure. For some reason the Browns are the team that runs all over us
with Nick Chubb who I think is a better RB than Henry.

[BoomerFan]

I believe we can beat the Ravens if we are healthy. I have less confidence in us beating the Steelers no matter what, but especially if they have TJ Watt Healthy.

[Lucius Cincinnatus]

(06-25-2024, 05:22 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: They lost a lot of good players, 3 starting O-lineman, their Defensive Coordinator McDonald etc.

Derrick Henry was King back in the day, but he could easily fall off at any time with how many carries he has had over his career and being a
RB where it is probably the shortest lived position in football. If the O-line of the Ravens isn't very good, Henry doesn't scare me, I know we 
had DJ Reader when we pretty much shut him down before but I think Lou knows what to do.

Our Defense will be much better stopping the run this year I am pretty sure. For some reason the Browns are the team that runs all over us
with Nick Chubb who I think is a better RB than Henry.

The Titans had a horrendous offensive line last year, which will be worse than whatever the Ravens trot out there, and Henry ran for 122 (5.5 ypc) and 1 TD against us...with Reader last year....

Why are you sure we will be better at stopping the run after losing the best run-stuffing DT in the league? That seems like blind optimism. 

All I know is, it seems like every offseason, folks are talking about the players the Ravens lost (Last offseason, it was Ben Powers, Justin Houston, JPP, Calais Campbell, Marcus Peters, Chuck Clark, etc.) and it doesn't really seem to matter. 

That said, I think you can make a decent argument for any team. The Steelers defense has a chance to be elite. The Browns won 11 games with mediocre QB play..It will be interesting to see how it shakes out. 

[*ochocincos*]

Record vs each team since Burrow arrived in 2020:
VS Browns - 2-6
VS Ravens - 4-5 (inc. playoffs)
VS Steelers - 4-4

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(06-26-2024, 10:42 AM)Lucius Cincinnatus Wrote: The Titans had a horrendous offensive line last year, which will be worse than whatever the Ravens trot out there, and Henry ran for 122 (5.5 ypc) and 1 TD against us...with Reader last year....

Why are you sure we will be better at stopping the run after losing the best run-stuffing DT in the league? That seems like blind optimism. 

All I know is, it seems like every offseason, folks are talking about the players the Ravens lost (Last offseason, it was Ben Powers, Justin Houston, JPP, Calais Campbell, Marcus Peters, Chuck Clark, etc.) and it doesn't really seem to matter. 

That said, I think you can make a decent argument for any team. The Steelers defense has a chance to be elite. The Browns won 11 games with mediocre QB play..It will be interesting to see how it shakes out. 

Our Defense was one of the worst run stopping Defenses in the league with Reader last year. One player does not make a team good at
stopping the run, fact. The reason we were bad at stopping the run was Hubbard being injured, Trey always being bad at stopping the run,
Logan Wilson being injured, Pratt taking terrible angles, bad communication on the backend and poor tackling.

Stopping the run is a team effort and if we are not better than last year we will be the worst run stopping Defense in the league.

If you want to bet Lou Anarumo won't get this Defense together and playing better than last year I think that is a poor bet.

[SunsetBengal]

(06-25-2024, 05:22 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: They lost a lot of good players, 3 starting O-lineman, their Defensive Coordinator McDonald etc.

Derrick Henry was King back in the day, but he could easily fall off at any time with how many carries he has had over his career and being a
RB where it is probably the shortest lived position in football. If the O-line of the Ravens isn't very good, Henry doesn't scare me, I know we 
had DJ Reader when we pretty much shut him down before but I think Lou knows what to do.

Our Defense will be much better stopping the run this year I am pretty sure. For some reason the Browns are the team that runs all over us
with Nick Chubb who I think is a better RB than Henry.

The Ravens are one of the best teams in the league when it comes to drafting and developing OL and front 7 defenders. That focus on the fundamentals of the game by identifying good blockers and tacklers, and coach them up for a couple years before putting them in a starting role.