Your expectations

[CJD]

(01-13-2023, 11:43 AM)Speedy Thomas Wrote: Dawg, I agree with everything you say except that this season will have been a waste if we lose on Sunday.

This season has been amazing.  Franchise record-tying 12 (twelve) wins, and but for Damar's collapse would have been 13.  AFC North championship after starting 0-2 and losing our first 3 division games.  Burrow sets NFL completion percentage record.  Yet another takedown of the Canton Chiefs.

Don't get me wrong, I would be deflated like a Brady football if we lost to Baltimore.  But after so many years of suffering, it is so much fun to go down to the stadium or turn on the TV and watch this team.  Shit can happen in the game of football and it might happen Sunday.  But this season has been a blast.  And I think there is a lot more to come.

You're right. I shouldn't have said the whole season would have been a waste, but it would have been a truly wasted opportunity. This team currently has Burrow, Higgins, Chase, Wilson, Pratt, CTB, Williams and Volson on rookie deals along with Awuzie, Hilton, Apple, Bell, Hurst and Perine on super reasonable veteran contracts. We also have Bates on the team for, most likely, the last time.

If this season doesn't result in a deep playoff run, it'll feel like a lost chance at winning a Super Bowl. This team is only going to get more expensive and I'm honestly worried how many really good players are going to leave just because we can't afford them anymore.

We could obviously replace them with draft picks and I believe we will in many cases, but this team feels like lightning in a bottle and I want to see them live up to that potential. It would truly be a shame if we got tripped up simply because we were forced, through random chance, to play the same team twice in a row (a set up that is difficult to sweep regardless of the other team's talent level).

Let's go out there and destroy the Ravens on Sunday and then we can see how we measure up to the Bills when a tragedy doesn't occur on the field in the first quarter.