07-24-2017, 04:02 PM
(07-24-2017, 03:43 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: I think that the defense was way better in the second half mostly because Burfict was back at 100%. If you look at the defense it's ridiculous how much it improves when Burfict is on the field, and in shape. He should be there all year, and we got a few new pieces that will help us out even more. We ended 8th in points allowed last season, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if we ended in the top 5 in points allowed as long as we stay healthy. Hell, we should have been 1st in points allowed in 2015.
Burfict being in great shape this year should give even the negative nancys optimism.
You are completely correct about his impact, when Burfict is on Defense we are one of the best Defenses in the NFL.
Adding Billings, Minter, WJ3, Willis, Lawson to the fold is crazy to me. This Defense could carry the Offense if the O-line is bad even.
(07-24-2017, 03:49 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: I know a lot of people are down on us because of our OL, but I really think we will have a good year this year. We have a ton of weapons, so it won't hurt as bad if people like Eifert gets hurt (again). 2014 and 2016 we had poor offensive performances because we had no weapons on the field. We were one of the best offenses in the league in 2013 and especially in 2015 when we were healthy. I expect to see us being a high powered offense again this year even with the OL issues. Dalton is good at reading defenses and calling protections. A lot of the time last year when Dalton was sacked it was due to receivers not being able to get separation. With the addition of Ross and a healthy Eifert and Green I don't think our receivers will have trouble getting separation. Boyd and Core have another year under their belt and will most likely improve. LaFell and Dalton seemed to be in sync at the end of last year too, and I expect that to carry over this year. Mixon will finally give us a run game, and he's also good at catching the ball.
The WR's getting seperation is huge and that is a great point. We saw how when Core came in late last year how the passing
game seemed to open up. This is not a coincidence. Ross should scare Defenses when he is out there. His presence alone should
help us big time.
If the O-line isn't good we can use slants, screens and even short post routes to help out Dalton.
Dalton is one of the best at getting the ball out fast.
That is the thing, it will probably take the O-line a bit to gain chemistry, we need to take this into consideration early on in the
season and use certain routes to bail out our QB. But from everything we have heard so far is that Og and Fisher have really
improved. We will see but as of right now things are looking pretty sweet for us going into the season.
