2011 VS 2020

[*SHRacerX*]

(04-26-2020, 10:26 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I think that it's a season too early for this comparison.  In order for it to be a truly fair comparison, this year's team will have had to have played it's season.  You're judging the 2011 team off of their accomplished record, not the potential that they held.

Great point, Sunset...and both teams are coming off horrible years, so the strength of schedule was really weak in 2011.  We don't know what the schedules will look like this year, but we know the Ravens and Browns aren't doormats.

I voted 2020 on the strength of the QB, largely.  Just like how the offense came alive when Blake got in the game after the first two stringers got injured and the offense soared.  I think a mobile QB with the vision of Burrow is that vital.  It is kind of funny how they were panning Jacob Eason for being a "dinosaur" in the pocket with next to no mobility and how that doesn't play in today's NFL.  It seemed like just a few years ago, they would have been raving about his size and arm strength and ability to "stand tall in the pocket", and now he is a dinosaur.

Dalton has decent mobility but his tendencies made him easier to defend.  He almost always bailed to the right.  Burrow slides around and can throw from all sorts of different places and is ridiculously accurate, even on the run.

Adam Shein, when he makes his selections before a week of games, would always say:  "I'm going with the better coach, the better QB, and the better defense".  Zac Taylor and his staff are still largely an unproven, and this year the attention will be focused on them.  He won't be given 16 years to get it right, like Marv.  He has the team now to be very successful.  He has to make it work.  With Burrow, I think the team has a real shot.