11-05-2015, 01:10 PM
(11-05-2015, 12:43 PM)djs7685 Wrote: Eh, I have no problem agreeing with someone that I typically don't if they make some good points.
I think Andy showed a ton of maturity last year whether his statline was great or not. He showed me progression in his skillset which is something I didn't feel that I saw enough of from 2011 to 2012, or from 2012 to 2013.
A lot of people bashed me saying that Andy "improved" every year because his stats went up, but it was more than the stats to me when I'd say that he didn't improve much. I felt like I saw the biggest improvement last year and it's just a shame that the injuries piled up so we didn't get to see the full potential. This year we're seeing it, and my goodness is his deep pass a thing of beauty more than ever before.
Playing the 2 south divisions absolutely helped and that's one of the biggest reasons I can't considered us making the playoffs a miracle. We went 6-1-1 against those 2 divisions and 4-4 outside of them. I think that's a great point to bring up, and not to bash the Bengals because they can only play who is on the schedule, but it seems as if we may not have kept the playoff streak alive had we played basically any other divisions.
Same way here. A good point is a good point. The problem is, some people don't concede a good point out of arrogance.
I will say that Andy did improve every year and to me he has grown about the normal rate one should expect from a young QB. The stats are used as a way to measure his growth. You use it in comparisons with other QBs, especially the great ones. When Andy had a down game and someone would say to bench him or cut him, you point out the down games of Drew Brees and Manning and just this Sunday's Aaron Rodgers. Now that doesn't mean that Andy will have the same career, but you can't deny that he has been just as successful in his career so far as those other guys to warrant keeping him as our starter. As Fred has said, "Winning QBs are hard to find"
The opponent is very important to consider when trying to evaluate your team, however you must be careful as each year always has a surprise team or 2. When I looked at the schedule before the season. I would have said that we beat Oakland and lost to SD. We won both, great. However, I looked at the victory over SD as more significant than the victory over Oakland. Now halfway through the season, I think the victory over Oakland is more significant due to the fact that they have a winning record AND we had never won in Oakland.
I do agree that we might not have made the playoffs last year had we played the NFC East or AFC West. Though we wouldn't really know as the game plans would have been different and we did beat the Broncos last year.
