5-12

[muskiesfan]

I'm going to stick with my previous guess of 6 wins or less. Make no mistake, I hope I am very wrong. A winning season or potential playoff hunt would be amazing. The preseason was encouraging and I think we are going to the right direction. I think we're going to have some tough losses, but that we're building.

On offense, Burrow is the biggest concern for me. He has all the talent in the world and the OLine looked good. I'm still concerned about the mental side of things for him. It takes a minute to move on from that and know you're going to be okay when taking a hit. I'm not saying he's going to have a poor season, but he could start slow. A healthy and productive Mixon would be great as well. It would be nice to see him more in the passing game as an outlet for Burrow. Mixon does well catching out of the backfield. I can't really say enough about Pollack. The OLine was my biggest concern, but they're all coming along well. I think Smith has a really bright future and will be a contributor sooner rather than later.

On defense, they look very much improved. We'll see if the play well in spite of Lou or because of him. I still don't like him and think he puts them in bad spots, but there is a lot of talent on that side of the ball as well. If they are able to consistently get pressure, that would be a huge plus. I wish we were able to have Ossai, but I like Hodge too. I think Hodge will be a nice rotational piece on the DLine. I'm hoping Waynes can get healthy and be a big contributor. I'd like to see more blitzing this season. I think that could be big with Hilton and Bell. As always, health is the big thing. If the defense stays healthy, they should be a top half of the League unit. That improvement would be huge for us.

Special Teams, McPherson is awesome. Having a big leg FG kicker helps the offense a ton. We should score more considering we don't have to gain as many yards to be in scoring range. I'd prefer more TDs, but anytime you can score points is a plus. It's going to be nice to have a kicker that doesn't make me nervous every time he trots out on the field. I know people will defend Bullock and all, but I was still nervous every time he came out. Yeah, maybe that was more on me but the double leg cramp thing still sticks out in my mind.

I believe the team is overall better than the last 2 seasons. There's more talent and more depth which are both important to being a winning team. Chase will figure it out and be catching the ball again. I'm not too concerned about that. Taylor and Lou are still the 2 biggest issues/concerns to me. Talent is there, the team has been spending in free agency, their guys are here, it's time to produce. 6 wins would seem disappointing on the surface, but it's better than Taylor has done so far. I still think it's going to take a little bit for the OLine, Burrow, and Chase but they will gel and get there. Another offseason with Pollack, another draft, another free agency, and another year removed from the injury for Burrow and I think next year could be big. I will gladly eat my crow if they pull it all together and take even bigger strides this season. I just think we're still going to have some growing pains this season as the team continues developing.