01-12-2024, 03:45 PM
(01-12-2024, 03:37 PM)tms Wrote: I will say, I don't think their reputation is as bad as it used to be. At least outside of Cincinnati it isn't. The fact they started basically every game together helped. Not that it should have, just that it did. And while Burrow getting hurt wasn't a good thing, nobody blames that on them- which is saying a lot. More a freak injury that could've happened to any quarterback. The calf definitely was.
All of which is to say that maybe it's not as much of a priority as we think, especially for those of us with 2020-21 PTSD. They are a bit better. They still have issues in PP but the running game is relatively solid when they use it. It's a devil you know scenario, whereas it used to be a disaster waiting to happen. I take some comfort in that. Still tied for 7th in the league with 50 sacks allowed (Giants led with 85). They did seem to be almost passable this year. They need to learn to work better as a unit with their quarterback and pick up their assignments, etc., but I think we're past the stage of a complete talent overhaul.
Even being massively inflated by Week 18 with our starters vs their backups (we went from 3.8ypc to 4.0ypc as a team), we finished 22nd in rushing YPC. That's not relatively solid. Even less so when you realize that before playing against backups in Week 18, we were 27th in rushing YPC as a team.
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The 2021 season Super Bowl was over 1,000 days ago.