A True Assessment...

[Whatever]

(11-21-2018, 10:17 AM)psychdoctor Wrote: The Franchise is at the point of change.  The Dalton-Green era is on the tail end and the Atkins-Dunlap legacy secured but not enough.  

I know many fans on this forum are sick-and-tired of the same old feeling of the season slipping through the tight grip of hope only to look forward to the next draft, the Reds, or even college football.  

But what I would like from members is a true assessment without the hate of Front Office.  

If this team were of full health, meaning if all the player personnel were not on IR, would this team have competed?  Maybe there is merit in the fact the team should have fired Austin earlier than planned.  So lets say if Marvin Lewis was the DC/HC the entire year, would this team have competed for the AFC North title and actually win  a playoff game?

I would have to say even with a healthy Eifert, Gio, Kroft, Price, Brown, and Dennard, this team is missing essential personnel to win. The O-Line isn't there and the backers simply need over-hauled.  Can this be fixed in a year or two via drafts and free-agents? What say you?  

I think they would compete for the AFCN title if everyone was healthy.  This was a high scoring offense with Green, Boyd, Ross, Eifert, Gio, and Mixon all healthy.  The right side of the OL is weak, but it was workable with all those guys healthy.

I don't think we ever had Burfict, Brown, and Vigil all healthy and on the field together.  I don't think it would be a strength, but with a healthy, in shape Burfict, this would have been an ok unit.  Of course, a competent DC would be needed to get anything out of them.

I think we would have made the playoffs (still might), but I'm sure we would get totally outcoached and not show up to play.