Will this team be peaking at the right moment?

[Chairman Wow]

CmC has been a consistent bright spot and Newton can still run. Outside of that, our offense is incredibly limited.

We rank 27th in passing efficiency, Only Chicago, Baltimore, Denver, San Francisco and Cleveland have been worse. 

 

[t96]

If Kalil can get healthy--and I think he can otherwise Hurney would've IR'ed him in a second--in addition to Olsen and Byrd coming back and the promise the offense showed yesterday I think we can definitely get to the point where our offense isn't holding us back any longer. D is legit. Yes gave up some big plays to Julio that we got lucky on, but frankly, even the best defenses of all time give up plays like that every once in a while, especially to elite talents like Julio. Overall our D has been outstanding and is the best in the league.

[Snake]

2 hours ago, Davidson Deac II said:

We won and I am happy about it.  But the offense didn't really look much better than it has in games past.  Cam was still the primary threat running the ball, and Atlanta got burned for a few long ones by him.  CMC did run better.  But the offense only drove the ball once for a td.  The other was due to a short field after an int. And we still showed little to no ability to stretch the field.  The offense disappeared near the end.  Two first downs and zero points in the entire 4th qtr.

 

I do hope we start getting better as the season goes along.

We looked that way because we turned the ball over twice again. I have no confidence that Shula will cut Stewarts carries back but that's two games now he has caused two turnovers. Add the fact CMC would have gotten 100 yards on the ground if allowed to carry the load and it would have been a different game. From what I saw yesterday Shula has the ability to call plays to score but Rivera want to just grind the clock and put it on the defense. That's not going to work on good teams. 

[Snake]

33 minutes ago, Ivan The Awesome said:

Stewart has been awful this season.  Not gonna lie. Not sure if it's him or the O line or the offense or play calling not being favorable or a combination of all things.. He's just not playing to his potential. 

It's Stewart. He's trying to hard and his role needs to be defined. That role is a change of pace back. Even then I really don't see why we keep him next year. 

[Murph]

To be in the bottom third of the league in offense and -8 in the turnover margin, being 6-3 is almost a miracle. They just need to slightly improve on those two things and we will be a tough out in the playoffs. As it stands right now I think we are the weakest playoff caliber team

[Delhommey]

We're two dropped passes from being 4-5, let's not get too full of ourselves. 

Two winnable games, a bye, and the Saints in the Dome. Let's see how we come out of all that. 

[Davidson Deac II]

1 hour ago, Snake said:

We looked that way because we turned the ball over twice again. I have no confidence that Shula will cut Stewarts carries back but that's two games now he has caused two turnovers. Add the fact CMC would have gotten 100 yards on the ground if allowed to carry the load and it would have been a different game. From what I saw yesterday Shula has the ability to call plays to score but Rivera want to just grind the clock and put it on the defense. That's not going to work on good teams. 

I don't think Stewart should have his carries cut because of this game.  As the announcer said, this is the first two fumbles lost game in his career. That's three for the season, which is not a tremendous amount.  And fwiw, he was picking up decent yards before the two fumbles.  Afterward, not so much. If the fumble problems continue, or if CMC or Cap is the more effective runner, then Stewart should have his carries cut.  But he is still the best back we have at picking up the tough yards between the tackles. 

[Snake]

2 hours ago, Davidson Deac II said:

I don't think Stewart should have his carries cut because of this game.  As the announcer said, this is the first two fumbles lost game in his career. That's three for the season, which is not a tremendous amount.  And fwiw, he was picking up decent yards before the two fumbles.  Afterward, not so much. If the fumble problems continue, or if CMC or Cap is the more effective runner, then Stewart should have his carries cut.  But he is still the best back we have at picking up the tough yards between the tackles. 

Stewart has lost 4 balls this season. Two catching, two running. If you call two plays with positive gains picking up decent yards then sure but McCaffrey was doing that consistently and not dropping balls. 

[UpstatePanther]

5 hours ago, Smithers said:

I will have to give Shepard some props.  

im happy with his performance too. that long pass near the end zone was not an easy catch with the defender draping him like that. Ginn would have dropped it with no one near him. im not gonna be too hard on Shepard. as the old saying goes, poo happens.

4 hours ago, Snake said:

We looked that way because we turned the ball over twice again. I have no confidence that Shula will cut Stewarts carries back but that's two games now he has caused two turnovers. 

4 hours ago, Snake said:

It's Stewart. He's trying to hard and his role needs to be defined. That role is a change of pace back. Even then I really don't see why we keep him next year. 

i agree with both of you. Stewart definitely still has a place in this offense. but he's no longer our bell cow back. he needs to be our 3rd and short / goal line back who will have fresh legs all the way through the game. give CMC the majority of the carries. Im fine with CAP being our change of pace guy. 

[ncsfinest21]

This offense honestly looked great yesterday. We were moving the ball pretty much all game. Both fumbles stew had we were in scoring position. Im actually happy how the offense looked yesterday.