Realistic expectations for Monday

[iamhubby1]

6 hours ago, Jon Snow said:

While I agree with you in theory as we've all seen this team can lay an egg at any given opportunity.  I've found that expecting a loss is less stressful than expecting a win so I'm going to continue to take that approach until they are lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

 

    I can respect that way of thinking. I have a brother in law that way. But man, why you gots to share it so often? Can't you save some of it for later? You know, like a squirrel saves his acorns? (For some strange reason, I didn't want to use the word nuts.) Don't waste all your ammunition, save some for an emergency. Don't shoot your wad all at once. Maybe save some in the tank. And for the love of all that's righteous. Don't take this personally.

 

   Sheew, that was fun. 

[Jon Snow]

2 minutes ago, iamhubby1 said:

 

    I can respect that way of thinking. I have a brother in law that way. But man, why you gots to share it so often? Can't you save some of it for later? You know, like a squirrel saves his acorns? (For some strange reason, I didn't want to use the word nuts.) Don't waste all your ammunition, save some for an emergency. Don't shoot your wad all at once. Maybe save some in the tank. And for the love of all that's righteous. Don't take this personally.

 

   Sheew, that was fun. 

I've got you homie.  I have plenty of ammo if needed.  I just fire warning shots now and then.  I won't ruin your black panther party.

[Captain Obvious]

I expect an 11-9 score. 

[Zaximus]

Well, it's the Panthers, so there's a high chance it'll come down to 3-6 points regardless of team.

We also seem to crap the bed on national games, so that's worrisome.

We also play down to the competition, also worrisome.   

We should easily win, but, we know this team, so expect the unexpected.

[iamhubby1]

50 minutes ago, Zaximus said:

Well, it's the Panthers, so there's a high chance it'll come down to 3-6 points regardless of team.

We also seem to crap the bed on national games, so that's worrisome.

We also play down to the competition, also worrisome.   

We should easily win, but, we know this team, so expect the unexpected.

 

    Cam is 4-1 on Monday Night. 

 

    All in all, what you said has been true in the past. But, at some point we have to move on to the future. 

 

    I would like to add. Has it come down to this. Where we are no longer happy with winning. That we seem to have to quantify every win? I mean, as long as we are winning. Which should lead to the playoffs. Shouldn't that be enough for the time being?

 

    Sure we do lots of things that drive fans crazy. And we may yet do more. But as long as we are winning. Isn't that the ultimate goal?

[Khyber53]

31-10

Panthers.

 

[CatAttack]

I think the reality is that this team is just going to win ugly this year.  Doubt we will ever see the offense firing on all cylinders and putting up points from everywhere like 2015.  If our D is elite, and our offense can do just enough to get job done, I am fine with that.

[lightsout]

5 hours ago, CatAttack said:

I think the reality is that this team is just going to win ugly this year.  Doubt we will ever see the offense firing on all cylinders and putting up points from everywhere like 2015.  If our D is elite, and our offense can do just enough to get job done, I am fine with that.

I think what we're going to see is this offense click the last quarter of the schedule. Maybe not all 4 of those games, but within those 4 is when it happens. We head into the playoffs with a full head of steam, assuming we survive these next few games with 1 loss minimum. We're seeing the beginnings of that clicking I think. The groundwork. We got the tease of Samuel making nice catches. The tease of CMC running the ball well. The tease of putting up more than 10 points and looking good doing it (for the most part). If that trend continues (however slowly), I think we'll be in for a treat before the season ends.

[Ivan The Awesome]

Rather go on the road. That's just me though. 

[Achilles]

The OP contains a pretty good synopsis of where it seems this team is heading.  An identity is forming and it is that we have a great defense and a pretty good offense.  We will rely on our defense to keep teams under 20 points and our offense to score 20+.  This is not the 2015 team that scored 30 points a game. We can be successful doing this if we embrace this as our identity.  Let's not stress about how our offense is mediocre.  Let's celebrate that our defense has held 4 NFL offenses to 3 points.

Once this team solidifies its identity as a defense oriented team, I think things will begin to fall into place.  We don't need to try to do too much on offense.  Get the running game under control, let that set up the play action.  Olsen will return in a few weeks and the passing attack will improve.

Patience.  I don't see us riding all the way to the Super Bowl in our current form, but the identity is solidifying and that is a good sign. You want to go into the post season peaking and that seems about right for this offense.

This Miami game offers an opportunity to further solidify our identity as the D-line can get after Cutler.  That will give the offense a chance to improve the running game.  It's good timing.

Also, Cam is brilliant on Monday Night.  So,  I expect a high flying TD dive to get the crowd roaring.

It could very well be one of those games where we go into prevent halfway through the 3rd quarter and allow Miami to score 10-14 points before we shut it down to end the game.

The score might be closer than the run of play would indicate.