Do You Honestly Believe We Will Have Another Non-Winning Season ? Or Is A New Owner a Sign of Immediate Change?

[ladypanther]

This will be a very good year I think.  Nothing to do with ownership....the Norv effect, plus a couple of new weapons.  Cam healthy, Olsen back, CMC!

[ickmule]

8-8 at best.  The Saints and Falcons alone will likely give us 3 or 4 loses.  

[arbnranger]

4 hours ago, KB_fan said:

I am hopeful that the changes bring an end to that history of never having consecutive winning seasons.

I voted 11-5. 

May be optimistic given a TOUGH division and games vs Eagles and Steelers, yet Cam seems leaner and hungrier than ever, and guys like CMC and Funchess may be able to really step up.  Add in the fact of  new coordinators shaking up things so we're not so dang predictable, plus the motivation level of TD, Pep and Ryan - all likely in last seasons... This could be a special year.

We need few injuries. 

Quick learning curve for new offense.

Solid O line

Improved secondary

Any of those things go wrong and 7-9 can become a reality very quickly.

 

[TheRed]

We know we have the talent to compete.

I think it mostly hinges on how the OL performs and if Ron Rivera can stay out of his own way in terms of his penchant for gameday gaffes and coaching not to lose.

[rayzor]

1 minute ago, TheRed said:

We know we have the talent to compete. I think it mostly hinges on how the OL performs and if Ron Rivera can stay out of his own way in terms of his penchant for gameday gaffes and coaching not to lose.

I've got to believe norv helps with this.

[TheRed]

4 minutes ago, rayzor said:

I've got to believe norv helps with this.

I'm really hoping so. We have to trust our playmakers.

Anything not involving us packing it in and trying to take a couple of timeouts with us into halftime while swinging momentum to the other team will be a step in the right direction.

[Rags]

33 minutes ago, ickmule said:

8-8 at best.  The Saints and Falcons alone will likely give us 3 or 4 loses.  

Confirmed we'll have a great season

[FugAllY'all]

I'm as much a Hurney hater as anyone, I thought firing Gettleman and rehiring him was maybe the dumbest FO decision in franchise history. Richardson being shamed by misconduct allegations and forced to sell the team was just desserts in my book. In all honesty though? He's done a decent job, especially in free agency where the only bad outcome (Breeland) wasn't his fault. I don't think anyone outside of Moore will be special from this draft, and the defense will continue to struggle getting pressure without blitzing.

Overall though, the team is built to win next year and he didn't do any long term damage. 11-12 wins isn't an unreasonable expectation depending on how the schedule shakes out, on paper this is the most loaded we've been on offense since Cam's rookie year and Kuechly/Rivera will get that defense up to snuff by mid-season. 

[Hoenheim]

2 hours ago, ladypanther said:

This will be a very good year I think.  Nothing to do with ownership....the Norv effect, plus a couple of new weapons.  Cam healthy, Olsen back, CMC!

I can see CMC after being outshined and almost totally dismissed as a rookie RB last season , run with something to prove this season .. looks like hes packed on some serious muscle and ingratiated himself more in the team culture

Alot of factors go into this, but Im have a very simular positive vibe about this coming season. Cam is healthy (vs not healthy in 2017 start, and having all the emotional baggage at the 2016 season start after the SB 50 fallout), new weapons. Hell it was kinda scary how well we did last year considering who was calling the plays and our extreme lack of talent at WR and in the secondary on defense. 

Most critical things to watch are :

1. Injuries (Ryan Kalil in particular has killed us the last 2 seasons, we cant keep getting injured at key positions on offense )
2. Secondary performance (can they actually take the ball away consistently after 2 strait seasons of failure) 
3. Norvs New Offense + New Players + Cam (Basically , will all these new parts work well together? Who is to say... hopefully so.)

[Hoenheim]

Another important thing is, we NEED more contributions from our draft classes. 

In the last few years, we simply haven't been getting enough long term contributions from draft classes. Lets see here : 

2014 :(1 player)  Only player left on the team , Trai Turner. Who is admittedly a very good player. But only having 1 out of 4 players still on the team after only 4 seasons is not good for future stability .

2015 : (4 players) Actually a great draft : Shaq, Funchess, Daryl Williams, and David Mayo. All serve very important roles on the team .

2016: (1 player)  Only players left: Butler and Bradberry . Butler has been mostly a forgotten backup and Brad berry has been at best servicable. 

2017 : (1 player) McCaffrey. Thats IT from this draft. Hoepfull for some of the other guys but it hasnt happened yet.

 

So thats 3 out of the past 4 drafts that have been very inefficient in general. Heres to hoping that 2018 draft kicks ass like the Saints draft did last year, very hopefull for DJ Moore, Donte Jackson, Ian Thomas  at least. 

and in terms of past drafts, you could hope that Shaq and Bradberry elevate past servicable to being good-very good. And wish that CMC will run more efficiently, Samuel will stay healthy, Moton will be a great LG? Hall conributes at DE? 

We most certainly have a lot of POTENTIAL to be great. The question is whether that actually comes through on game day.

[methodsofmadness]

I do feel that that the next two seasons will be crucial for Rivera... And possibly for Cam. Considering what many have said about Tepper, I feel everybody will be on notice. So I believe Rivera needs to be at least a playoff team for his job to be safe and Superbowl or bye the following year.

[DaveThePanther2008]

I think it will largely depend on Rivera.  If he takes the gas off like he has done so many times in the past we could lose a couple of games we should have won.

That said,  I think Norv will make our offense very dynamic and we'll lose a couple but finish 10-6.

[Jeremy Igo]

I mean, after 20 years of this I assume losing season until they show they can do otherwise.

[Davidson Deac II]

I don't believe we will have a losing season.  I assume nothing in that regard really.

 

I also don't believe that a new owner will change things immediately either.