Tough ass team

[lightsout]

So we know that the title is how the team views itself. We have a lot of unproven guys coming into the season, guys stepping up to fill in for veterans who are injured, guys who have been around the league and never stuck but are seeing impact here. One stat sort of tells the tale on the season thus far and proves the moniker. Average scoring margin.

1. Baltimore: 12.5
2. Tampa Bay: 11.4
3. Pittsburgh: 10.8
4. KC: 10.7
14. NO: 1.0
17. Carolina: -0.9
20. Atlanta: -3.3

Obviously I am not going to list them all, so I stuck with the top 4 and then went with where the division stacks up after that.

This team is within a point of every game. This team is competitive in every game. Any Sunday, if this bears out over the season, we CAN win. This wasn't true in years past.

2019? -8.1, 29th in the league in that stat.

New staff, new QB, new systems...yeah, I'll take being competitive week in and week out and not getting all the wins we might should have had. Being competitive leads to winning. An 8-8 team that is in every game is much more likely to turn the corner the next season than a team that won 3-4 decisive games and limped through a few others while getting blown out for the rest of the schedule.

[BrianS]

Only one game the entire season we haven't really been in was the Bucs game, and it felt like that was the game after which the guys finally said "You know what, this isn't us, we can do better".  And they have.

[t96]

11 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Only one game the entire season we haven't really been in was the Bucs game, and it felt like that was the game after which the guys finally said "You know what, this isn't us, we can do better".  And they have.

We were in that game until the Fournette TD run mid way through the 4th quarter. If Teddy played better we win that game.

[Mr. Scot]

Remaining schedule...

vs Falcons (Thursday)
at Chiefs (Doomsday)
vs Buccaneers
vs Lions
at Vikings
vs Broncos
at Packers (Oy)
at Rivera
vs Saints

[Khyber53]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Remaining schedule...

vs Falcons (Thursday)
at Chiefs (Doomsday)
vs Buccaneers
vs Lions
at Vikings
vs Broncos
at Packers (Oy)
at Rivera
vs Saints

I see more ups than downs on that schedule. Chiefs and Packers won't be pretty at all. It'll be a street fight with NO again. Bucs may have imploded by then (you can just hear that timer already ticking). Falcons, Vikings, Football Team are straight up wins. Lions and Broncos I'd have to give us the edge.

We could well come down to an 8-8 season and think we'd had an excellent run of it.

[Mr. Scot]

I'm not expecting to win against the Bucs or the Saints unless the Saints have already set their playoff spot and are in coast mode.

Both the Falcons and the Lions are schizophrenic. It's hard to say which team will show up.

The Vikings seem to be imploding unless they somehow turn it around. The Broncos don't look very good but they beat the Patriots, so...

Washington? They're bad, but Rivera is going to want that game bad too.

I still expect us to end up with a losing record but probably not as bad as would have been expected.

[Sgt Schultz]

Just now, Khyber53 said:

I see more ups than downs on that schedule. Chiefs and Packers won't be pretty at all. It'll be a street fight with NO again. Bucs may have imploded by then (you can just hear that timer already ticking). Falcons, Vikings, Football Team are straight up wins. Lions and Broncos I'd have to give us the edge.

We could well come down to an 8-8 season and think we'd had an excellent run of it.

I was just looking at the schedule and about to say that same thing.....and I am not a record-watcher with this team this year.  What is encouraging it while it may not happen, it very realistically could. 

If you would have told me before the season that we could realistically finish 8-8, I would have asked the bartender for one of what you were drinking.

Again, I've said all along the record is not my benchmark for measuring this team this year.  It still is not, but that would certainly become a mark in the "upside" category this year.  And if we somehow hang with the Chiefs, Packers, and Saints again that would be quite impressive.

[Mr. Scot]

Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid against our defense has the potential to be nightmare fuel