Re: Wow. I have hope, but that's off the charts optimism.

Quote
RockRam
Admire your homer-ish upbeat prediction.
But it's hard to imagine everything could fall in place that fast for a 2nd year QB in a new system, a rookie HC, a rookie OC, a new D system, a very young team that doesn't even know what winning looks like, and a pretty strong schedule.

I predict somewhere between 6-10 and 9-7. 8-8 would be a real achievement.
I don't see them as a 4 or 5 win team as some do.
Had they been able to generate even a tiny bit more offense last year they could have won 2 more games, maybe 3.

There is just too much "new" to be predicting playoffs for me. We're talking a team who can't even remember the last time they were able to achieve .500.

As for specifics; I'm not sold on Gurley. Too inconsistent.
I don't see the older vets having career years. It doesn't usually work that way. If they're just solid, that'll be great.
As for Barwin: if Ekuban works out, Barwin will be gone unless he is willing to go another year at a pretty reasonable price.

Rare that a rookie WR or rookie TE has a big year. Tough positions to play in the NFL.

It would be an upset if Sullivan plays every game. This is why the back up Center position is key. If I guessed right now, I'd guess Blythe is the guy with Eldrencamp on the PS. But a lot can happen in the next month.

It would also be an upset if Quinn plays every game; hasn't in a long time. The one hope is that playing stand up OLB and coming from different angles and not having to take on giant LOTs head on might help that a bit.