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Ramgator
It's crazy to bank on an Offense scoring 30 + every time.
They are 5th in points allowed per game at 16.8.
So far the offense only needs to score 30 against a top notch opposing offense.
How tight do you require the D to be?
I think raw averages are deceptive. The first 2 opponents were bad on offense.
Last 2 games they allowed 27 points a game which is 21st.
16.8 would be 5th which IMO is deceptive.
They're more 21st than 5th I think.
For now anyway. They could change. Wade tends not to stand pat.
...
I think raw averages perfectly captures what they are. Prior to the last two games, they were 1st in fewest points allowed by a good margin.
They've faced some top offenses and some bad ones. (Though Oakland isn't really bad as pointed out below)
The context I was responding to is that the offense would have to score 30 every game or else we would lose 3-5 games. Since that context is over the course of the season, we're not gonna face a great offense every game. We're gonna face a mix of bad offenses, good ones, and a few great ones.
So if they average 5th by being 1st against bad offenses and 21st against great ones, I don't see 5 losses on the schedule. It just means they'll need to score 30 against teams with great offenses. So far they've played 3 teams in the top 12 for yards per game in Oakland, LAC, and Minn.
IOW, if nothing changes, they'll need to score 30+ against NO, Atl, KC, and maybe Philly if they get healthy. Those are the remaining teams on the schedule that look like they have great offenses.
I think they'll be fine if they don't score 30 against the vast majority of the remaining games.
I;m not worried about losses. I'm not worried about anything. I am just in strict "be a realist" mode and realistically, this defense needs to improve in some key areas, and in other areas, it's just injured, and in other areas, they need to compensate for a weakness (OLB ). But it has stars and can rise to the occasion.
In terms of where they're ranked, being realistic about that, to me, means saying they allowed 53 points in the last 2 games and how indicative is that.
LAC is 9th in scoring, Minn is 19th....I would like to see them tighten up on defense.
It's not disaster if they don't but it would be better if they did.
.....
I'm always for improvement.
I'm just not buying the assertion that they will need to score 30 every game or the implication that the last game is more indicative than the first three games.
I agree though that there are weaknesses that hopefully they improve on.
Well though I didn't make that assertion. About 30. Was that someone else?
I don;'t think the defense is performing well enough. That's just a comment about a standard independent of any other consideration. It did come through in the 2nd half of the Vikes game.
Can it get better? Sure. But IMO it also needs to. Why? Because the way I approach these things, that's what it should do.
If you don't agree, that just means there's 2 different votes on this.