Форум

ymakerpi8d · З нами з: 05.06.23 Повідомлень: 166

Man, optimism is so much easier. After writing about five teams who would mi s the playoffs and, frankly, struggling to find five good candidates to fall back, it's onto the teams who will make a leap.What's crazy is I'm not even taking the two obvious layups in Cleveland and Green Bay. The and could definitely make it back to the postseason and no one would be surprised, but I'm pa sing on the low-hanging fruit. . I'm also barely pa sing on the , but only because I feel bad for cursing them last year. , and I would give myself partial credit for the simply because things basically went as I predicted and then magic happened late. In who would take a step back. .I've been le s succe sful at predicted who would leap up and make the postseason, and . Let's try and fix that below. Speaking of below, you can also listen to the Pick Six Podcast where we break the teams down below and by . 2018 Record: 7-92018 Expected Wins: 7.8Overview: The Panthers have been a bit of Roger Clemens Jersey a juxtaposition in this space recently, and also . Both can be true, and I'm not sure the former is actually a problem for the Panthers having a great season. Ron Rivera actually performs very well following a down season/when he's on the hot seat. Remember when the Panthers were about to can him in 2013 after and the beat Carolina and sent Rivera to 0-2? Then "Riverboat Ron" was born and the Panthers ripped off a 12-2 run to close the season. Rivera's been up and down almost every year of his career in Carolina, going 12-4, 7-8-1 (division winner!), 15-1, 6-10, 11-5 and 7-9 over the last six seasons. Those two recent seasons down coincide with season ending early with shoulder surgery. Since 2013, a healthy Cam has equated to a playoff run. It's why Newton is the most important figure in the entire NFC South.Why they might not make the playoffs: Newton is coming off his second shoulder surgery and is still ramping up his throwing plan. Carolina was 6-2 when he got hurt and finished the season 7-9, with the only other win coming in a meaningle s Week 17 victory over and the . I don't want to cut this section short, because there are other reasons the Panthers could mi s the playoffs -- potential offensive stars get injured ( ) or don't actually break out ( ) or maybe the offensive line is much worse than we thought or perhaps the new-look defense doesn't gel or maybe the division is just too tough -- but the bottom line is if Cam isn't healthy Carolina won't be playing in January. And it will be an interesting offseason to say the least.Why they will make the playoffs: Newton has been healthy, Blake Swihart Jersey especially after a season when he mi ses games. He should be motivated for contractual/status reasons in Carolina this year. Offensively, Carolina has maybe the most talent yet around Cam. The offensive line is surprisingly talented and deep -- it could challenge to be a top-10 unit this year if everything breaks right. , D.J. Moore, Samuel and Olsen is a lethal amount of talent for Norv Turner to work with. Defensively, Rivera has the most unique group he's had in a while. Adding , and this offseason as Rivera moves this team to a hybrid-style 3-4 front is one of the most interesting storylines in the NFL. McCoy gets his old team, the Bucs, twice in the first six weeks of the season. He should come out warm. Burns has been unblockable in training camp. appears to be healthy and Shaq Thompson will finally get a chance to showcase his skillset in this defense. The schedule isn't that difficult -- has Carolina at 22nd but there are some bottom feeders on there, playing the Saints twice alters things and I think Vegas has the wrong number (7.5) for Carolina. It's going to move to eight at some point with the juice. The Panthers also went a ridiculous 2-7 in one-score games last year, with most of the Mookie Betts Jersey lo ses coming after Cam was injured. That should regre s to the mean in 2019. 2018 Record: 8-7-12018 Expected Wins: 8.5Overview: After signing to the Vikings quickly became a trendy Super Bowl pick and couldn't keep pace with expectations. They slept-walk through a lo s J. D. Martinez Jersey to the Bills at home and then got in a shootout with the on primetime four days later; they fell to 1-2-1 and maybe didn't ever recover. Tough road games -- New England, Seattle and Chicago -- late in the year spelled doom for a team that wasn't prepared for primetime nor the outdoors (oddly, being from Minnesota and all). John DeFillipo was fired midseason as Mike Zimmer grumbled about running the ball more. The defense was good but not elite, per se, largely driven by the midseason absence of . didn't play the whole season and after a nuclear start, cooled down the stretch. Zimmer is now fully embracing the pre sure of perhaps coaching for his job -- or at least being relatively near the hot seat? -- and people doubting him.Why the might not make the playoffs: For starters, this is a tough neighborhood to deal with. The Packers have an angry under center, the look like a budding superpower and there's a lot of Vegas buzz about sharp money taking the to make the playoffs. The NFC as a whole is just difficult too; someone is getting squeezed in a tough crowd of wild-card contenders. Revamping the offense should fix some of the problems, but it's not a guarantee. Cousins has to win some freaking prime-time games already. Even if the defense is top tier again -- and there's no guarantee it moves from top 10 back to top 5 -- it can't carry a questionable/uneven offense.Why they will make the playoffs: Because . Adding Gary Kubiak (one of the OG zone-blocking coaches) to an offense featuring Cook (ran the scheme at FSU) and Cousins (drafted by Mike Shanahan, Kubiak's mentor) and then drafting (90 percent of his rushing snaps in his senior year at NC State were zone blocking plays) could kickstart things on that side of the ball. Thielen and Diggs and flooding acro s the field on play action? Yes please. The defense is definitely older, but it's loaded with stars. Griffen, and are a stout defensive line. and are locked into linebacker roles. is begging for a bounce-back and the cornerbacks ( , leading) are a deep and talented group. The schedule looks fairly tough but it interests me that starting in Week 10 they have just one game (at Seattle, Week 13, after their bye) that could potentially be bad weather. A hot start for this team, would put them in great position. I like the offense to surprise out of the gate. 2018 Record: 9-6-12018 Expected Wins: 9.6Overview: Last year was a drama-filled disaster for Mike Tomlin's team, with holdout capturing the first Christian Vazquez Jersey half of the season and then deathgripping the back end with his petulant behavior. Bell would eventually be set free into the wild, while Brown was sent to Oakland for a third-round pick. Things got so bad, the Steelers were willing to eat $25 million in dead
_________________
John Short, Jr