They’ve already exceeded my expectations

[turtle28]

As we all remember going into this season and coming off a 3-13 2019 season without many perceived FA upgrades, COVID to deal with and just the drafting of Chase Young as our main upgrade, most of us predicted 5 wins at most and a lot of us had them possibly getting the 1st overall pick.

I would just like to say that this team has already exceeded my expectations and while I don’t always agree with Rivera’s decisions on personnel and in game decisions his coaching and leadership have already turned this franchise around and have them heading in the right direction after just 13 games of him being our HC and in changed of the football part of our organization.

Things that have exceeded my expectations on this team this year:

1. Rivera

2. Alex Smith playing period and definitely at a better level than I ever thought he would again.

3. Antonio Gibson. I expected him to be a return man and a gadget guy,  it close to the RB he’s developed into so far.

4. Our defense. I expected our defense to be middle of the pack at best. Currently, our defense is playing as one of the best in the league and it’s being led by our rookies (Chase & Kam) and other young guys which is promising. (Montez & Holcomb). Del Rio and Rivera have obviously coaches these guys up amazingly. The development of our guys on that side of the ball has been amazing.

The most shocking thing to me is how well our back up safeties have played better than what was originally our starters. I always thought DeShazor could play and wanted him to get a chance to be a starter over guys like Nicholson & Apke but it didn’t happen, now we’re seeing it DeShazor should’ve been our starting free or strong safety for the last 3 years. He just does what he’s supposed to do and usually that helps your team win.

5. Logan Thomas, I had no expectations for him, seriously zero. I wasn’t even sure if he’d be a better option than Sprinkle & Henteges when we signed him. Over the course of the season he’s developed into a solid receiving TE and really improved as a blocker, that signing is looking like a good one for Rivera/Kyle.

6. Cam Sims. I didn’t expect Cam to ever be what we all thought he could be if given a chance. I just didn’t think it would happen after a few years of it not happening. Now that he’s shown out and emerged as at least an option for the #2 WR moving forward, that’s exceeded my expectations and he’s promising.

7. The play of our OL has improved throughout this season as well. Most of us expected a dumpster fire all year and while it hasn’t always been pretty, they have been better than expected.

I never expects us to have 6 wins when this season began, so they’ve already exceeded my expectations. The fact that we have a chance to make the playoffs just blows my mind for two reasons;

1. I didn’t think we were the best team in the NFCE and I didn’t expect us to win 4 in a row a month ago so, props to @aceinthehouse for continuing to believe when most of us trolled him for believing in this team.

2. I honestly didn’t expect the division to be this bad.I expected us to be worse of course - the theme of this post - but no one could’ve perceived the injuries to the Dak & the Cowboys OL and to the Eagles OL so, I didn’t think we’d have a chance at the division even if the team did slightly exceed my original expectations but obviously they’ve extremely exceeded my original expectations except for Haskins & S. Sims. 

[ripsean21]

3 hours ago, turtle28 said:

As we all remember going into this season and coming off a 3-13 2019 season without many perceived FA upgrades, COVID to deal with and just the drafting of Chase Young as our main upgrade, most of us predicted 5 wins at most and a lot of us had them possibly getting the 1st overall pick.

I would just like to say that this team has already exceeded my expectations and while I don’t always agree with Rivera’s decisions on personnel and in game decisions his coaching and leadership have already turned this franchise around and have them heading in the right direction after just 13 games of him being our HC and in changed of the football part of our organization.

Things that have exceeded my expectations on this team this year:

1. Rivera

2. Alex Smith playing period and definitely at a better level than I ever thought he would again.

3. Antonio Gibson. I expected him to be a return man and a gadget guy,  it close to the RB he’s developed into so far.

4. Our defense. I expected our defense to be middle of the pack at best. Currently, our defense is playing as one of the best in the league and it’s being led by our rookies (Chase & Kam) and other young guys which is promising. (Montez & Holcomb). Del Rio and Rivera have obviously coaches these guys up amazingly. The development of our guys on that side of the ball has been amazing.

The most shocking thing to me is how well our back up safeties have played better than what was originally our starters. I always thought DeShazor could play and wanted him to get a chance to be a starter over guys like Nicholson & Apke but it didn’t happen, now we’re seeing it DeShazor should’ve been our starting free or strong safety for the last 3 years. He just does what he’s supposed to do and usually that helps your team win.

5. Logan Thomas, I had no expectations for him, seriously zero. I wasn’t even sure if he’d be a better option than Sprinkle & Henteges when we signed him. Over the course of the season he’s developed into a solid receiving TE and really improved as a blocker, that signing is looking like a good one for Rivera/Kyle.

6. Cam Sims. I didn’t expect Cam to ever be what we all thought he could be if given a chance. I just didn’t think it would happen after a few years of it not happening. Now that he’s shown out and emerged as at least an option for the #2 WR moving forward, that’s exceeded my expectations and he’s promising.

7. The play of our OL has improved throughout this season as well. Most of us expected a dumpster fire all year and while it hasn’t always been pretty, they have been better than expected.

I never expects us to have 6 wins when this season began, so they’ve already exceeded my expectations. The fact that we have a chance to make the playoffs just blows my mind for two reasons;

1. I didn’t think we were the best team in the NFCE and I didn’t expect us to win 4 in a row a month ago so, props to @aceinthehouse for continuing to believe when most of us trolled him for believing in this team.

2. I honestly didn’t expect the division to be this bad.I expected us to be worse of course - the theme of this post - but no one could’ve perceived the injuries to the Dak & the Cowboys OL and to the Eagles OL so, I didn’t think we’d have a chance at the division even if the team did slightly exceed my original expectations but obviously they’ve extremely exceeded my original expectations except for Haskins & S. Sims. 

This is what we’ve all been waiting for building through the draft. Year after year we kept plucking away at very talented hard nose big fast football players then we surrounded them with a coaching staff that finally got all these guys who most of whine with out higher 3 round selections come from programs that have been winning. Nobody beside ACE saw us winning but the way the team came together by mid season maybe not with all the players I thought it would be going into the year but I’d def expected the defense from mid season to the end to start planting their flag as the toughest unit on the field each week. Tez was my favorite player in his class as were Payne and Guice as for Chase Simmons China and Gibson last year. It’s so encouraging to see Kyle valuing these types of players because most of them have elite ability. But theu also showed they were the hardest workers on their teams and that type of mindset added year after year just really speaks to the plan and the work this staff has done as a whole!!! Bringing Back Fuller finds like Curl Holecomb and Terry put these draft classes up there with some special sequences of hauls I can think for teams that built from the bottom

[Vladimir L]

I wouldnt sign a safety next year other than depth guys in the draft