Make the case for why your teams' season could go horribly wrong (Short of season ending QB injuries or season ending injury to other key players)

[Bolts223]

In the offseason it's always very easy for fans to be optimistic. 80% of the league thinks they are making the playoffs.

So let's do an exercise that calls for the opposite - make the case for why your teams season could go horribly wrong. To make it more engaging - let's not go with (My teams franchise QB suffers a season ending injury)

 

For the Chargers - I'm not convinced that Staley is the defensive genius he is hyped up to be yet. While our defense last year had some obvious personnel problems, there was no excuse for them to literally be one of the worst units in the league last year. It's hard to imagine them not being at least a little bit better since we've entirely revamped the defense, but I do need to see it before I believe it. I'm also not super confident in any of our corners outside of JC Jackson.

I won't lie that offensively it's pretty hard to make the case for why they won't be good. But the idea of Pipkins/Norton starting at RT scares the $%*@ out of me. I also think Keenan Allen could fall off in any given year at this point in his career.

 

So basically - The Chargers defense is still bad and the offense takes a step back which leads to the season going horribly wrong.

 

Ok - your turn.

[The BILLievers]

TL;DR for Bills : Defense takes a step back (Tre White doesn't recover from injury, Von looks old, Poyers unhappy w/ contract and sits out) + Ken Dorsey tries to get too cute with the play calling on offense and they fall out of the top 5.

 

That said, I'll also just say I think the impact of Daboll leaving for Allen has minimal/no impact. The majority of our successful offensive plays was when Allen is avoiding pressuring, leaving the pocket and improvising. Not to mention Dorsey was the passing game coordinator. 

Edited June 14, 2022 by The BILLievers

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Ravens: Our WR's suck and Lamar continues to regress as a passer while losing speed due to bulking up, hindering his ability in the run game.

[MWil23]

Hard to imagine regressing from 2021 Baker even with Brisset but I’m sure the Browns will find a way to disappoint even with my all time low expectations.

[candyman93]

For Cleveland- Kinda obvious. However, if we ignore the QB situation:

 

My biggest fear is our lack of talent at receiver. I like Amari Cooper, but everybody else is unproven.

 

We’ve also had REALLY bad COVID outbreaks at the worst time possible the last 2 seasons.

 

We also need Jack Conklin to return healthy or that’s going to be a major problem.

Edited June 14, 2022 by candyman93

[Soggust]

Mahomes regresses again without Hill and the offense becomes stale. On defense, we can't stop the run as usual. It starts off with a couple close losses and the rest of the division ends up living up to expectations. Panic sets in and we start the year in a rut again.

We manage to claw back into contention towards the end of the season but the Broncos and Chargers fans are making fun of my team in NFL Gen. I try writing a long post explaining why this is just an anomaly, but they begin quoting old posts of mine where I was gloating and predicting undefeated seasons. Soon, my boss taps me on my shoulder, angry that I haven't worked in an entire week because I've been stuck on FF defending my team's honor. He asks me to pack my things and reminds me that janitors aren't even supposed to be on the computer. He deletes my post before I can send it.

I decide to go home to rewrite my post, scared of how I'm going to explain losing my job to my wife. I walk into our door and see my wife's lingerie and a Raiders jersey on the floor. I keep hearing her moan "Just win baby". I get sick to my stomach and run out the door. I try to pinch myself to wake up from the nightmare, but I can't. It's too real. Instead, my heart is broken and my arm is sore.

I grab my phone to call my wife and the Sleeper app immediately goes off. Patrick Mahomes is upset with the team's lack of success and is demanding a trade. Travis Kelce also decides that he doesn't want to play without Mahomes and has been saving enough money by skimping on his GFs anniversary presents to retire. Reid decides to open a BBQ joint and anoints Eric Bienemy the HC. Brett Veach gives Frank Clark another big extension and dips Sean Payton style.

I am hurt, but I have seen gross seasons before. I am thankful for the Super Bowl Ring and the success we were fortunate enough to have before our next drought. I will still be a fan, just with tempered expectations once again. 

Then we trade for Baker Mayfield and I become a Steelers fan.  

Edited June 14, 2022 by Soggust

[ThatJerkDave]

Packers:

No injuries?  

Our main areas of concern are:  Edge depth, Safety depth, and offensive tackle.  We are two deep at both edge and safety, and usually three or four play significant snaps at either position, so there is definite possibilities for weakness to be on the field there.  We don't know if or when David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins will return.  If they both are fine, we shouldn't have an issue on the OL.  With both out, Yosh Nijman will man one of the tackle positions, if he continues to progress he should be good enough, but that leaves a question mark at another spot.

WR is a tricky beast.  The "no injuries" thing shouldn't apply to either Randall Cobb or Sammy Watkins, in their 19 combined seasons they have played the full schedule 3 total times, the last being in 2015.  Allen Lazard should see increased targets and production.  I think he is going to be solid but not spectacular.  I like a lot of the young talent, but it relies on Aaron Rodgers to throw them the ball, which he may be a grumpy old man and decide not to do.  He did break that trend and pass quite a bit to MVS as a rookie in 2018, so push comes to shove, perhaps he will.

And can the special teams improve?  Like, they can't get worse, right? Right?

[NYRaider]

McDaniels proves to be a bad head coach again and/or Carr goes down early in the season.

[scar988]

Uh... I'm expecting a 2-15 season for the Falcons. What would horribly wrong be with those expectations?

[DerbyRam]

For the Rams:

Can Akers not being 100% and the run game being ineffective.

Joe Noteboom, whilst a stud in his LT snaps up to now, can’t do it consistently and has issues - hindering the passing game. Same with the guard position.

Cooper Kupp gets injured. OBJ doesn’t come back. 

I’m not really too concerned in the defensive side of the ball, at all. The only pause for thought is that the secondary regresses and no one steps up at CB to play on the other side to Ramsey. Donald getting injured, of course, would be huge. 

[BeaReylo]

Chicago has a new, first time coach in Eberflus; a second year QB learning a brand new offense in Justin Fields; a OC who is getting his first gig in the NFL, who limited play calling at the college level on top of a suspect O-Line and receiving Corp.  I'm not really expecting that many wins this season, lol.

[NYRaider]

45 minutes ago, DerbyRam said:

For the Rams:

Can Akers not being 100% and the run game being ineffective.

Joe Noteboom, whilst a stud in his LT snaps up to now, can’t do it consistently and has issues - hindering the passing game. Same with the guard position.

Cooper Kupp gets injured. OBJ doesn’t come back. 

I’m not really too concerned in the defensive side of the ball, at all. The only pause for thought is that the secondary regresses and no one steps up at CB to play on the other side to Ramsey. Donald getting injured, of course, would be huge. 

Your OL imploding or Stafford going down with a significant injury are the two things that I think could derail your season. Even if Akers is ineffective you guys showed you can use a committee approach and should have a pass happy offense regardless. Losing Kupp would suck but I don't think it's a total back breaker. If OBJ comes back won't he be out until like November?

[Daniel]

Titans are too deep to go horribly wrong without injuries, but they are a team with a lot of older players and guys coming back from injury.

If Henry isn’t the same anymore and no one emerges from the WR group, the offense could be very low on weapons. OL could potentially be bad as well: Lewan and Jones are another year older, and Radunz and whoever wins at LG could both disappoint.

[FrantikRam]

41 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

Your OL imploding or Stafford going down with a significant injury are the two things that I think could derail your season. Even if Akers is ineffective you guys showed you can use a committee approach and should have a pass happy offense regardless. Losing Kupp would suck but I don't think it's a total back breaker. If OBJ comes back won't he be out until like November?

 

 

I think injuries are probably the only thing that can really do it to our OL. The only time our OL was an issue was due to several starters getting injured, so I expect McVay will make it work (short of injuries).

All injuries aside, I'll go with this:

The AFCW is as advertised. All four teams are really good. The Cardinals actually build off last season. Trey Lance has an MVP season. The Rams have those 8 games, plus the Bills, Packers, Cowboys, Saints and Bucs.

We finish 10-7 and get a wildcard and have to go to Lambeau, where it's -17 degrees. We get bounced in the first round.

 

[Forge]

Trey Lance sucks, the season is probably pretty bad.