3 reasons for optimism/pessimism for your team heading into this season

[Spartacus]

Optimism

1. Division is pretty weak this year. 
2. All of Aaron Rodgers advanced stats last year pointed to a below average QB. If Love comes in and plays like a 1st rounder he could cement the Packers back on top. 
3. Defense is loaded with talent outside of safety. Could be really good. 

 

Pessimism

1. Joe Barry is still the DC. 
2. Jordan Love

 
3. Young offensive talent may not develop. 

[wcblack34]

20 hours ago, RaidersAreOne said:

Minnesota Vikings

Optimism

1. Kirk Cousins in year two of O’Connell system
2. TJ Hockenson actually gets to learn the system for a full offseason
3. Brian Flores should be leaps and bounds better than Ed Donatell

Pessimism

1. Lost talented players from an already bad defense
2. Interior offensive line is meh
3. A lot of youth at cornerback - will be growing pains

 

[BucsDraftGeek47]

Optimism

1. Talent on both sides of the ball
2. No more Byron LefTrash
3. NFC South sucks and our Defense should continue to play at a high level

Pessimism

1. QB situation
2. Limp **** Bowles
3. Kinda wana tank for Caleb

[INbengalfan]

Optimism

1.  Joe Burrow, along with his three amigos at WR with Chase, Higgins and Boyd

2.  Lou Anarumo is still here, and despite losing a few key guys on defense, the rest of the team returned.

3.  The defense was a lot better than casual fans realize.

 

Pessimism

1.  They lost Bates and bell at safety, with a rookie, a second year player and a middling free agent to replace them.  

2.  The AFC north is a bloodbath, and everyone improved.  Pitt killed the draft, Baltimore got upgrades across the board at WR, and the Browns made a few key free agent pickups. 

3.  RT is an open competition between an average LT moved over, and a guy many consider a bust entering his third year in the league.  Eventually La'el Collins will return, but in what shape?

[Nnivolcm]

Optimism

1. Ben Johnson is back.
2. Jared Goff had a pretty fantastic 2nd half of the season.
3. Rest of NFC North looks to be rebuilding/retooling/etc. 

Pessimism

1. History.
2. Zebras.
3. Stupid definition of team facilities regarding the gambling rules.

[43M]

Steelers

Optimism

1.   Kenny's improvements late last season make me more hopeful he can develop into a good QB.   Still not sold, tho.

2.   The additions to the OL are encouraging.   Might take time to bring together, but still the most excited Ive been about our OL in awhile.

3.  Defense should be at least "good".   

Pessimism 

1.  Overall, we still reek of a "middle of the road" team, until proven otherwise.

2.  Still not sold on Pickett, and while Im hopeful, Im not exactly excited about him.

3.  And....of course....Matt Canada.

[hburn]

Seattle

optimistic reasons

 
1- the offense, Seattle should have one of the best offenses in the league with the addition of JSN

2- the secondary, woolen should only improve and the addition of Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon make for great secondary. 
 

3- the pass rush, for the first time in years Seattle has a deep pass rush rotation and Darrell Taylor seems like he’s primed to finally break into the 12-15 sack range with dre’mont Jones on the interior 

 

concerns

1- Geno, I still have trouble believing he’s actually a good QB, can he have another good season

2- The run defense, we couldn’t stop the run to save our lives last year. Not sure if it will be any better this year

3- the line backers, Bobby is old and Devin bush is solely a flyer on a former top pick. We don’t have any young proven players with brooks still on the pup from an acl

[Hunter2_1]

Optimism

1. We will 100% be better on offense
2. We already have a top 10 or fringe top 10 Defense
3. Bill Belichick

Pessimism

1. Division is brutal 
2. Depth on offense is crap
3. Schedule is brutal 

[BullsandBroncos]

Optimism- 

 

1) Sean Payton 

 

2) Vastly improved OL

 

3) our draft didn't have first round pick but gave us talented players at positions of need

 

Pessimism-

 

1) Russell Wilson

2) WR depth is already gone.

3) Injury prone pass rushers 

[The BILLievers]

Optimism:

1. McDermott is calling the defensive plays. A much more aggressive DC that'll have Von Miller, Leonard Floyd, Ed Oliver, Greg Rousseau and Matt Milano to pass rush with. McDermott was not happy with how the defense has been performing in the playoffs (soft).  
2. Josh Allen is 100% healthy. He barely practiced last season with his UCL elbow injury. Expecting a monster year if he stays healthy. 
3. Offensive additions / upgrades.  Dalton Kincaid has been one of the early MVP's of training camp. Added LG Connor McGovern from Cowboys. Drafted a 2nd round RG. Gabe Davis is 100% healthy after battling an ankle sprain all year. James Cook is looking like a 3 down back this year.  

Pessimism: 

1. Playing in a loaded division. Jets and Dolphins are improved. Every division game will be tough. 
2. Ken Dorsey. He's a young up and coming OC and was handpicked by Josh Allen but I would like to see him open up the playbook a little more. It was his first year as an OC last season so hopefully he learned a thing or two. 
3. Health/age of the secondary. Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde and Tre White are all very good/elite at their position but are getting up there in age and have battling some injuries'. 

[Jeezla]

Optimism

1. Those Kelly Greens look sweet
2. Above average or better talent across the board, aside from LB and safety. 
3. Gannon is gone
4. Top 5 HC in the NFL
5. Howie will probably make another trade for a big name before the trade deadline.

Pessimism

1. Much tougher schedule vs last year, assuming our opponents stay healthy
2. New OC. I think this forum agrees that QB's usually take off in year 2 of the same system/OC? Hurts finally had that last year, but now he's back to year 1 under a new OC.
3. Losing Hargrave and CGJ. Jalen Carter is awesome, but he's a rookie. Hargrave was a proven commodity, and easily our best pass rushing interior DL in addition to being solid vs the run. CGJ balled out for us. I thought he'd be, at worst, 2nd team all-pro before getting injured. He was by far our best safety and turnover machine.
4. Aging defensive stars. Slay's play, imo, fell off the final 4ish weeks of the regular season and during the playoffs last season. Cox started falling off 2 years ago despite the sack numbers looking solid on paper. B Graham is 35. We have talented rookies to spell Cox and Graham, but they'll probably be hitting the "rookie wall" right around the same time Cox/Graham/Slay are hitting the veteran wall.
5. Our LB unit might be the worst in the league. 

[jofos]

Optimism:

1. Defense should be good. Lots of versatility in the secondary and a solid pass rush

2. Rhamondre Steveson had a great year last year and there is no reason to think that he won't at least have a solid year this year.

3. Using a lot of two TE sets: Bill O'Brien's offensive system should give the Patriots flexibility in both the run game and passing game. (however only have two TEs)

Pessimism

1. Mac Jones: You hear a lot about Jones great rookie year, but it wasn't great it was a good year for a rookie. I know there were issues with the offense last year, but Jones made terrible decision, there was no plays that were designed for Jones to throw to the other team. Jones is basically Davis Mills on a better team.

2. Offensive line: This group could actually be a good group, but at this point there is only one starter practicing. 

3. Schedule: One of the toughest schedules in the NFL. If things go wrong early I am not sure the team can recover.

[Forge]

Optimism for the 49ers: 

1. Top to bottom is probably a top 5-7 roster in the league. 

2. Getting AA back for the year and adding Hargrave should help a moribund interior pass rush from last year. It was legit awful. Hargrave had more pressures last year for the eagles than all of the interior pass rushers combined for the niners minus AA  (who missed half of the season). 

3. The team is reasonably set up to withstand QB injuries. I don't really feel a ton more comfortable with QB1 than I do QB3 right now. 

 

Pessimism for the 49ers: 

1. Brock Purdy could easily regress in a couple of ways which would have an outsized impact because of the leash I think he's likely to get if he's not great. I think the team could wait 8-9 games to move off him even if he's struggling. 

2. Its the niners. We know injuries are going to hit somewhere. My current fear is Nick Bosa, who hasn't shown up to camp while his pending "highest paid NFL defender in the league" contract is being worked through. I have no doubt that Bosa is staying in shape and whatnot, but hold outs always seem to carry some high risk of tissue injuries and the like, and if you told me in 6 months that Bosa missed 7 games this year for various ailments, I wouldn't be surprised. 

3. Travel schedule is not great this year. 

 

[aceinthehouse]

On 7/31/2023 at 4:08 PM, RaidersAreOne said:

What are the top factors you think will make your team a threat this season? What will be the main aspects holding you back?

Optimism

1. New Ownership= Home Stadium might actually feel like a home game. Maybe the players will feed off that?
2. New QB & OC= Sam Howell is only 22 & Eric Bienemy is the OC. Both are unknowns to NFL foes as a pair. This could bode well for Washington early on in the schedule, before teams adjust. 
3. Defense= This Defense has the potential to be top 5 sick. If they reach that potential, they're going to make Sam Howell's job much easier. Im talking Turnover Differential, short field positions for the Offense & Defensive scores.

Pessimism

1. Offensive Line= It might be the worst in the NFL. If the coaching staff can find a way to make them look average? I'll be extremely surprised & impressed.
2. Riverboat Ron= I really hope Bienemy is in his ear everytime he wants to go for it on 4th & 4 in FG range because the analytics says so...
3. Schedule= Gonna be tough, even if we play well.

 

[stl4life07]

Optimism

1. McVay with a healthy Stafford, Kupp, and Donald
2. An improved OL with Akers finishing the season on fire and entering this season with confidence. So I think the running game should be alot better to help the passing game out. 
3. This team under McVay hasnt had back to back bad seasons. They havent missed the playoffs in back to back seasons. Everyone writing them off for dead which leads them to have motivation to prove everyone wrong and they have the right people in place to do so.

Pessimism

1. Injuries. Last season was the worst injury season under McVay. Stafford is tough but he also has alot of injuries and miles on built on his body. He feels the best he has felt in years but we know once football season starts and he take some shots things can change.
2. Young defense. I think the defense will be a very weak spot of the team. They are young and while I do think they will improve as the season goes on early on it could cost them games that they should win. And even when they improve as the season goes along they will never be mistaken for a top 10-12 defense. I just hope at best they are middle of the pack.
3. Special teams. The defense will be a weak spot the special teams is the weak spot. Special teams definitely can cost teams games. I wish the Rams wouldve kept Gay and it could come back to hunt them. The Rams havent been great overall on special teams in years and this by far personnel wise doesnt look good.