Positives:
- Ten Wins: Found a way to get ten.
- Myles Gaskin - he's got a bigger role than he should based on his physical ability, but he has a sound all around and basically never makes a bad decision.
- Sacks/TFL - team's defense had a lot of games where we lived in the opponents backfield. This despite the lack of blue chip talent anywhere in the front 7.
- Andrew Van Ginkle - he really came on late in the season. He is a blue collar playmaker in the mold of those Patriot defenders for years.
- Tunovers - this team has an insane takeaway streak going and turnovers were the deciding factor in a number of wins. Some believe turnovers just happen...I know well enough that while everyone gets lucky on occasion, getting a lot of turnovers comes from mentality, execution, and awareness.
- Xavien Howard - 10 interceptions. Should be DPOY but we know it won't happen. In this day and age, where QBs are so protected and you basically can't play receivers, that number is astounding.
- Mike Gesicki - he'll never be a complete tight end and is basically a glorified slot receiver, but he is a playmaker.
- Offensive line - they were inconsistent, but given how many of the snaps went to rookies, and how difficult this year must have been for the rookies, they give more reason for optimism than not, and they were certainly more encouraging overall than some lines we've seen in the last decade...ones that had less potential for growth.
- Raekown Davis, Zack Sieler, Ogbah - good contributions for their role.
- Jason Sanders - money overall. Best player outside of X.
- We "earned" the number three pick in the draft. The Jets did not "earn" #1, though Tank for Tua should have really proven the fallacy of projecting any QB as sure game changer when they are entering less than ideal environments.
- The Patriots didn't make the playoffs
Forgive me if I missed any.
Negatives:
- team wilted with playoffs on the line - Most consider the path of a rebuilding team an upward slope. That's not always the case. In Philbin's second year we were one win away from the playoffs and that was the high water mark of his tenure. When you miss the playoffs with ample opportunity to get in, it cast a huge negative stigma on your entire season. While the key points in the season for many will be the upset loss to Denver and the awful finale versus the Bills, for me an equally devestating, telling moment was the defensive sequence at the end of the Kansas City game when we decided to not cover their receivers in a 4 minute offense. It was a game-losing coaching decision that makes one worry about ability to get over the hump. Regardless of what the expectation was before the season, there were some elements to the end of the season that reeked of Joe Philbin football.
- 10 wins are probably misleading - this season felt a lot like 2005, 2008, and 2016. We had a schedule featuring a lot of the worst teams in the league in the middle of our season, which allowed us to build momentum. Except for the Broncos, we beat the teams we were supposed to. That's what good coaching and solid fundamentals can do. But beating teams like the Burrow-less Bengals and the winless Jets (2x) in unspectacular fashion doesn't make you good. We may end the year with one win against a winning team, and even that a maddeningly inconsistent one this year. We'll have to be a lot better next year to come close to this win total.
- Tua - QB did not progress as hoped. A rookie QB will be arookie, but you hope that the one you see by the end of the year is showing much better than in his first few starts. I'm not share anyone outside of the cult could deny the regression here. Early on he succeeded with good red zone play and taking care of the football. After a few starts that disappeared. As a QB in this league teams will find out what you do well and do their best to take that away and force you to adjust. Tua just did not come in with doing that much well, and when that was taken away he was pretty hopeless.
- Playmakers - regardless of QB this team just did not have that much offensive firepower. That is clearly apparent.
- Big coaching decisions - while the staff will be lauded for getting ten wins "ahead of schedule" due to gameday performance I'm still concerned about the big picture decisions. The qb situation last year and this year leaves lots of room for questions, and while the staff seems to excel at getting the best from average players, they haven't really drafted a top level player yet either. It helps to get good contributions from end of the draft players like Gaskin, but when you tear your team down to the foundation you need to get potential greatness somewhere in the draft. Player usage dating back to last year is also questionable, though at least they solidified that on defense this year.
- Inconsistent defense - while we won 10 games with our defense being our occasionally dominant unit, it didn't deliver outside of select spurts in big games. Like our path to 10 wins, the defense was buoyed by many opposing quarterbacks who were immensely suspect to our cover 0 type looks. Against QBs not suspect to our ability to create pressure through scheme our defense just disappeared. We need more talent that can win one on one which requires hitting on a draft pick as more than just a starter/contributor.
-Jakeem Grant - thrust into a bigger role, which is actually nothing that previous regimes haven't tried in spurts, he provided a negative contribution on the field. He's useful for a few gadget plays and maybe a return a year, but with even his returns being an adventure due to poor hands and decision making, it begs the question of how long he is for this team. Especially with him being injury prone, which goes under the radar since we're usually relieved when he's not playing.
-Haack - I'm not sure what the stats are, but when the season got down to the stretch, we were almost invariably on the short end of the field position battle due to his performance versus the opposing punter. With our inability to generate long drives or big plays this had an added importance.
- Much as fans have deluded themselves all year the Bills are not only legit but are probably AFC favorites at this point based on their quality of play over the last half of the season. There is no reason to expect a big dropoff the next few years.
Interested to hear your thoughts.
- Ten Wins: Found a way to get ten.
- Myles Gaskin - he's got a bigger role than he should based on his physical ability, but he has a sound all around and basically never makes a bad decision.
- Sacks/TFL - team's defense had a lot of games where we lived in the opponents backfield. This despite the lack of blue chip talent anywhere in the front 7.
- Andrew Van Ginkle - he really came on late in the season. He is a blue collar playmaker in the mold of those Patriot defenders for years.
- Tunovers - this team has an insane takeaway streak going and turnovers were the deciding factor in a number of wins. Some believe turnovers just happen...I know well enough that while everyone gets lucky on occasion, getting a lot of turnovers comes from mentality, execution, and awareness.
- Xavien Howard - 10 interceptions. Should be DPOY but we know it won't happen. In this day and age, where QBs are so protected and you basically can't play receivers, that number is astounding.
- Mike Gesicki - he'll never be a complete tight end and is basically a glorified slot receiver, but he is a playmaker.
- Offensive line - they were inconsistent, but given how many of the snaps went to rookies, and how difficult this year must have been for the rookies, they give more reason for optimism than not, and they were certainly more encouraging overall than some lines we've seen in the last decade...ones that had less potential for growth.
- Raekown Davis, Zack Sieler, Ogbah - good contributions for their role.
- Jason Sanders - money overall. Best player outside of X.
- We "earned" the number three pick in the draft. The Jets did not "earn" #1, though Tank for Tua should have really proven the fallacy of projecting any QB as sure game changer when they are entering less than ideal environments.
- The Patriots didn't make the playoffs
Forgive me if I missed any.
Negatives:
- team wilted with playoffs on the line - Most consider the path of a rebuilding team an upward slope. That's not always the case. In Philbin's second year we were one win away from the playoffs and that was the high water mark of his tenure. When you miss the playoffs with ample opportunity to get in, it cast a huge negative stigma on your entire season. While the key points in the season for many will be the upset loss to Denver and the awful finale versus the Bills, for me an equally devestating, telling moment was the defensive sequence at the end of the Kansas City game when we decided to not cover their receivers in a 4 minute offense. It was a game-losing coaching decision that makes one worry about ability to get over the hump. Regardless of what the expectation was before the season, there were some elements to the end of the season that reeked of Joe Philbin football.
- 10 wins are probably misleading - this season felt a lot like 2005, 2008, and 2016. We had a schedule featuring a lot of the worst teams in the league in the middle of our season, which allowed us to build momentum. Except for the Broncos, we beat the teams we were supposed to. That's what good coaching and solid fundamentals can do. But beating teams like the Burrow-less Bengals and the winless Jets (2x) in unspectacular fashion doesn't make you good. We may end the year with one win against a winning team, and even that a maddeningly inconsistent one this year. We'll have to be a lot better next year to come close to this win total.
- Tua - QB did not progress as hoped. A rookie QB will be arookie, but you hope that the one you see by the end of the year is showing much better than in his first few starts. I'm not share anyone outside of the cult could deny the regression here. Early on he succeeded with good red zone play and taking care of the football. After a few starts that disappeared. As a QB in this league teams will find out what you do well and do their best to take that away and force you to adjust. Tua just did not come in with doing that much well, and when that was taken away he was pretty hopeless.
- Playmakers - regardless of QB this team just did not have that much offensive firepower. That is clearly apparent.
- Big coaching decisions - while the staff will be lauded for getting ten wins "ahead of schedule" due to gameday performance I'm still concerned about the big picture decisions. The qb situation last year and this year leaves lots of room for questions, and while the staff seems to excel at getting the best from average players, they haven't really drafted a top level player yet either. It helps to get good contributions from end of the draft players like Gaskin, but when you tear your team down to the foundation you need to get potential greatness somewhere in the draft. Player usage dating back to last year is also questionable, though at least they solidified that on defense this year.
- Inconsistent defense - while we won 10 games with our defense being our occasionally dominant unit, it didn't deliver outside of select spurts in big games. Like our path to 10 wins, the defense was buoyed by many opposing quarterbacks who were immensely suspect to our cover 0 type looks. Against QBs not suspect to our ability to create pressure through scheme our defense just disappeared. We need more talent that can win one on one which requires hitting on a draft pick as more than just a starter/contributor.
-Jakeem Grant - thrust into a bigger role, which is actually nothing that previous regimes haven't tried in spurts, he provided a negative contribution on the field. He's useful for a few gadget plays and maybe a return a year, but with even his returns being an adventure due to poor hands and decision making, it begs the question of how long he is for this team. Especially with him being injury prone, which goes under the radar since we're usually relieved when he's not playing.
-Haack - I'm not sure what the stats are, but when the season got down to the stretch, we were almost invariably on the short end of the field position battle due to his performance versus the opposing punter. With our inability to generate long drives or big plays this had an added importance.
- Much as fans have deluded themselves all year the Bills are not only legit but are probably AFC favorites at this point based on their quality of play over the last half of the season. There is no reason to expect a big dropoff the next few years.
Interested to hear your thoughts.