5-11. I see a rough season ahead looking at the current personnel in place on both sides of the ball. I see us being one of the NFL's worst scoring offenses yet again. We're going to have to field a top 8 scoring defense to be competitive, and I have zero faith in Matt Burke to achieve that. The Draft isn't going to change the landscape that much either. Yikes.
I agree with 5-11, even if they have a great draft. IMO, the reason will be coaching and playcalling. The offense (led by Gase) always appears to be unprepared at the start of every game, and it usually takes them until nearly half-time to get a score. It's been sickening to watch two consecutive Head Coaches who believe that the best play on 3rd and long is a short (or behind the line of scrimmage) pass. Their lame playcalling and refusal to build a physically dominating o-line is the reason why they're often in a 3rd and long situation. On defense, Burke is just as bad as Joseph, who was just as bad as Coyle. All three, coincidentally, are ex-Bengals Coaches, and all three run/ran somewhat similar defenses with strikingly similar results. It's bad enough that their defensive schemes are ineffective; what makes it even worse is the fact that each defense has been described as being built to play with a lead, but the offenses under both regimes are bumbling, slow-starting, and normally down 2 or 3 scores at the half.
It's possible that Gase will improve, as he does seem to be slightly more favorable than Philbin toward establishing a running game. Hopefully, there will be more running and throwing 20+ yards now that Landry is gone. But, if Gase just replaces Landry with Amendola and over-emphasizes the short pass again he will fail... again. As for the defense, we've seen how it didn't matter who Coyle, Joseph, or Burke had on the field, they will be ineffective because they need to change their defensive scheme and philosophy. Coyle inherited Nolan's Top 5 Rushing Defense. He changed the scheme, and in his first season using the same players his rushing defense dropped in the rankings. Philbin changed personnel and they dropped further.
Gase's regime has been nothing but an extension of the Philbin regime on both offense and defense. It's possible that he may improve the offense. But, he'll need to average 35+ points per game because the defense will not improve until they change it completely.