Well my predictions are as follows:
11-5 loss on divisional playoffs, we dominate the AFC East, we only loose to the Pats once on their field, and win all other division games, still only make it as a wild card, pretty much as the Pats this year, playoff loss to the Bengals, Perry and Johnson run us over.
On a positional analysis the offense will do like this:
QB: Pepper is ready to start come day one, he actually takes a few snaps in preseason, but takes the first three games off since its an easy schedule, once he takes over he absolutely rules torching opposing defenses. He turns in very nice numbers with 3350 passing yds (in 13 games played) 26 TDs 10 Ints and a 92 QB Rating, he doesnt rush as much since plays will not break as often, with 200 rushing yds and 4 TDs, he cuts down in the fumbles since he doesnt force plays as much. Will make the Probowl.
Harrington will start the first 3 games of the season, handling the Steelers game well enough not to loose it, though he will get severly pounded and wont finish that game handing a dificult cleanup duty to Cleo in the late 3rd quarter, we will still win the game based on Charlie Batch stunking it up even worse than our kids, Staley not cutting it on short ydg. situations, along with Cedric Wilson not cutting it as a #2. Harrington will flash 850 passing yds in three games and several cleanups, 5 TDs and 3 Ints for a 82 QB rating.
Lemmon will only see action on the forst 3 games on a very limited cleanup role, though he will nut up in the Steelers game and throw the winning TD in that game, he will turn in 180 passing yds 2 TDs, no ints for an 85 QB rating.
RBs as a unit:
Ronnie will stay healthy most of the season only missing the game prior to the BYE week and not working out in that same BYE week, will not get shut by any team in the league and will rack up 1450 rushing yds, 9 TDs and avg 4.7 ypc, to go along with his receiving skills with 350 rcv yds 29 ctchs and 4 TDs. Will make the Probowl.
Morris will have a nice season puting up nice numbers for a back up with 450 rushing yds, 4.2 ypc and 3 TDs, with 130 receiving yds 11 catches and 1 TD.
KJH will be the #3 guy seeing very limited action only racking up 120 rushing yds and avg 3.9 ypc no TD, 4 catches for 30 yds no TDs.
Minor will get cut since we have many more athletic players now and his ST spot will be taken over by a DB or WR.
Beasley will see more action as a carrier than as a blocker since we are mainly going to use 3 wide sets or double TEs, he will get 280 rushing yds and will avg 3.4 ypc and 4 TDs, he will be a short distance back and goal line.
Barnes will mainly only see action as a blocker and only in the one game Ronnie will get injured, he will be sent to the PS and brought back twice since we will need space for our incredibly deep WR corps.
WRs:
Chambers will have an awesome year, with no injuries, and clicking right in with CPep, he will rack up 83 catches for 1170 yds and 11 TDs and make the probowl again.
Booker will remain a big play guy and will be more utilized this year, puting up 59 catches for 860 yds and 5 TDs, though Saban will like what he sees in Hagan and Aromashodu and will shop Booker for an early 3rd, late second due to his high salary, hard to tell if a trade partner will budge if not he isnt getting cut...
Hagan will share the #3 spot with Welker and Campbell though in the depth chart he will still win it, since he will be sharing time with the other 2 he will only show flashes, being used mostly in the slot in the redzone to take advantage of his size against smaller nickelbacks. he will get 24 grabs for 330 yds and 4 Tds.
Welker he will be the 4 in the depth chart though you can make a case for him being the #3 or the #5 since Campbell will see a lot of time and Welker will be more used on 3rd downs than Hagan for being more clutch. He will get 21 catches for 208 yds and no TDs. On ST he will also share a lot of his reps with Aromashodu and Campbell.
Campbell will be fighting Welker for a roster spot the offseason after this, once Hagan develops I thing that Campbells strengths will be more usefull since Hagans build and leaping ability should make him a very realiable target, so we will value Campbells speed much better than Welkers clutch. Campbell will rackup 11 catches for 190 yds and 1 long TD.
Aromashodu will be on PS and will be activated twice in the year, he will show himself nicely with 4 catches for 90 yds and wil be our best KR/PR which will finally put the final nail in Welkers coffin.
Gibson will stay in PS and will never see the field.
Overall we will carry 6 rcvrs for a part of the season and will not carry more than 1 fullback for the most part of it since we will play 3 wide most the time, though one of the six is getting the axe, and its either we get something back for Booker, or we keep him and trade or cut Welker.
Well here is the rest of the offense.
TEs:
Randy McMichael will solidify himself as a top 10 receiving TE but unfortunately due to the other TEs in the conference he will not make the Probowl. He will get about 55 catches and 650 yds and 4 TDs. He will also see some action out of the backfield as an H-Back blocking and catching of the backfield, of course not carrying the ball, will get injured for 2 or 3 games.
Justin Peele will be a solid backup and blocker, will amnt 19 catches for 220 yds and no TD, and will do fine a the starter when McMike goes down, will be extremely effective being a lead blocker in a FB role, playing some H-Back as well.
Teyo Johnson, will do fine as a beckup during the time McMike is injured will get 5 catches for 49 yds and no TD, will not be usewd in the backfield, and wont be relied on in any blocking situations, anticipating his bad blocking skills. He will spend like 10 weeks in PS.
Oline:
Well we got to the most interesting part of the Offense, where we will see a lot of shuffling, I will go over it as a unit, not individually.
Shelton, Pearson, McIntosh, Alabi, Carey will all be tried at LT but Shelton lacks the concentration to passblock against the elite quick passrushers, though he will be a steady, reliable starter at RT, where his run blocking will earn him a contract extension, Pearson will be pushed around by bigger DEs and will struggle mightly in the running game, McIntosh well he will just be back to his old self, with his athletic limitations, Alabi while effective in the passing game, will have the same limitations than Pearson plus he basicly is a rookie, who never played big time football in college and will not be able to focus, incurring on penaltys and loosing concentration off the snap, Carey is the better suited of that group, but Saban and Houck simply cringe at the fact of starting McKinney/Anderson at RG, at the end at week 4 or 5 or maybe after the BYE week they will take the chances and start Toledo, whose time playing on a big conference and smarts allow him to adapt quickly and showcase his insane athleticism, Houcks teachings of the basics are simply all a guy his size and speed require, Toledo becomes the franchise LT this team has been crying for since Richmond Webb.
After the LT saga the rest of the oline is pretty solid as a unit, and pretty big and physical as well, I expect the winning unit goes like this:
LT
Toledo
Pearson
Alabi (sent back and forth from PS)
LG
James
McKinney
C
Hadnot
Smith
RG
Carey
Anderson
RT
Shelton
McIntosh
In the offseason McKinney is required to take a paycut, same as Anderson, both do, and also get extensions to stay as backups, Pearson is cut in next years TC when Alabi reaches his full potential and beats him to the backup LT spot.
Well Im finished with the offense and the Defense will follow tomorrow.
11-5 loss on divisional playoffs, we dominate the AFC East, we only loose to the Pats once on their field, and win all other division games, still only make it as a wild card, pretty much as the Pats this year, playoff loss to the Bengals, Perry and Johnson run us over.
On a positional analysis the offense will do like this:
QB: Pepper is ready to start come day one, he actually takes a few snaps in preseason, but takes the first three games off since its an easy schedule, once he takes over he absolutely rules torching opposing defenses. He turns in very nice numbers with 3350 passing yds (in 13 games played) 26 TDs 10 Ints and a 92 QB Rating, he doesnt rush as much since plays will not break as often, with 200 rushing yds and 4 TDs, he cuts down in the fumbles since he doesnt force plays as much. Will make the Probowl.
Harrington will start the first 3 games of the season, handling the Steelers game well enough not to loose it, though he will get severly pounded and wont finish that game handing a dificult cleanup duty to Cleo in the late 3rd quarter, we will still win the game based on Charlie Batch stunking it up even worse than our kids, Staley not cutting it on short ydg. situations, along with Cedric Wilson not cutting it as a #2. Harrington will flash 850 passing yds in three games and several cleanups, 5 TDs and 3 Ints for a 82 QB rating.
Lemmon will only see action on the forst 3 games on a very limited cleanup role, though he will nut up in the Steelers game and throw the winning TD in that game, he will turn in 180 passing yds 2 TDs, no ints for an 85 QB rating.
RBs as a unit:
Ronnie will stay healthy most of the season only missing the game prior to the BYE week and not working out in that same BYE week, will not get shut by any team in the league and will rack up 1450 rushing yds, 9 TDs and avg 4.7 ypc, to go along with his receiving skills with 350 rcv yds 29 ctchs and 4 TDs. Will make the Probowl.
Morris will have a nice season puting up nice numbers for a back up with 450 rushing yds, 4.2 ypc and 3 TDs, with 130 receiving yds 11 catches and 1 TD.
KJH will be the #3 guy seeing very limited action only racking up 120 rushing yds and avg 3.9 ypc no TD, 4 catches for 30 yds no TDs.
Minor will get cut since we have many more athletic players now and his ST spot will be taken over by a DB or WR.
Beasley will see more action as a carrier than as a blocker since we are mainly going to use 3 wide sets or double TEs, he will get 280 rushing yds and will avg 3.4 ypc and 4 TDs, he will be a short distance back and goal line.
Barnes will mainly only see action as a blocker and only in the one game Ronnie will get injured, he will be sent to the PS and brought back twice since we will need space for our incredibly deep WR corps.
WRs:
Chambers will have an awesome year, with no injuries, and clicking right in with CPep, he will rack up 83 catches for 1170 yds and 11 TDs and make the probowl again.
Booker will remain a big play guy and will be more utilized this year, puting up 59 catches for 860 yds and 5 TDs, though Saban will like what he sees in Hagan and Aromashodu and will shop Booker for an early 3rd, late second due to his high salary, hard to tell if a trade partner will budge if not he isnt getting cut...
Hagan will share the #3 spot with Welker and Campbell though in the depth chart he will still win it, since he will be sharing time with the other 2 he will only show flashes, being used mostly in the slot in the redzone to take advantage of his size against smaller nickelbacks. he will get 24 grabs for 330 yds and 4 Tds.
Welker he will be the 4 in the depth chart though you can make a case for him being the #3 or the #5 since Campbell will see a lot of time and Welker will be more used on 3rd downs than Hagan for being more clutch. He will get 21 catches for 208 yds and no TDs. On ST he will also share a lot of his reps with Aromashodu and Campbell.
Campbell will be fighting Welker for a roster spot the offseason after this, once Hagan develops I thing that Campbells strengths will be more usefull since Hagans build and leaping ability should make him a very realiable target, so we will value Campbells speed much better than Welkers clutch. Campbell will rackup 11 catches for 190 yds and 1 long TD.
Aromashodu will be on PS and will be activated twice in the year, he will show himself nicely with 4 catches for 90 yds and wil be our best KR/PR which will finally put the final nail in Welkers coffin.
Gibson will stay in PS and will never see the field.
Overall we will carry 6 rcvrs for a part of the season and will not carry more than 1 fullback for the most part of it since we will play 3 wide most the time, though one of the six is getting the axe, and its either we get something back for Booker, or we keep him and trade or cut Welker.
Well here is the rest of the offense.
TEs:
Randy McMichael will solidify himself as a top 10 receiving TE but unfortunately due to the other TEs in the conference he will not make the Probowl. He will get about 55 catches and 650 yds and 4 TDs. He will also see some action out of the backfield as an H-Back blocking and catching of the backfield, of course not carrying the ball, will get injured for 2 or 3 games.
Justin Peele will be a solid backup and blocker, will amnt 19 catches for 220 yds and no TD, and will do fine a the starter when McMike goes down, will be extremely effective being a lead blocker in a FB role, playing some H-Back as well.
Teyo Johnson, will do fine as a beckup during the time McMike is injured will get 5 catches for 49 yds and no TD, will not be usewd in the backfield, and wont be relied on in any blocking situations, anticipating his bad blocking skills. He will spend like 10 weeks in PS.
Oline:
Well we got to the most interesting part of the Offense, where we will see a lot of shuffling, I will go over it as a unit, not individually.
Shelton, Pearson, McIntosh, Alabi, Carey will all be tried at LT but Shelton lacks the concentration to passblock against the elite quick passrushers, though he will be a steady, reliable starter at RT, where his run blocking will earn him a contract extension, Pearson will be pushed around by bigger DEs and will struggle mightly in the running game, McIntosh well he will just be back to his old self, with his athletic limitations, Alabi while effective in the passing game, will have the same limitations than Pearson plus he basicly is a rookie, who never played big time football in college and will not be able to focus, incurring on penaltys and loosing concentration off the snap, Carey is the better suited of that group, but Saban and Houck simply cringe at the fact of starting McKinney/Anderson at RG, at the end at week 4 or 5 or maybe after the BYE week they will take the chances and start Toledo, whose time playing on a big conference and smarts allow him to adapt quickly and showcase his insane athleticism, Houcks teachings of the basics are simply all a guy his size and speed require, Toledo becomes the franchise LT this team has been crying for since Richmond Webb.
After the LT saga the rest of the oline is pretty solid as a unit, and pretty big and physical as well, I expect the winning unit goes like this:
LT
Toledo
Pearson
Alabi (sent back and forth from PS)
LG
James
McKinney
C
Hadnot
Smith
RG
Carey
Anderson
RT
Shelton
McIntosh
In the offseason McKinney is required to take a paycut, same as Anderson, both do, and also get extensions to stay as backups, Pearson is cut in next years TC when Alabi reaches his full potential and beats him to the backup LT spot.
Well Im finished with the offense and the Defense will follow tomorrow.
