Quote:
Originally Posted by rm1369
They are not significantly underachieving from what should have been expected this season. In the short term, excluding the change at QB with Luck’s return, the roster is simply worse than last years roster. And it’s significantly less experienced. The coaching is also inexperienced (in their current roles) and hasn’t been above scrutiny, but the biggest issue is that they are simply a talent deficient and inexperienced team. Throw in a large number of early injuries and they are right around what should be expected for the path Ballard has chosen. You hope they start to show better the second half of the season as things, hopefully, start to gel.
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I absolutely disagree with this. This roster is better than last year, even excluding Luck. On offense last year, we were ranked somewhere around 29th-31st depending upon the stat utilized for the measurement (points per game, yards per game, etc.). This year we are mid-pack, somewhere between 10th and 17th depending upon the stat you look at. I realize Luck has a lot to do with this, but I’m not sure how you remove him and come up with any sort of reliable conclusion. I’ll just say this: last year we had Dante Moncrief and Kamar Aiken as our 2nd and 3rd WRs, who together accounted for 91 catches and 2 TDs between them. This year’s 2nd and 3rd receivers, Ryan Grant and Chester Rodgers, despite the drops, are on pace for 144 catches and 5.3 TD catches. Now, you can complain that we didn’t resign Moncreif, but that would be ironic because you’d have been hard pressed to find support for that idea this offseason, when Jacksonville paid him $10 million. Oh, we also didn’t have Ebron, who is on pace for 16 TD receptions this year.
Please demonstrate to me that more than half of the players on this year’s offense are worse than their counterpart last year – I think you’d have a hard time identifying more than 1 or 2.
On defense, which is largely unaffected by Luck’s presence (and yes, I realize the offense can impact how often the defense is on the field), we are ranked in the mid-20s even after the last two high scoring games. Last year, by contrast, we were in the high 20s or low 30s depending upon the stat. We are averaging 3.2 sacks and 1.7 turnovers per game this year, versus 1.6 sacks and 1.25 turnovers last year. We are also younger, cheaper and have significantly more upside than last year’s squad.
Again, please demonstrate to me that more than half the defensive players are worse this year than last.
The only possible argument that last year’s team was better is the team record – 2-4 vs. 1-5. But we’ve all seen the games involved, and I can’t imagine last year’s team would be any better than 1-5 with this year's schedule (they may have beaten the Jets, but we should have this year as well).