Regardless of who the fans want to blame for last year's fiasco and the early season struggles this year take a look at the defense that played this past weekend. Only Troy, Ike and Ryan Clark are the real veterans remaining, the rest are the players drafted to replace and infuse youth on defense, Heywarad, McClendon/Woods, Hood, Worilds, Williams, Timmons, Jones, and finally Cortez in the secondary. This was coming and it may have taken longer than what was hoped for, but the young guys have improved and are starting to play better as a unit.
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The offense has been in transition during the same time with the only real constant being Ben. The offensive line finally appears to be gelling as a unit and is keeping Ben upright, the run game still needs help, but Bell is showing he's an every down back. Ben, Miller and Cotchery are the only veterans the rest are young and gaining experience and confidence, Beachum, Velasco, Gilbert, Adams, DeCastro, Foster, Pouncey et al, Brown, Sanders, Bell, Dwyer, the roster has changed folks, this is a much younger team than they were 12 months ago.
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And, now they're finding ways to win games, unfortunately, a couple of bad losses early may be their downfall, but the future looks pretty good, let's see how they handle the pressure of Thursday night in a game that in all likelihood eliminates the losing team from the playoffs.Pappy
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