Question: Are we that bad going into 202?

[steeler_george]

After week of reading ths foru, and other media about off season plans, likely free agent and draft scenarios, and second guessing what went wrong in 2019, I am starting to come around thinking, "hey, we are not that bad going into 2020."

Enough of the sky is falling, what ifs about Ben, Tomlin, Fitcner, and how we are scewed going into FA cap hell and lack of draft picks.

This isn't meant to be a cheer me up, positive thread, but a reality check...

Yeah we have our issues, but it all seems that the major culprit in 2019 was how the injury bug killed us. First with Ben, Foster, Rudolf, Conner, Snell, Samuels, Ju, JW and at one point duirng mid season we had practice squad players playing heavy doses of snaps on the O. And then we lose Rudolf again along with Pouncey.

Does our Offense still suck if we had continuity, forget if we had Ben, what if we had the same QB ( Rudolf), the same RB (Conner), the same WR tandom ( Moncrief, Switzer, JuJu, JW, DJ1, the same TEs (Vance, Crumble)...

Don't forget we even tinkled with the offensive line starting with the Rams game, then Pouncey was suspended.

Maybe if we had the majority of the pieces we could have been more creative on O...

Maybe if we had the majority of the pieces we could have improved during the season and add more complex NFL playbook out there...

Maybe if we had the majority of the pieces we could have had better reads on the Blitzs, hot routes, could it be the OL and Rudolf isn't that bad after all...


Enough of the maybes, and should have, and could haves... Injuries are part of the game. Now with all those players ( mostly all young) healthy, especially Ben and Rudolf are we that bad going forward?

[steeler_george]

typo 2020 in title!

[whatever]

Depends on if you think .500 is a good season and playoffs don't mean anything.

[hawaiiansteel]

Depends on if you think .500 is a good season and playoffs don't mean anything.

you need some new material...

[whatever]

you need some new material...

I'm waiting for Tomlin to give it to me.

[hawaiiansteel]

I'm waiting for Tomlin to give it to me.

[Ernie]

With the Raven's ascension... we realistically are in the same situation next year (fringe playoff team)... and a split with the browns is pretty much inevitable. I see us as anywhere from 7-9 to 10-6.. depending on what we lose on D.. as well as schedule strength.

[SteelBucks]

Man you all are Debbie Downers. The FO will make the necessary moves needed to be more competitive in 2020. Quit killing my optimism for the future.

[The Man of Steel]

On the plus side a lot of rookies and 2nd year guys got a lot of playing time, particularly on offense. Sure, some of them underachieved but the game experience they got certainly can’t be a bad thing.

[BURGH86STEEL]

Overall the team isn't in that bad shape. The still have a solid group of core players in which they can build around. They are limited from a salary cap perspective at this time. They can find ways to move money around to create cap space like they did in the past.

Top of the list needs to be adding a solid back up QB. They need to address the RB position. Dupree wants to test the market. I believe they can add one of the tags (transition or franchise) . OLB will need to be addressed if Dupree doesn't return.

[Northern_Blitz]

I don't think we'll be favorites to win a SB no matter what happens.

I think we'll compete for a SB if Ben is healthy and plays like an above average QB.

I think I think we'll be a good team that people don't want to play in the playoffs if Ben plays like an average QB.

I think we'll be hoping for the D to score again if Ben doesn't come back / plays like a below average QB / comes back and gets hurt.

[Buzz]

I think to get back to the playoffs, we have our work cut out for us. We wasted opportunities when we had a top-flight offense, and that may well be gone for awhile. Our defense was very good this year, but we're going to have a couple of big holes to fill in the offseason. I hope we can get it figured out. I'm feeling mildly optimistic that we will.

[whatever]

Our best chance is a wildcard.
The two wildcards now that are better than us,and on the rise, have 57 and 90 million in cap space.
Teams close to us, CLE, Indy, SD etc have at least 45, IND has 90+.
We have 1.5 and few draft picks.
Gonna be tough to sniff the playoffs for a few years.

[Ernie]

Our best chance is a wildcard.
The two wildcards now that are better than us,and on the rise, have 57 and 90 million in cap space.
Teams close to us, CLE, Indy, SD etc have at least 45, IND has 90+.
We have 1.5 and few draft picks.
Gonna be tough to sniff the playoffs for a few years.

wow.. a very interesting perspective...and i agree.

[winwithd]

Our best chance is a wildcard.
The two wildcards now that are better than us,and on the rise, have 57 and 90 million in cap space.
Teams close to us, CLE, Indy, SD etc have at least 45, IND has 90+.
We have 1.5 and few draft picks.
Gonna be tough to sniff the playoffs for a few years.

But we will also be adding a HOF QB. I doubt any of them can say that.