What is the expectation for next season?

[Mitchrapp]

Unfortunately I think the Lions lucked out a little bit this year

Rams and Bucs - both were expected to be fighting for a playoff spot/division title and both took nose dives
Bears - Cutler got hurt and their season fell apart from there
Eagles - Were a pre-season favorite to at least make the playoffs and they couldn't get it together this year
Cowboys - Probably could've been better record-wise

But that's the craziness that is the middle-pack of the NFL

Bucs only from the so called experts. They didn't best anyone last season so it was a no brainer to me they wouldn't compete. Same with Rams.

Eagles might have been pre-season favorites but it was their fault they sucked.

But Dallas didn't. The Redskins probably could have been better too.

We lucked out with Chicago though but it didn't effect the games Detroit won.

 

[sunnydlitex123]

We will lose more talent than we gain and win 9 or 10 games and just miss the playoffs

 

[Mitchrapp]

Who we lose? Guarantee we gain more talent, from FA and draft. We might lose Avril, might. Who else? No one.

 

[zyxt9]

Hard for a team that is still improving to lose more talent than they gain. They may very well lose some guys who started this year, but that isn't to say they won't be replaced by even better players.

 

[everyoneneedsasmil]

Mitch[/color]]

Mitch, the difference between GB's consistency and our own is huge. We do not have GB's offense because we shoot ourselves in the foot too often. GB's defense is underrated because teams always had to throw to catch up (and throwing racks up yards). Our most consistent quality was our penalties.

GB isn't just a great offense and bad defense, they are a historically great offense and specialized (led the league in forcing turnovers) defense. I think the separation between least penalized and most penalized is too much to overcome when Green Bay already does everything we do better than us.

Things can change in a year. And its not like I said it'd be easy. And GB doesn't do everything better than us or they wouldn't be 32 in total yards given up.

You have to admit being ahead 95% of the time has something to do with that. Remember years ago when every backup in the league would look like Peyton Manning against our secondary, but our pass D actually ended better than our run D? It didn't mean our pass D wasn't the worst in the league, it just meant teams started running early because we were behind big right away. It works similarly with GB. Teams throw on them because they HAVE TO throw all game.

I'm not saying GB has some great defense or anything, but they were #1 overall last year and have roughly the same personnel. They have a considerably better track record than we do. How would our pass D have looked if we weren't making comebacks while opponents tried to run out the clock for a third of our games? We have a ways to go.

But look, I'm not saying it's impossible, just that it's imprudent to expect. We know where GB is right now, and it's a lot better than us. They aren't going to get worse, and could easily upgrade their O-line and get another pass-rusher opposite Matthews. We have similar O-line issues already, but we need a brand new secondary and still have to work out new contracts for Tulloch and Avril.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Yeah but they throw on them early too. Doesn't really matter though because of TO and few penalties, they're 19 in points scored. NE, 31st in total yards given up, are 14 in points against.

 

[coel73]

I would expect for them to beat a legitimately good playoff team (and make it back to the playoffs). They didn't this year but cleaned up against everyone else, and I'm good with that.