In my view it's interesting to discuss how good this team actually is. It's not about throwing cold water on optimistic fans or arguing with pessimistic fans, but about discussing the one thing that most of us really care a lot about.
When it comes to our post-season chances, it's true that only the record matters and not everything else. However, we still have 14 games to play and how we should expect to play in our remaining games is informed by how we played in the first three, and that is far, far more complex than just looking at our record.
Personally, I don't know that we have learned all that much from our first three games yet:
- We all knew our receiver room was stacked, and most of us thought Geno could produce with them when kept clean.
- Our new defensive personnel up the middle has been vastly improved, but most of us expected (or hoped) for that.
- Many people thought we had a hole at RG, and our pass protection has been extremely shaky particularly at RG.
- It looks like Mafe and Hall have both taken leaps forwards, but the opposing offenses have also been unquestionably bad.
- Cross has played better than I expected, but some of that could be defensive fronts focusing on our obvious weaknesses at the other positions.
I really like this matchup against the Lions because I think we'll get a much better understanding in a lot of key areas. How we handle Hutchinson, how we defend the middle of the field against Goff, whether our run defense can stand up to the Lions focus on running the ball, whether our edge rushers can still get pressure against Penei Sewell and Taylor Decker, etc. We could lose on MNF and if we play well then I'll still be encouraged about the remainder of the season, or vice versa.
When it comes to our post-season chances, it's true that only the record matters and not everything else. However, we still have 14 games to play and how we should expect to play in our remaining games is informed by how we played in the first three, and that is far, far more complex than just looking at our record.
Personally, I don't know that we have learned all that much from our first three games yet:
- We all knew our receiver room was stacked, and most of us thought Geno could produce with them when kept clean.
- Our new defensive personnel up the middle has been vastly improved, but most of us expected (or hoped) for that.
- Many people thought we had a hole at RG, and our pass protection has been extremely shaky particularly at RG.
- It looks like Mafe and Hall have both taken leaps forwards, but the opposing offenses have also been unquestionably bad.
- Cross has played better than I expected, but some of that could be defensive fronts focusing on our obvious weaknesses at the other positions.
I really like this matchup against the Lions because I think we'll get a much better understanding in a lot of key areas. How we handle Hutchinson, how we defend the middle of the field against Goff, whether our run defense can stand up to the Lions focus on running the ball, whether our edge rushers can still get pressure against Penei Sewell and Taylor Decker, etc. We could lose on MNF and if we play well then I'll still be encouraged about the remainder of the season, or vice versa.
