It's all about staying healthy and getting solid play from the qb.
Our depth is our weakness, and will be amplified early on if we have starters go down.
From a morale perspective, energy, enthusiasm and the very strong, and very clear message from Jody, whether being in the war room in the draft, or firing shots directly and publicly at Russ for his dishonesty in leaving, that the gauntlet has been thrown down. The players are hungry to prove what this team is. I think the hallmarks that made our team great in the past, we have in spades again. Commitment to one another, unit to unit, within the offense, within the defense, and between offense and defense. That hasn't been a thing since 2013.
I think the struggles in preseason are a bit overblown, both because of the number of bench guys that have had to play in a new system, and that the team isn't running a ton of their 'real' stuff. Al Woods said that pretty directly in his presser when asked what he thought was behind the defense's struggles - that they werent showing a ton.
The team can either struggle early and claw its way to stability by seasons end, or... catch lightening in a bottle with some early wins that build confidence and have them playing above their pads.
Floor 7
Ceiling 10