At The Quarter - What Keeps Us from Being A Likely Playoff Team THIS Year?

[mgteich]

Yeah this years schedule is possibly the softest schedule I’ve ever seen. The Steelers were the third toughest opponent on the whole season’s schedule.

The Patriots should make the playoffs this year.

OK, you don't believe power rankings.

Per the above, we have these higher than us (5 games plus PIT)
PIT
BUF
BUF
TB
BAL
ATL

2-2 CURRENT
6-2 AGAINST EIGHT LOWER
1-4 AGAINST TEAMS HIGHER
=====
9-8 TOTAL

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Yep, see my above. 5 is still pretty good.

So much info out there nowadays. Insta, FB, X…..problem is you look and it’s gone, and my memory isn’t great, but at least I got the 7 right!
Like you said, 5 is pretty good, light years better than what we’ve all had to endure the past few years.

 

[JoeSixPat]

What's stopping us?

Consistency - across the board.

We have a QB who can make any throw as a savvy pocket passer or runner and we also have a QB who makes rookie mistakes like holding on to the ball too long at times, getting strip sacked and throwing low enough to have a ball tipped at the LOS. Depending on which one shows up we will win or lose.

We have multiple RBs who can both run and catch passes, and we have multiple RBs with fumbling issues and even getting multiple holding penalties when blocking somehow - depending on which show up we will win or lose.

On D we have players who are seemingly unable to tackle in some games and completely on the ball, penalty free in others, dominating while allowing the offense to score over 40 unanswered points - and Ds that let juggernauts like the Dolphins walk all over them for nearly 30 points.

If the better guys show up they can beat anyone. If the other guys show up they won't beat anyone.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Why we could miss the playoffs: we have less collective talent on our roster than almost all of the other teams in the NFL

Why we might still make it: schedule is jam packed with most of the other teams sorely lacking talent and we do seem to have competence at QB and good coaching which can go a long way in winning individual games against those teams

Before we're a solidified playoff team with real potential to win games once in, still need comprehensive talent upgrades across the roster.

 

[signbabybrady]

If Marcus, Gibby, and Henderson keep returning punts and kicks like this that very much could be an x factor that we could ride way further than we might think. Our STs in 01 contributed a lot but an even better example would be the Hester lead Bears in 06.

 

[manxman2601]

Ask me after the Bills game so I can be confident the Panthers wasn't an aberration. If we play against the Bills, even if we lose closely, like we did against the Panthers, then a playoff spot is more than possible, if we play like we did against the Steelers and Raiders then quite a lot likely prevents us from a playoff spot because none of the problems would have been fixed.

 

[jboston19]

Depth is the biggest issue, I’d say, followed by not learning to play good, consistent football on a steady upwards track. If they continue to progress on the latter, that’s huge but we’re only a key injury or two away from disaster.

 

[Ring 6]

OK, you don't believe power rankings.

Per the above, we have these higher than us (5 games plus PIT)
PIT
BUF
BUF
TB
BAL
ATL

2-2 CURRENT
6-2 AGAINST EIGHT LOWER
1-4 AGAINST TEAMS HIGHER
=====
9-8 TOTAL

Who “believes in power rankings”?
You don’t because you have us losing to 2 teams below us for some strange reason.

 

[Ring 6]

Why we could miss the playoffs: we have less collective talent on our roster than almost all of the other teams in the NFL

Why we might still make it: schedule is jam packed with most of the other teams sorely lacking talent and we do seem to have competence at QB and good coaching which can go a long way in winning individual games against those teams

Before we're a solidified playoff team with real potential to win games once in, still need comprehensive talent upgrades across the roster.

That just isn’t true. Talent level on this team, especially at key positions (qb, Lt, dl, cb) is fine.

 

[50-yard-line]

To answer the question posed: the loss to the Steelers.

The Pats were dominant in that game and gave it away. It could cost them a playoff spot this year, maybe to the Steelers.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

That just isn’t true. Talent level on this team, especially at key positions (qb, Lt, dl, cb) is fine.

Every team has talent. Line up our best player against every teams best player, 2nd vs 2nd, 3rd vs 3rd, etc… we drop off compared to the rest of the league pretty quick. They did a good job this offseason of getting baseline talent level across the board compared to the total slop we had the last few years, but the second and third waves of talent on our roster are still inadequate compared the vast majority of teams.

 

[TheRainMaker]

The losses to the Raiders and Steelers were brutal as they were both winnable games. It would a loss to Buffalo (a likely AFC contender) easier to take. Losing a 3rd game in the AFC this early is not what we want. These next 3 weeks against the Bills, Titans and Browns are big.

 

[JoeSixPat]

PFF gives us a 38% chance of making the playoffs and a 1% chance of winning the Super Bowl.

So yes, there's a chance.

NFL Week 5 Power Rankings: Ravens fall, Giants rise

The Bills remain atop the PFF Power Rankings entering Week 5.

www.pff.com

 

[Ring 6]

Every team has talent. Line up our best player against every teams best player, 2nd vs 2nd, 3rd vs 3rd, etc… we drop off compared to the rest of the league pretty quick. They did a good job this offseason of getting baseline talent level across the board compared to the total slop we had the last few years, but the second and third waves of talent on our roster are still inadequate compared the vast majority of teams.

Not true at all. We may not line up well against the top tier in that way, but we do against most teams. The “second and third waves” are not close to inadequate compared to most teams.
You have a misconception in your mind, or you just aren’t a god evaluator.

 

[Kdo5]

AT THE QUARTER -
What keeps us from being a likely playoff team THIS year?

Defense and turnovers are the biggest concern.

 

[Wozzy]

Mistakes and/or health…

Stay healthy first. All 32 teams have this is common. Injury in the great equalizer.

Secondly play clean, don’t turn it over, limit penalties, play smart coverages, don’t beat yourselves… this is a playoff team.

 

[mike_usagisan]

We have to beat the bad teams we should beat (Saints, Browns, Falcons) and show up in the games where we're not expected to win (Bucs, Ravens, Bills).

 

[Zoomnbyu]

I mean, we aren't that good is the issue. We can beat the absolute worst team convincingly, but we also were in dogfights with the Raiders, Dolphins and Steelers. Those are teams that going into the season would be viewed as some of the easier midtier games on our schedule. The fact that those are 50/50 games means that playoffs are uncertain

We weren't in a dogfight with the Steelers. We were in a dogfight with ourselves holding onto the football.

 

[lancerman]

We weren't in a dogfight with the Steelers. We were in a dogfight with ourselves holding onto the football.

I mean that's kinda worse

 

[Dec54]

Sam the troll spikes Drake's drink