Voted B, because turning it around after one bad season is never something I'm going to bet on. It's entirely possible, but the most likely outcome is it takes a few years before we're back in contention (if we're able to... this league is fickle and the other teams get paid to improve their teams too).
That said, in 99% of years that have three wild cards, 10 wins will get you in the dance. So we need to improve by three wins next year. It won't make us Super Bowl contenders, but it's a step. And where people see a lot of holes in the roster, I see a team with a lot of cap space and some decent draft capital that has a lot of areas that could be made better without any unrealistic circumstances:
1) Get even a league average QB - A Jimmy G or better would be great, but even a mid level veteran or a rookie who hits the ground running would be an improvement over what we got from Cam this past year. This might be the toughest (or at least the hardest one to predict right now).
2) Get some big uglies on the D-Line. This sures up the run defense, which gets our secondary (still the strength of the D) into more 3rd and longs.
3) Get ANY increased production out of WR and TE. This is one of those things that goes hand in hand with whoever the new QB is, but it's an area that has nowhere to go but up.
4) Improvement from young players. I put this lower on the list because I feel like this is often balanced out by regression from older players. For example, Dugger may improve, but does McCourty take a step back? Neither is guaranteed, but both are possible, so it's hard to count on either one. But I feel like there are more 2nd and 3rd year players on this team that I have hope for, than there are old vets (who played last year) that I expect to fall off the cliff.
5) Theoretically, for the first time in a while, this team should have an easier schedule than Buffalo or Miami. But that's always deceptive looking that far ahead, so a minor boon if there is one.
All this said, there's hope. I feel like Patfanken says this all the time and I agree 100%: The differences in this league are never as monumental as they seem to be. The talent difference between the best and worst teams isn't as big as people think. It isn't going to take a total roster purge to win three more games next year and get a taste of the postseason again, and as Parcells used to say, "Just get in the dance then see what happens."
