I feel like last year, we had the blueprint on offense to help a struggling defense, and underachieved. Our defense is struggling, no doubt. But we have the potential to maybe get better as the season progresses. I think this team needs to place an emphasis on scoring every time they have the ball. There is no faith that the defense can stop anyone. We debated this Spring about averaging 27 points a game, and how going from 22-23, was a huge leap. I feel we almost by force have to be in the 30's. I am hoping that despite a really bad defense, we can solidify the OL and just be a juggernaut on offense. At least we would be fun to watch. The thing about having a sophisticated and talented offense in the NFL, you need one opposing you to win. In other words, our defense maybe bad, but if offenses aren't as good as ours, we can have the "outscore them mentality." Look, we are who we are. I have accepted the defense being really bad, but a potential work in progress. But this team offensively, Parker, Stills, Ajayi, Landry, our TE's, Williams, Drake, Grant and Carroo, with Cutler being more formidable in the offense, I feel is just as good as anyone in the NFL. I think we have "stick movers." I also think if we can just be productive on first down ( we were fourth last year) https://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-yards-per-first-down-attempt/2016/ that we can stay on the field longer, another lesson learned from last year. These next two weeks will be so important, between Cutler getting terminology and timing down, getting healthier and maybe picking up some free agents, Miami has an opportunity to just go with their strengths and outscore teams. There are some susceptibilities, and if we get pressure on the outside we could turn the ball over. I am hoping they clean that up
I usually save my predictions for the last week of preseason after the 4th game because I really want to see how pieces tend to fit together. This year was supposed to be the exception since the entire offense was returning and in great shape (besides a few linemen), yet the RT injury threw all that on the chopping block. I was against grabbing Cutler at first because it meant Moore would sit the bench...now in hindsight that was a fantastic move. I really think we have the POTENTIAL to win 16 games this year in the regular season. As I said earlier, our defense just has to be average....16th across the board in run d, pass d, points allowed, etc. and I think we're a 16-0 team. That obviously won't happen consistently but I think it's a good measuring stick for what we need to achieve each week. On the flip side, I think we'd have to be a top 3 offense to go 16-0 and that's probably the more realistic route with Cutler and company- I just about guarantee that we blow some teams out of the water (AKA NY Jets by 40+, etc.). I do think we finally match up well with the KC's and NE's of the league though and have a chance of outscoring them consistently. Realistically, I'm expecting this to be an 11-12 win team and I see us going to the conference finals and/or the Super Bowl...this is going to be a phenomenal season! If we manage to lock up Landry after this year then it's only going to get better as well since the focus will stay on defense and a few offensive linemen to build through a system. In other words, I think we're on the verge of being the 2005 Patriots and getting ready to have that legacy team that just keeps pumping out talent (and rings) for years to come.
