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With Matt Stafford finally hoisting the Lombardi trophy, the 2021 NFL season has concluded. And what a season it was! The Bengals came out of nowhere to contend for the championship for the first time in over three decades. Tom Brady lead a last surge as he secured his place as one of the greatest players of all time. Aaron Rodgers torpedoed his public reputation as he melted down over vaccines. And Jacksonville and Houston contended for the coveted title of "Biggest clownshow in professional football." With the offseason now upon us, I'd like to dive into what happened last season while it's still fresh in our minds. Where did your team start? Where did they finish? And what hope, if any, do they have for next year? I'll start with my own team: the Detroit Lions: ----- 2021 Record: 3-13-1, 4th in the NFC North. (-2 wins from previous season) Where Did They Start? In the absolute gutter. After finally canning Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn after a disastrous Thanksgiving game against the Texans, the Lions limped to a 5-11 finish. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done: Thanks to the obscenely toxic and controlling team culture cultivated by the so-called Boston Boys, most of the Lions' star players from the Caldwell years had either already been traded for peanuts (Darius Slay and Quandre Diggs), had expiring contracts with no intention to re-sign in Detroit (Marvin Jones, Kenny Golladay), or just wanted out (Matt Stafford). Offseason Moves: The first and most important thing the Lions did after their season ended was to hire a new coach and GM: Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes. Campbell, who had previously worked as an assistant head coach with the Saints, interim head coach of the Dolphins, and was a former NFL tight end, quickly made waves with his initial press conference. As we all remember, he promised that Detroit would be a relentless, gritty team that would bite off kneecaps — and this was very rapidly mocked in the national media, and many assumed Campbell would flame out rapidly. But in Detroit itself, many people latched onto Campbell, appreciating both his energy and the fact that he so clearly wanted to be here and a part of the city. Holmes, former director of college scouting with the LA Rams, made just as many waves with his first major decision as GM: What to do about Matthew Stafford. Though the most successful Lions QB since Bobby Layne, Stafford was unwilling to sit through yet another rebuild, and requested a trade. Unlike what they had done with Calvin Johnson and Barry Sanders, the Lions agreed to let go of their best player — and ultimately traded him to LA in return for two first round picks in 2022 and 2023, a third round pick in 2021, and the disgraced Jared Goff. The merits of this trade can be argued — some would say that Detroit should have instead taken the offer from the Carolina Panthers, which would have given them the 8th overall pick in 2021 and QB Teddy Bridgewater. But Holmes clearly valued the higher number of picks LA was offering, and Stafford certainly appreciated getting sent to a real contender. Once Stafford was gone, the rebuild truly began. Holmes had his work cut out for him: Thanks to the incompetence of his predecessors, the roster was filled with holes on both sides of the ball. And as part of the Stafford trade, the Lions took on much of his and Jared Goff's contract, which heavily constrained what the Lions could do in free agency. So for Brad Holmes, the offseason had two major priorities: Clearing out bloated contracts for older/mediocre players from the roster, and signing young talent that could be developed as cheaply as possible. So away went Jesse James, Justin Coleman, Danny Shelton, Desmond Trufant, and Chase Daniel. Jarrad Davis, Marvin Jones, Kenny Golladay, and Matt Prater were all left to move on in free agency. In their place came players like Tyrell Williams, Jamaal Williams, Breshad Perriman, and Alex Anzalone — decent players who could all be had on cheap, 1-2 year deals, to help fill the cracks while the rest of the team developed and the salary cap cleared out. The biggest move in free agency was re-signing pass rusher Romeo Okwara to a 3 year/$39 million deal. In the 2021 draft, the Lions used their 7th overall pick on Penei Sewell, a left tackle from Oregon. An extremely talented player, the Lions planned to use Sewell at right tackle, which caused Some Controversy. The Lions also picked up DT Levi Onwuzurike, DT Alim McNeil, CB Ifeatu Melifonwu, WE Amon-Ra St. Brown, LB Derrick Barnes, and RB Jermar Jefferson. How'd the Season Go?: Even before the season began, the Lions were struck by multiple setbacks. Most notably, Breshad Perriman failed to make the roster, leaving the thin WR corp even thinner, and franchise LT Taylor Decker broke his finger. The Lions responded by moving Penei Sewell back from RT to LT, which caused Even More Controversy over how the new regime was handling their most important draft pick. As the season began, the Lions fumbled right out of the gate. Despite an impressive comeback attempt, they lost the opener to San Francisco — and in the immediate aftermath, that attempted comeback masked just how badly the Lions had gotten trounced for most of the game. Critically, the Lions also lost WR Tyrell Williams and CB Jeff Okudah to season-ending injuries. The WR corps and secondary had already been two of the weakest parts of the Lions' roster, and the team would struggle immensely for the rest of the season in those two areas — particularly at corner, where player after player (AJ Parker, Ifeatu Melifonwu, Jerry Jacobs, and probably another dude I'm forgetting) went down to injury. What also quickly became clear was that Jared Goff was not Matthew Stafford. During the first half of the season especially, Goff struggled immensely to make reads, refused to throw downfield, constantly took bad sacks, and in general played like absolute garbage. In fairness, part of that was clearly due to the extremely weak WR corps, which lost both its starting WR1 (Williams) and WR2 (Quintez Cephus) early in the season. But Goff was also simply not throwing to guys who did make it open, which made watching games all the more frustrating. But though the Lions were clearly very, very bad, they played like hell and refused to give up. In week 3, they nearly took away their first win of the season against the Baltimore Ravens, only losing on a last-second, record-setting field goal from Justin Tucker. In Week 7, they pulled out every trick they had against the LA Rams, and nearly accomplished a stunning upset against the eventual Superbowl champions and their former quarterback. Meanwhile, Penei Sewell performed extremely well at LT despite the last-minute position swap, and rookie WR Amon-Ra St. Brown proved himself to be an effective and relentless player. But despite their valiant efforts, the Lions were constantly coming up short, and entered their Week 9 bye with a dismal 0-8 record. Many thought the Lions stood a strong chance of becoming the first team to go 0-17, and the #1 pick seemed inevitable. In response, the Lions made some adjustments. Most notably, Dan Campbell took over playcalling duties over OC Anthony Lynn, and began taking more input from TE coach Ben Johnson. The Lions also signed Josh Reynolds after he was released from Tennessee, reuniting him with Goff and bolstering the weak WR corps. Coming out of the bye, the Lions managed their first not-loss of the season, earning a tie against the Pittsburgh Steelers in an utterly miserable slog of a football game. Three weeks later, the Lions managed their first victory of the season against the Minnesota Vikings, scoring on a last-second touchdown pass from Goff to rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown. After getting blown out by the Broncos, the Lions played their best game of the season against the Arizona Cardinals, utterly dominating what to that point had been one of the best teams in the league. The biggest factor in this turnaround was Jared Goff, who managed to recover from his first-half slump with a string of decent-to-good performances, and even managed to throw legitimately good passes downfield. Ultimately, the Lions would go 3-3 in the last stretch of the season, demonstrating that they could succeed with Goff and Dan Campbell — but also that they still have a very, very long way to go before they can reach contention. Best Moment of the Season: Goff's last-second throw to Amon-Ra to claim victory over the Vikings is hard to beat. The Lions had been in position to win several of their previous games, and each one came up short. It was all too easy to believe Goff would gently caress it up again. And then, he didn't: https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1467603005742534656?s=20&t=IJ5uGlHG8o862QpZSLYVxw Worst Moment of the Season: After a heroic effort, the Lions looked like they were about to clinch their first win of the year against the Ravens, who before the season had been predicted by some to be one of the best teams in the league. Then, the defense gave up a 4th and 19, and then this happened. Because of course, if it was going to happen against any teams, it would be against the Lions. https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1442220490983157772?s=20&t=IJ5uGlHG8o862QpZSLYVxw Overall Season Grade: B It's unorthodox to call a losing season a success, much less one that ended in the second-worst record in the league, but this year wasn't about winning games — it was about laying the foundation for the years to come, both in terms of culture and players. And on that mark, the Lions were successful. The team is much more unified and energized than they ever were under Campbell, and players actually want to play here again (As opposed to fleeing at the first opportunity). Campbell made some missteps throughout the season, but he's clearly been able to learn and adapt as a coach. The roster is still filled with holes, but there are young players like Amon-Ra, Sewell, McNeil, and a few others that the Lions can clearly build around. There may be a bright future ahead of this team... if they can get the next steps right. Next Steps: Though they finished the season strong, the Lions still have a ton of holes to fill, and decisions to make. Do they take a risk on a quarterback in the upcoming draft, or do they play it safe and fill some of the gaping holes on the roster, especially on defense? Do they try and make a splash in free agency, or continue to play it safe with short/cheap contracts? And will they try and retain the players that stood out this season, like Josh Reynolds, Tracy Walker, or Charles Harris? What the Lions decided to do in the coming weeks and months will have some significant repercussions in the seasons to come, and their roster moves are well-worth keeping an eye on. One other step has already been taken: What to do about the OC position? As mentioned, Anthony Lynn was effectively demoted halfway through the season, and ended his tenure with the Lions as de facto run game coordinator. This wasn't the role he signed up for, and left after the end of the season. As a result, Dan Campbell had a choice to make: Hire an outside candidate to run the offense and let them call plays, or promote from within and retain playcalling? After the Senior Bowl, Campbell decided to go with the second option, hiring Ben Johnson as the new OC. Johnson is apparently well-liked by the players on offense and had a hand in some of the more innovative plays that the Lions ran in the second half of the season, so on paper it looks like a good hire. But of course, only time will tell how Johnson does with the promotion, and how tightly Campbell holds on to the offense. Hope for the Future? I think so! The Lions have a long way to go, and I'd be shocked if they make the playoffs next year. But the foundation the team is building seems solid, and there's a lot to look forward to — certainly more so than there ever was during the Patricia years. My ultimate guess is that the Lions will probably go something like 7-10 or 8-9 in 2022, and make the playoffs by 2023. Unless things go disastrously wrong... which for the Lions, they usually do 
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Feb 19, 2022 02:07
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very bad thanks for asking
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Feb 19, 2022 02:26
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Herbert
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Feb 19, 2022 03:50
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The Cleveland Browns: I was loving right about Stefanski
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Feb 19, 2022 04:49
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Chucktesla posted:Herbert
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Feb 19, 2022 05:19
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Bengals Team Grade: B (85%) #6 Roster Performance Grade: A (96%) #2 Performance But Not making GBS threads Herbert Lost the Super Bowl to the best team, the Super Bowl winner. Defeated another metric's best team twice in the same way which initially appeared 'lucky' but was shown to be repeatable using the exact same methods, proving permanent superiority. Suffered through severe weakness on the right side of the offensive line and mediocrity elsewhere along it. Suffered depth issues on the defensive line due to injury. Poor brain ability at running back depth and CB.
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Feb 19, 2022 05:40
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Ravens: entire team died
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Feb 19, 2022 09:30
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Very badly! Our good QB is still a rapist, our rookie QB showed just enough that we have to stick with him and see if he can show more, which is frankly fine given this year's QB crop, and every other aspect of the team sucked, we fired our coach after one year, and it was an even worse look than that usually is thanks to the Brian Flores suit, and we're still run by Football Wormtongue and the failson of a billionaire who probably has a good 20 years in him at least Sweeping Jacksonville was the one good thing, and it was definitely amusing, at least
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Feb 19, 2022 10:39
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Well, nobody smarter than I am has done this yet so here are Your 2021 Philadelphia Eagles!  2021 Record: 9-8. Well, it's a huge improvement over last year's 4-11-1. Where Did They Start?: Philly absolutely dominated the Falcons but... it's the Falcons. Still, watching that game as a fan gave some hope that the brand new coaching staff might work, and that hiring a coach out from the tree of the coach we just fired might work again. It didn't last. The defense looked like trash after that game and the Eagles lost their next three. Offseason Moves: Old Broken Guys leaving: Jason Peters, Alshon Jeffrey, Desean Jackson. Peters looked old and washed for the Bears. Alshon didn't catch on anywhere and is probably done. DJax is at a point in his career where he's good for one or two deep throws per game, and thought he could do better than that on the Raiders Rather than the limited touches the Rams were giving him. Oops! Other guys: Jalen Mills, Corey Clement, Travis Fulgham. Mills landed on the Pats and was a decent guy on a defense that started hot. Superbowl star Corey Clement spent the preseason with the Giants before ending up with the Dallas (gently caress the) Cowboys. Fulgham just... dropped off the face of the earth. Additions: The draft was whatever. Devonta Smith was in immediate upgrade at WR which highlighted just how bad the other receivers the Eagles drafted high have been. Kenneth Gainwell existed and looked good in his limited chances but was a 2nd/3rd string guy all season and didn't make much of an impact. For FAs, Philly added Joe Flacco, Ryan Kerrigan, Jordan Howard and Kerryon Johnson. Flacco ended up traded back to the Jets mid-season and looked like he held his dog as it died. Kerrigan wasn't really relevant. For the RBs, Kerryon didn't do anything and was released before the season began. Howard showed up in a couple of games while Sanders was injured. The Jags were dumb enough to give up Gardner Minshew for a 6th. You either love him or you're wrong. But the point is, if Hurts starts to struggle they have a dependable starter. Or if Hurts doesn't they can probably get more than a 6th from some QB needy team at this point. How'd the Season Go?: Better than last year! 9-8 and a quick playoff bounce was realistically their ceiling this year. That being said, the team was frustrating to watch at times. Despite having a good RB1 in Miles Sanders, the team completely abandoned the run in favor of just letting Jalen Hurts scramble whenever. Boston Scott was completely MIA as a change-of-pace back and Gainwell's usage was inconsistent at best. The team seems to have spotted another decent WR in Quez Watkins, who was picked up in the 6th-round on the 2020 draft and seemed like the birds second-best WR. Granted, with Raegor and Arcega-Whiteside somehow still on the roster, that wouldn't take much. The offense this year started off with more of an RPO look and shed some of it as the season went on. The defense looked like trash most of the season and gave up a ton of passing yards. The Iggles went into midseason at 3-6 and looked like an afterthought, but beat up on some struggling teams to finish out the back half of the season 6-2. One of those two was to a Giants team that looked like roadkill but  Best Moment of the Season: Somebody will inevitably come up with something I've missed and I'll go "Oh poo poo, how did I forget that?" but I greatly enjoyed the drubbing of the Broncos. It came at a time when they were floundering and felt like maybe they turned the corner and could at least beat up on bad teams. And hey, they mostly did! Worst Moment of the Season: gently caress the Cowboys. Overall Season Grade: B. The birds showed some growth and hit the high-end of expectations. I will never complain about a playoff berth and will never understand people who whine that their team should be tanking for draft stock. If they can't succeed with picks in the 33-224 that one extra pick isn't going to turn it around. Next Steps: Now to see if they can do something in the draft other than snag a terrible 2nd-round WR that doesn't pan out. Kelce and Lane are getting old, and thank Christ Mailata seems to be the real deal but it couldn't hurt to find some depth on the line. Another good WR to pair with Smith would be ideal as I think Watkins is fine as the #3 guy but eh. I'm still not sold on this coaching staff, or Hurts for that matter. I think his ceiling is going to be mid-tier starter or more likely a good backup. The defense needs some DB talent besides Slay and actual linebackers. Hope for the Future?: They need to build on what they did this year but it feels like a regression is more likely. Hope? I say... maybe.
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Feb 19, 2022 16:26
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Eugh the Saints had some very bright moments interspersed with just generally horrible offensive football. Defense was an all time team great fielding.
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Feb 19, 2022 17:47
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The 2021 New Orleans Saints 2021 Record: 9-8 (down from 12-4 in 2020) Where did they start? In a very weird place. After 15 years of HOF QB play from Drew Brees. He was gone to the football field in the sky known as broadcasting. The Saints had gone all-in on winning a title with him over the past 5 years and came away empty. As such, there was little in the way of extra draft picks, cap space room, or even the faintest plan of what to do at the QB position. Offseason moves: For the most part, the Saints were able to keep the 2020 team together minus a few pieces. Emanuel Sanders left to Buffalo due to said cap issues. And Safety Von Bell and Defensive End Hendrickson went to Cincinatti to cash in on good seasons with the Saints. Hendrickson was thought of as a one year wonder in New Orleans, so few were that sad to see him go. The Saints drafted another Offensive linemen in the first due to Sean Payton's lust for Giant Men, or more likely his understanding that the line is the biggest key to success. Still, there was really nothing exciting out of the draft but still, they didn't need to be exciting. They just needed to show stability in the post-Brees era. QB ended up being a competition between perpetual gadget player Taysom Hill, and rapist crab eater Jameis Winston. Winston ended up winning by virtue of actually being a quarterback, leading some Saints fans in TFF to be... less than pleased. How'd the season go? Uhhh, good question? I don't know how you sum up a season like the 2021 Saints. Expectations were pretty low when the season started, but then the Saints had to play their first game against the Packers in Florida because New Orleans was dealing with a hurricane - lowering expectations even further.... and then the Saints beat them 45-3. The Saints loss was one of only 2 losses the Aaron Rodgers Packers suffered from, further increasing the uhhh factor that was the season. The Saints had an early week 6 bye, which was actually appreciated due to the sheer amount of injuries the Saints had already accumulated to this point. An already weak receiving corps had been missing Micheal Thomas since the 2020 season, but slowly began losing even the backups and backups' backups. The offensive line began taking a few injuries with Andrus Peat falling to a season ending injury early. Despite this, a 3-2 record was pretty good, with one loss being to the seemingly hot panthers thanks to a covid outbreak among the entire Saints offensive coaching staff and a... massive come from behind victory by the New York Giants... the same Giants that scored like 2 touchdowns over the final 6 games of the season. Week 8 was against the Tom Brady led Buccaneers who were ready to actually take the mantle of NFC South champions from the Saints this year. But the Saints fought them off thanks to a late pick 6 from Brady to somehow go to 5-2, with the loss of Jameis Winston to a season ending injury. Enter, starting QB Trevor Siemien. Saints then lost the next 5 games. Though the team didn't give up and nearly had come from behind victories over the Falcons (  ), the Titans, and even a slight one against the Eagles before getting utterly dismantled by the Buffalo Bills on Thanksgiving night. Taysom Hill would be back in the lineup for the Cowboys, and managed to play them close until Taysom injured his finger and proceeded to throw 4 interceptions in a 10 point loss to the dreaded team of America.Despite these struggles, with Taysom Hill back as starter, the Saints managed to win 4 of their last 5 - with their one loss being against Miami without any starters on offense thanks to covid. Best moment of the season: Shutting out Tom Brady at home despite Sean Payton being out due to Covid. Ahhhh, felt SOOO good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm-fAAi7yV4 Worst moment of the season: The entire Miami game. Good lord, Ian Book wasn't good but there was not a single starter on offense for that game and it showed! Awful game to watch and of course it was a national game. The Bills game was a worse performance but that was against a good team. Overall season grade: Honestly? It's hard to give this season anything but like a A- or B+ despite being a step back. The Saints were dead in the water, but Sean Payton's fantastic coaching still managed to have this garbage offense competing in almost every game while giving the defense enough rest to carry the team to enough victories to be a Jimmy Garapolo interception away from playoffs. The Saints just got incredibly unlucky with injuries and covid at the worst times. A little more luck and maybe they win the South for the 5th straight year. Next Steps: After a season like that, the hope is to keep the defense together while patching up with more depth to help the aging stars while getting a receiver or two and taking a risk on some new QB. All of which would probably have the Saints in a good place for the future. After all, with a hall of fame caliber coach like Sean Payton, this team still has many years of success left!  ...Oh. Hope for the Future?
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Feb 19, 2022 18:35
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I appreciate OP putting more thought and care into the Lions than the actual ownership or front office has in decades.
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Feb 19, 2022 18:46
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Docjowles posted:I appreciate OP putting more thought and care into the Lions than the actual ownership or front office has in decades. Well, someone has to  Also great posts Quiet Feet and really queer Christmas!
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Feb 19, 2022 18:48
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decent post by fast cars loose anus, and me as well
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Feb 19, 2022 18:52
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I'll do a Bills write-up, I guess. I'm bored. 2021 Record: 11-6, Won AFC East Where Did They Start?: The Bills opened the season as a trendy Super Bowl pick returning most of their roster from the 2020 season that saw them reach the AFC Championship game. Which made their sloppy opening day loss to the Steelers at home disconcerting, to say the least. Offseason Moves: Lost FAs: None, really. The Bills lost basically no one notable in free agency, with the exception of WR John "Smoke" Brown, who was hurt and played little in 2021. They also lost incumbent punter Corey Bojorquez, who went on to have an excellent season punting in Green Bay. Signed FAs: The cap-strapped Bills had a fairly quiet free agency period: they signed WR Emmanuele Sanders, former Panthers Edge rushers Mario Addison and Efe Obada, and former Dolphins punter Matt Haack. Sanders started out hot, but faded down the stretch and increasingly seemed a worse option than Gabriel Davis and Isaiah McKenzie. Addison led the team in sacks with a paltry 7, but disappeared frequently. Obada was a non-entity and Haack actively sucked. Rookies: The Bills had a reasonably productive draft class. In particular, first-rounder Greg Rousseau played a lot of snaps at DE, using his excellent size and reach to make some plays (though he remains unrefined as a pass rusher) and third-rounder Spencer Brown got a shot at being the starting RT (primarily so the incumbent RT, Daryl Williams, could be moved to RG to get Cody Ford off the field) and acquitted himself well, especially considering his relative lack of experience. Carlos "Boogie" Basham was often a healthy scratch, but the play of the players ahead of him on the depth chart relative to his in limited snaps made that a seemingly questionable decision. Marquez Stevenson was thrust into return duties after Isaiah McKenzie fumbled once and proceeded to fumble a lot more. How'd the Season Go?: You might think the season was pretty easy-going, but, in true Bills fashion, they made winning their 2nd-straight AFC East title interesting, in the worst possible way for Bills fans. The Bills brutally blew apart weaker opponents, but seemed to struggle against peer competition. In fact, they didn't win a single one score game all year, going 0-6 in such games. They were, bafflingly, brutalized by the AFC South, including a heart-breaking 34-31 loss against the Titans in Tennessee, an embarrassing 41-15 loss to the Colts at home, and that absolutely unspeakable loss to the Urban Meyer Jaguars. After falling 14-10 to the Patriots in a wind storm in Buffalo, the Bills seemed to be in full collapse, and a road loss to the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay did little to help matters. However, the Bills seemed revitalized by a furious 2nd-half comeback effort, and the Colts beat down the Patriots, setting up the Bills to crush the Patriots 33-21 on the road to take back control of the division. They made short work of the Falcons and Jets and hosted the Patriots in the Wild Card round, where they proceeded to annihilate them 47-17. The Bills 2021 season; however, ended much like their 2020 season did: in Arrowhead, though this time in the Divisional round. This time, their offense showed up in a big way, and Josh Allen and Gabriel Davis had career days, but the "#1 defense" could not even prevent the Chiefs from scoring a field goal in just 13 seconds. The Bills offense never got the ball back. The defense, down star corner Tre White, consistently failed to pressure Mahomes, contain Mahomes, or to cover anyone. All the more frustrating given that the Bengals, twice in a month, shut down the Chiefs offense in the second half and won comeback victories. Once again, that Kermit the Frog voiced motherfucker Patrick Mahomes stole the Bills' glory. At the very least, they certainly could have blown an 18-pt. lead to the Bengals. Best Moment of the Season: The entire Wild Card game. The Brady Pats humiliated the Bills like clockwork, so to see the Bills completely dominate the Patriots on national television was a real treat. Worst Moment of the Season: Literally lost to the Urban Meyer Jaguars, a game in which our high-powered offense scored 6 loving points in a mind-numbingly futile effort that left me relieved I had to stop watching and go to work in a grocery store on a Sunday. Overall Season Grade: A-. That win over the Patriots in the Wild Card round was a thing of beauty, but this season is difficult to savor beyond that. It's not that it was bad, it's just that it's impossible not to wonder at what could have been. Especially in the playoffs, the way Josh Allen was playing, if we had just had had one more stop, one opportune pick, one timely sack, the AFC Championship game would have been played in Buffalo, and who knows what comes after that? The team left a disturbing amount of wins on the field: from the sloppy opening day performance against the Steelers to getting dominated by the Colts, to Josh Allen slipping on 4th&inches from the Titans 3-yard line, scoring 6 loving points against the god-forsaken Urban "Fingerblaster" Meyer Jacksonville literally the loving Jaguars, to Dawson Knox dropping the game-winning TD in the first Patriots game, to the Bills defense, for some god awful reason, playing the sidelines in off coverage against the Chiefs when they had 3 time-outs and only needed a field goal.... Basically, this team could easily have been the 1st seed. It could easily have been hosting the AFC Championship game, but it didn't. Next Steps: The defense looked great statistically, but it consistently failed spectacularly against actually good offenses: most of its gaudy stats were a result of clowning on such opponents as the New York Jets, the Houston Texans, and the Miami Dolphins that weren't terrible but that McDermott brutally owns for some reason. Nowhere was the defense's deficiencies more glaring than in the Divisional Round loss to Kansas City, which saw the defense consistently struggle to get off the field and give up big play after big play. It's clear the Bills need more production out of their defensive line, and that their corner depth past Tre White, nickel back Taron Johnson, and Levi Wallace simply isn't competitive. Really, a lot of the team is short on depth: a large part of the offense's mid-season struggles were a result of injuries and COVID wrecking the offensive line. This is a team with a bit of a depth problem, and they were mostly pretty lucky with injuries. Offensively, the production of our running backs has been lacking significantly, Devin Singletary's late-season competence notwithstanding. Even so, he's not the kind of game-breaker who could really kick our offense into high gear. Hope for the Future?: If Josh Allen can continue to play like he did in the playoffs, the sky is the limit. The Bills could beat anyone. Josh Allen could even do what Jim Kelly couldn't, and win a Lombardi Trophy. But this team will need to play more consistently, will need to scheme better, and better protect itself against the inevitable attrition of an NFL season. The AFC is laden with Super Bowl contenders and young superstar QBs, after all. Nothing is a given. Kurgarra Queen fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Feb 20, 2022 |
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Feb 20, 2022 02:53
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The New England Patriots ----- 2021 Record: 10-7, 2nd in the AFC East. (+3 wins from previous season) Where Did They Start? The Brady era winded down with a problem restocking the offense. Poor drafting for years had left a remarkably poor offensive skill position group, and salary cap issues had left few options to restock, leading to trying a reclamation project with Cam Newton in 2020. It failed, the scrubby mid round QB draft pick behind him never developed and Brian Hoyer was Brian Hoyer. The defense had issues as well, though not as severe, an athletically poor front seven propped up by a solidly good secondary. Offseason Moves: Money talks motherfuckers. In on the offensive skill positions came: Nelson Agholor, Kendrick Bourne, Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith. Trent Brown was brought back to shore up the offensive line, along with Ted Karras for depth in the interior. On defense, Matthew Judon became the 20th former Raven pass rusher to get an absurd contract and was joined by further depth pieces DT Davon Godchaux, DB Jalen Mills, LB Kyle Van Noy and DE Henry Anderson. Departures wise: Trent Brown replaced Marcus Cannon, traded to the Texans, Ted Karras replaced Joe Thuney as well as he could. Godchaux took Adam Butler's role as space eater and S Patrick Chung retired. Mid-season Gilmore was traded to the Panthers as well, and Edelman also retired, after missing most of 2020 with injuries and a bunch of bottom tier receiving options were cut, don't miss 'em. In the draft they had two solid hits and a decent find. Mac Jones was the only even moderately effective rookie QB, and was a solidly middle of the pack option. Has his issues and needs to develop some in how fast he goes through progressions and feels pressure, but has looked like he'll develop into a solid starter. Christian Barmore was expected to be an interior pass rushing specialist, but turned out to be solidly good against the run as well. Finally Rhamondre Stevenson is a gigantic back who platooned well with Damien Harris. Unlike in previous years they pretty much didn't touch the UDFA pool. How'd the Season Go?: One thing mattered this year and that was seeing if Mac Jones could play. And he did, so hooray, the season was a success. Of the 4 skill position guys brought in FA, 2 of them are solid hits in Kendrick Bourne and Hunter Henry, while Agholor and Jonnu Smith had quite disappointing seasons. For the first two months of the season, Mac Jones was brought along slowly. Outside of stomping the poo poo out of the Jets twice, they only won against a pitiful Texans team and barely squeaked past the Chargers to end 4-4. But in those losses, were a super tight loss to a Dolphins team where they had abysmal fumble luck, a 17-19 loss to a 17-19 squeaker against an excellent Buccaneers team when Nick Folk missed a 56 yard FG to end an attempted 2 minute drive, and an OT loss to the Cowboys, to go along with a mudhole stomping by the Saints. In short, they were playing better then their record. Then November hit and they looked fantastic, destroying the Panthers, Browns, Falcons and Titans by a combined 104 points and were on fire and getting absurd playoff hype. They followed that up with that game against the Bills in the comical muck where they had 19 passing yards and should've lost if the Bills had done well... anything at all. That was the end of the high points of the season though. They proceeded to get sonned by the Colts and Bills in back to back weeks, before annihilating a quit Jaguars team and then a failed comeback attempt against the Dolphins to close out the regular season. The weaknesses were clear at this point however, and they got walked out of the playoffs with comical ease by the Bills. Best Moment of the Season: Week 8, at 3-4 facing the Chargers. At this point the team looked bad, they had been 2-4 before the 2nd stomping of the Jets which no one cared about, the defense looked awful, Gilmore had forced his way out, and the offense had it's moments but was clearly rookie balling it up. And they did so again against the Chargers... but the defense held Herbert in check, and the game kept going and going and it stayed a 1 score game, until late in the 3rd quarter when the Pats took a 2 point lead. Then the Chargers responded then the Pats did and suddenly they're up 7 with 9 minutes left and get the ball back. They proceed to go on a 15 play, 7 minute drive with Mac converting a handful of key 3rd downs and ends with an easy FG to put them up 2 scores and effectively close out the game. Just good, oh okay yeah, this team can play football. Worst Moment of the Season: Wildcard game against the Bills. They just couldn't stop poo poo. I had covid, felt terrible, knew nothing was gonna happen in the second half, so just went to bed. Overall Season Grade: A They went into the offseason with no answer at QB and possibly the worst skill position guys in the league and came out of the season with a QB and a skill group with one hole remaining and a bunch of things patched. The defense took a few steps forward and have things to fix due to a late season collapse, but looks to have the pieces it needs. Next Steps: Can Mac Jones develop from solid starter into an upper caliber guy who can win you a playoff game? Can they find a #1 WR to go with their squad of supporting pieces? Can they get more athleticism on their defense and find another pass rusher opposite Judon? Can they re-sign JC Jackson and Trent Brown and find the future for Devin McCourty and Dont'a Hightower? Can they replace all the coaching riffraff they lost to the Raiders? Hope for the Future? I think so! They're obviously an unlikely serious super bowl contender unless Mac Jones can develop, but with health and a bit more luck then the Chiefs or Bills need, they can do it. They already did the hard part this season, now it's just finding the remaining pieces and continuing Mac's development.
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Feb 20, 2022 03:48
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| # ? May 9, 2024 12:46 |
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I don't know how you guys did it but we got through back to back Bills and Patriots write ups with neither mentioning the true best/worst part of the season in detail for each team: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3987126
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Mar 2, 2022 22:17
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