Sarcasm? Lol Jets and 49ers have the best defenses in the league. Dolphins have a bottom 1/3 defense.
Commenting on the defensive critiques… I understand the frustration with the defense. Many expected Fangio to come in, implement his Dede scheme, sprinkle a little pixie dust and ***BAM*** instant top 5 defense. If only it were that easy. The problem with our defense is the same problem we’ve had with it last season with Boyer and when Flores was HC. We’re not getting the pass rush needed from the front 4. Anytime we’re getting pressure on the quarterback is when we’re sensing that extra rusher. Now don’t get me wrong, Wilkins is a BEAST. Seiler is pretty darn good as well but what we’re lacking on that defensive front it a TJ Watt, Aaron Donald or Nick Bosa. Someone who commands that double team to allow the edge rushers to get in there. That’s what a Fangio led defense needs and we don’t have it.
I understand the frustration as well, but at the same time I think it's silly how badly some are over-reacting. The Panthers scored 14 on their first two drives and then got shut out the rest of the game. Miami's lowest scoring total on the year is 20, so even with horrible offensive output we still win the game (if it was close, I'm guessing Pat White's not on the field to throw the pick-6 at the end, LOL). Ramsey will make a big difference in this defense since X will then be the "worst" corner on the field. And against great teams like Philly, Buffalo, San Fran, etc. the defense will matter (like it did in Buffalo). But for now, it is not time to panic since the only way to beat the Dolphins is scoring 40+ on the average day. The vast majority of teams don't have that firepower or that consistency. There's also been an argument that we've only beaten bad teams. That's silly though; we didn't beat the bad teams 16-13...we donkey stomped them into the ground. As we saw yesterday with San Fran and Philly, it's any given Sunday in this league. Bad teams can have a big day, and the poor Panthers thought they were going to have one yesterday. Our boys are on a different level this year. Going into Philly- who knows what will happen. Hurts is rattled and collapsed under pressure, so that's the game plan. Like playing Baltimore, pressure and contain to force bad throws. Philly has a beast of a line and it will not be an easy game, but I am hoping Fangio earns his paycheck for the week. Really hoping that he does it with Ramsey on the field as well.
Good news on that front is no Lane Johnson. It was a very noticeable drop yesterday when he went out.
Players aren't used to the scheme yet, and I don't think they simply "trust" Fangio without seeing results. I showed in an earlier post that in 5 out of 6 previous stints by Fangio, his defenses improved over the course of his first year: https://thephins.com/threads/well-that-was-ugly.98560/page-3#post-3577253 I expect the same to happen here. On average, by the end of the season (based on a trend-line), Fangio's defenses in his first year are giving up just under 20 points per game. League average right now is 21.7. I'm not worried, even if Philly puts up a lot of points. This is an adjustment period, and Fangio is a proven defensive mind.
We are definitely the most exciting team in the NFL at the moment, but do think the defence will be our downfall. But what a great year so far and injuries still to come back. FD
Most points scored in a season is 606 by the Peyton Manning led 2013 Broncos. That's 37.9 ppg. We're currently averaging 37.2 ppg!
Another good game and the offense handily took care of business yet again. We’re seeing around the league the top offenses can lack consistency…. Even in favourable matchups KC and Bills didn’t exactly torch the Giants And Broncos lame defenses this week. Our consistency in moving the ball is very nice. Still a lot to clean up on Defense. But they have also been consistent for the wrong reasons…
Yeah, it's crazy- teams will need an average of 38 points to beat us. Second place is San Fran scoring 30.7 per game, so they're almost a full TD behind. Several teams have not had a 38 point game yet this season. The Jets best game was 32 points, the Pats is 20, the Bucs 27, the Ravens 28, the Chargers 28, the Bengals 34....not going to Google all 31, LOL. Very few teams have a shot at keeping pace with our offense.
Initial spread is -2.5 for Philly. Not bad. Home teams get 3 points basically, so we're 0.5 point favorites against Philly on a neutral field.
I don‘t know, they seem to be a bad match up for us having really strong o-and d-lines. Their RT is out maybe that helps us a bit. If we win against the Eagles, then only injuries can derail this season.
At 5-0 the Eagles didn't really have any impressive wins. They scraped by a lot of games. They haven't played their best football yet. Hopefully they wait another week to get on their game.
For me they are the 2nd best team roster wise after the 49ers, so if we beat them at home that puts us up there with the best and I might actually get my hopes up, that this season, will be really special.
After watching yesterdays game, I would put Cleveland’s D up there with, or maybe just behind, the Jets and Niners.
SF is #1 in points allowed per game at 14.5. Cleveland is #5 at 15.4, while Jets are #13 at 19.8. Of course, people can talk about how strong (some of) the Jets opponents' offenses were, but even accounting for that (e.g., by looking at points allowed above/below expected) you're getting maybe around #8 rank or so, not top 5. So for the moment I'd agree Cleveland is better than the Jets, but not SF. SF is the real deal, at least statistically.
https://www.youtube.com/live/2W7obZ1QFBg?si=FALc6Cz_ImVnyr70 Tua's character is second to none. Love seeing how our franchise QB is using his platform. I hope Tua is here for the next decade because he's as good a person as he is a player.
That's what makes the hate so strange. He's not a butthole or egomaniac. He never swears. He doesn't just express his Christianity, he demonstrates it without trying to convert everybody else. He's philanthropic. He's the kind of guy most people would want to be their son's best friend or their daughter's boyfriend. But he's easily the most polarizing player since Tim Tebow, who also checked a lot of the same boxes. His turnaround to being a top-3 QB (actually, top-1, but I'll be conservative) should be a story that America loves but instead of giving him credit, his success is attributed to having great players around him. They talk about him like he's the football version of Jeremy Lin.* *Who was much less talented in the NBA but again, checks many of the same boxes. Hmm... Starting to see a theme developing here.
