Eskimo
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I know this may be an unpopular viewpoint on this board but there is a feeling that our play dropped off in the second half of the season with close wins against Washington and Miami ("Bad teams", two close losses to NYG and Arizona (two "bad teams") and two solid beatdowns from NYG and Philly (two "bad teams").
However, when you look at how Philly closed out the season once they were healthy and the fact they were top 10 in defense and offense I get the feeling they were a team who was trying to gel. The thing that held them back this year was mostly injuries and turnovers. They are 8-8 and like us but played much better than mediocre when we played them.
Now look at our 2 losses against NYG. Again there was the early part of the second half of the season where they struggled. But towards the end when they got some key players back (Osi and Bradshaw) they got hot again winning 4 of 5 with only a narrow loss to the then unbeaten Packers. They now just went into the playoffs and whipped Atlanta easily.
Now look at Arizona. This team really struggled early but then their defense came on like gangbusters lead by Calais Campbell. That team went 7-2 in their last 9 games with two losses to playoff teams (SF and Cin). The week before they narrowly lost to Baltimore 30-27. Down the stretch run they beat Philly, SF, Dallas and Seattle. Maybe they are on the verge of becoming a very good young team - especially if they can get decent QB play out of Kolb.
Now look at Miami. In their last 8 games excluding their close loss to us they went 6-2. Their two losses were to the surging Eagles and NE (24-27). Maybe we just ran into a team that was starting to hit its stride.
I guess my point is we actually played a bunch of teams that were stronger than their records indicated at the time we played them. Many of them were just coming into a period when they had really started to play well and we were caught somewhat offguards as opposition fans as we hadn''t quite realized yet how well those teams were playing.
I only bring this up because some are dismayed at our 8-8 record while playing what many believe to be an easy schedule. I happen to think we were playing decent down the stretch but ran into some teams that were playing very well and played pretty well outside of the Giants finale. Even in that Giants finale we took a pretty good run at them in the 2nd half going from 21-0 to 21-14 before our defense collapsed again in the 4th quarter.
Maybe there can be more optimism about our prospects for next year especially if we can get our secondary and interior OL patched up. I know we play a buzzsaw of a schedule next year and Philly and NYG look really tough but I still think a playoff berth may be possible (even though I think it is unlikely).
It will be a very interesting offseason. I hope Jerry and Garrett make some good personnel decisions in the draft and FA and bring in some top coaches to fill out our staff.
However, when you look at how Philly closed out the season once they were healthy and the fact they were top 10 in defense and offense I get the feeling they were a team who was trying to gel. The thing that held them back this year was mostly injuries and turnovers. They are 8-8 and like us but played much better than mediocre when we played them.
Now look at our 2 losses against NYG. Again there was the early part of the second half of the season where they struggled. But towards the end when they got some key players back (Osi and Bradshaw) they got hot again winning 4 of 5 with only a narrow loss to the then unbeaten Packers. They now just went into the playoffs and whipped Atlanta easily.
Now look at Arizona. This team really struggled early but then their defense came on like gangbusters lead by Calais Campbell. That team went 7-2 in their last 9 games with two losses to playoff teams (SF and Cin). The week before they narrowly lost to Baltimore 30-27. Down the stretch run they beat Philly, SF, Dallas and Seattle. Maybe they are on the verge of becoming a very good young team - especially if they can get decent QB play out of Kolb.
Now look at Miami. In their last 8 games excluding their close loss to us they went 6-2. Their two losses were to the surging Eagles and NE (24-27). Maybe we just ran into a team that was starting to hit its stride.
I guess my point is we actually played a bunch of teams that were stronger than their records indicated at the time we played them. Many of them were just coming into a period when they had really started to play well and we were caught somewhat offguards as opposition fans as we hadn''t quite realized yet how well those teams were playing.
I only bring this up because some are dismayed at our 8-8 record while playing what many believe to be an easy schedule. I happen to think we were playing decent down the stretch but ran into some teams that were playing very well and played pretty well outside of the Giants finale. Even in that Giants finale we took a pretty good run at them in the 2nd half going from 21-0 to 21-14 before our defense collapsed again in the 4th quarter.
Maybe there can be more optimism about our prospects for next year especially if we can get our secondary and interior OL patched up. I know we play a buzzsaw of a schedule next year and Philly and NYG look really tough but I still think a playoff berth may be possible (even though I think it is unlikely).
It will be a very interesting offseason. I hope Jerry and Garrett make some good personnel decisions in the draft and FA and bring in some top coaches to fill out our staff.
