This loss wasn't one or a handful of things. It was a long list of things that have occurred. Some of it can be fixed moving forward. Some most likely will not and this will be what our season will look like. If anyone had anything more than fandom hope with regard to us winning the division and having any success in the postseason, you're just not being realistic in my opinion. Respectfully.
- Injuries - Holy hell, they're everywhere and plentiful. We're pulling players from the practice squad. Not because they're getting a promotion, but because we have no other options. We have no depth except at WR. That's the only position we are stocked up in. Think about that.
- We have no O line. There may be some talent there, but there's no cohesiveness or continuity. There can't be, it literally changes week to week. It started it's spiral when Frederick retired and the injuries piled on. It can't get much worse. This literally effects everything offensively. They can't run the ball. There's rarely enough time to throw deep and utilize our WRs. And our QB isn't mobile enough to overcome good pass rushes.
- You cannot win a game running the ball 15 times collectively. Elliott had 10 carries. Even when he did get momentum, we stopped running. No excuse. Elliott had a couple solid runs, and one called back, so why stop?
- Turnovers. Shouldn't need explaining.
- Dalton isn't a good enough playmaker as a QB. He's just not. Great for a game or a few drives if needed, but he's not at this point in his career and certainly not good enough to overcome this O line.
- Time of possession isn't good. The defense gets gassed from 3 and outs and turnovers and are right back on the field because opposing teams are controlling the clock.
- Game planning and play calling. I don't consider this as big an issue as some, but it's one of them. You gamble out of necessity and to catch the opposing team off guard, but you have be well prepared and rehearsed. My next point ties into this. We were in the game for a while. It was close. Then we got completely man-handled. They should have kept things simpler fundamentally.
- The team was not prepared. I hate Thursday games in general, but this was another short week. It was even shorter because of missing a day of practice. To pull off some of the plays that they attempted requires more time. That's on the staff.
- The vast majority of the roster cannot routinely execute. The roster just isn't talented enough. Again, we have practice squad guys asked to step up. You could literally see the confusion on their faces. Who was it, Burton the DB? Lost. To me, that's the biggest factor of all.
All of these things played a role. There's more, but I wanted to hit on these points as I thought about during the game. The coaching had their hand in it, but I can't think of many coaches who could win a game with this mess. And that comes to my last factor and the most important in my humble opinion.
- The GM and player acquisition. Jones failed in free agency. We got rid of many players that we signed. That also wasted money. And here's the thing, we were UNDER THE CAP! Maybe Jones wanted to save cap money for a certain future extension, but regardless, we could have brought in much needed play makers at FS, LB, CB, OL, on and on.
I don't see it getting better, I will never be in favor of tanking, but even if this franchise claws and fights, we most likely will not have to even attempt it.
