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Who expected a 4 win team from 2018 to be in this year's Super Bowl.
I bet the 49ers to win in the NFC and so did a lot of guys who use Pythagorean Differential to predict season win totals.


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Chris_Sanders

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When you want to make a point so bad that you aren't even following the conversation
 

Jetstream Green

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Who expected a 4 win team from 2018 to be in this year's Super Bowl.

This, and even though some years of losing allowed the Niners to build some talent in the draft, I would not exactly say their talent is 'powerhouse' in light of teams past. I have stepped on the notion of the Niners being good all season which is wrong because hell they are in the Super Bowl but I guess what I find myself doing is judging them according to teams of past championship caliber. Come now, they only won 4 games the year before for a reason. The Cardinals in our rebuilding stage could have beat them twice in close games. The line between good and bad is much slimmer now and a lot comes down to coaching if your team really sucks or you are missing a legit starter at QB. The league is a mess of mediocrity due to the cap and free agency, added now with the flux between the college game and the pro game but that gap is closing. I still have that old school view which prevents me from being excited about the level of greatness with the current Niner team and that same observation makes it hard for me to also say the Cardinals next year are contenders while merely reaching the playoffs is more realistic in my mindset, but, cohesive talent and consistency is not something you can count on which makes my beliefs skewed... the NFL wanted parity and they have it, with offenses scoring a ton of points to cover the ironic fact that a lot of points might mean the opposite about the quality of the football in a contact sport
 

Delmar M Lewis

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Maybe not the Super Bowl, but I definitely expected the 49ers to contend for the division. But one of my closest friends is a die hard Niners fan so I knew the ins and outs of the team if they all stayed healthy.
You have hit the nail on the head Health is the Very Buggest fact on A team going to the Super Bowl
 

Solar7

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Superbowl...I don't see it. Playoffs, absolutely.

We had a legit shot at winning 9 games this year...and that was with a horrible defense and rookie QB/HC. Add in another year of experience, and building to address weaknesses and I think we should expect 10 wins and a wild card spot next year.
We had a legit shot of winning 7 games in 2018 under Wilks. There were 4 games where we lost by 3 points or under. The rest of our division is still strikingly better than us and they also play the pathetic AFC and NFC East. Sure, any given Sunday, but keeping up with the rest of the division feels like a long shot to me.


this is plausible, not sure about likely

I think K1 will be better, but I am pegging 2021 as my high expectations for him year. Sometimes forgotten is that he basically had one year of experience in college -- I think it may take another years worth of NFL experience for him ( and KK) to be fully ready.
I'm not sure where he only had one year of experience... he was head coach from 2013-2018, so I'm confused what you're getting at.
 

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Only one of the final 8 in the playoffs after the 2018 season made that grade after 2019 - KC Chiefs.

I can imagine the Cards offence, as is, scoring 50 to 100 more points in year two, but can we shave 50 to 100 off of the defensive ledger?
 

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That is why I don't get the build for 2021 nonsense.

i agree with this too--

i think the team has a chance to be good next year -- contend for a playoff spot, wildcard, etc. Maybe comparable to what the Bills did this year (division adjusted)

but i have a hard time seeing a 49ers-like first round bye, win two games to make the SB kinda season (Glazers premise).

The 49ers spent 4 years in a row picking in the top 10, and none of those involved a QB. The Cards have some catching up to do roster wise.
 

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i agree with this too--

i think the team has a chance to be good next year -- contend for a playoff spot, wildcard, etc. Maybe comparable to what the Bills did this year (division adjusted)

but i have a hard time seeing a 49ers-like first round bye, win two games to make the SB kinda season (Glazers premise).

The 49ers spent 4 years in a row picking in the top 10, and none of those involved a QB. The Cards have some catching up to do roster wise.

Its not only about us being good. Two of three other teams in the division also need to get significantly worse.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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How I could see this playing out is that the Cardinals keep major free agents, add a good young starting right tackle, one of the young receivers becomes a good receiver, a defensive free agent works out well, and a 2nd or 3rd round defensive player is good right away.

For all those things to work out is asking a lot, but it's not impossible.
Except . . . Bluto.
 

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Keim needs to run the table in FA and
How do the Cards get past the 49ers, Seahawks, Rams to make the playoffs? Has to be the toughest division in the NFL.

It will be tough, signing Littleton, Reed, and Armstead would be a nice start.
 

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I'd say the Redskins.

Much depends on what happens at QB. Either Smith coming back or Haskins making a big leap.

They have $25m in space right now but 2 easy cap casualties in Norman and Reed that gets them another $21m.

With Rivera and Chase Young I expect them to build a strong D to take the pressure off the offense. I could see them making a playoff run.
Is Sean McDermott coming back with him?
 

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Its not only about us being good. Two of three other teams in the division also need to get significantly worse.

no doubt

part of SFs ascension was due to LAR taking a step back.

for the Rams next year, the pull seems getting worse rather than better. Who knows.

it then takes one of SF or SEA to have an unexpected bad year. Maybe things revert to the mean and Seattle goes 1-9 or something in one score games next year vs. living a charmed life in 2019.

as they say -- the NFL is a week to week, year to year league.

in 2016, the Cards brought everyone back AND added Chandler Jones. Mike Floyd was coming off a 1,000 yard season and was in a contract year. SB favorites in the preseason. They go 8-8. Go figure.
 

DVontel

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We had a legit shot of winning 7 games in 2018 under Wilks. There were 4 games where we lost by 3 points or under. The rest of our division is still strikingly better than us and they also play the pathetic AFC and NFC East. Sure, any given Sunday, but keeping up with the rest of the division feels like a long shot to me.



I'm not sure where he only had one year of experience... he was head coach from 2013-2018, so I'm confused what you're getting at.
We also had a “legit shot” of winning 5 more games this season, but you always want to mention how many we had in Wilks’ season as opposed to KK’s.

(Btw, I don’t believe in “legit shots” or “should’ve”. I’m just entertaining the narrative).
 

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no doubt

part of SFs ascension was due to LAR taking a step back.

for the Rams next year, the pull seems getting worse rather than better. Who knows.

it then takes one of SF or SEA to have an unexpected bad year. Maybe things revert to the mean and Seattle goes 1-9 or something in one score games next year vs. living a charmed life in 2019.

as they say -- the NFL is a week to week, year to year league.

in 2016, the Cards brought everyone back AND added Chandler Jones. Mike Floyd was coming off a 1,000 yard season and was in a contract year. SB favorites in the preseason. They go 8-8. Go figure.

Seahawks have had less than 10 wins once in 8 seasons and that was 9-7. I wouldn't bet against them.

Niners are solid and I don't see them dropping off significantly.

Rams are the main unknown but I don't see them worse than 7-9.

Toughest division in football to go worst to first.
 

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We also had a “legit shot” of winning 5 more games this season, but you always want to mention how many we had in Wilks’ season as opposed to KK’s.

(Btw, I don’t believe in “legit shots” or “should’ve”. I’m just entertaining the narrative).
As far as games lost/tied within 3 points, we had 2 more potential wins.

I don't have the energy in me to go back and see if we really had functional opportunities to win games in 2018 outside of 3 point swings, my point is really just the same as your parenthetical thought - it's very easy to say "this team was so close" about any given year, even a year we all agree was abysmal, especially considering how slim the margin was in our five wins this year.
 

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Except . . . Bluto.

As down as people are on Keim he has done it before.

3 straight seasons of 10+ wins.

If you looked at his resume after the NFC Championship game. Everyone would say he was one of the best GMs in the NFL.

So he has that ability at times.
 

BritCard

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As far as games lost/tied within 3 points, we had 2 more potential wins.

I don't have the energy in me to go back and see if we really had functional opportunities to win games in 2018 outside of 3 point swings, my point is really just the same as your parenthetical thought - it's very easy to say "this team was so close" about any given year, even a year we all agree was abysmal, especially considering how slim the margin was in our five wins this year.

I'll help you out, this is what I recall as I'm not going back to check :)

Detroit - Despite the come back definitely a winnable game in OT. Couldn't get the TD and Brock fluffed the INT. +0.5
Ravens - One of our best road games I thought. Lost by 6 but I won't count it as winnable even though our RZ conversions sucked.
Panthers - Definitely not winnable. One of our worst games.
Seahawks - See above
Bengals - Win
Falcons - Win
Giants - Win
Saints - No comment
Niners - While we only lost by 3 we were down by 14. It was winnable if we had a D though so I'm counting it. +1
Bucs - Definitely winnable. Scored 27 and were up late in the 4th. Defense couldn't stop a beach ball in a breeze. +1
Niners - Up again late in the game. Lost on one of the dumbest defensive calls I've seen. That zero blitz inside our own 30 on 3rd down. +1
Rams - Ugh
Steelers - When you can't hold Duck Hodges to less than 23 at home you have a problem.
Browns - Win
Seahawks - Win
Rams - Again up in the 4th and allowed the Rams 2 TD's for the comeback win. A couple of INT's and a bad D lettings us down. But winnable. +1

So conceivable with an average defense we could have won 4.5 more games which would have been 10-6.
 

GuernseyCard

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I'll help you out, this is what I recall as I'm not going back to check :)

Detroit - Despite the come back definitely a winnable game in OT. Couldn't get the TD and Brock fluffed the INT. +0.5
Ravens - One of our best road games I thought. Lost by 6 but I won't count it as winnable even though our RZ conversions sucked.
Panthers - Definitely not winnable. One of our worst games.
Seahawks - See above
Bengals - Win
Falcons - Win
Giants - Win
Saints - No comment
Niners - While we only lost by 3 we were down by 14. It was winnable if we had a D though so I'm counting it. +1
Bucs - Definitely winnable. Scored 27 and were up late in the 4th. Defense couldn't stop a beach ball in a breeze. +1
Niners - Up again late in the game. Lost on one of the dumbest defensive calls I've seen. That zero blitz inside our own 30 on 3rd down. +1
Rams - Ugh
Steelers - When you can't hold Duck Hodges to less than 23 at home you have a problem.
Browns - Win
Seahawks - Win
Rams - Again up in the 4th and allowed the Rams 2 TD's for the comeback win. A couple of INT's and a bad D lettings us down. But winnable. +1

So conceivable with an average defense we could have won 4.5 more games which would have been 10-6.

Good stuff!

6-2 at home - 4-4 on the road and we're at 10 next season and knocking on the playoffs door.
 
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