3rd Worst Team in NFL

[cincygrad]

The Steelers are 1 inch from imploding and the Raisins are shitbag organization so now is the time for Cincy and Cleveland to step up to the plate and put all that top of the draft talent to work.

The Steelers have hit a bump in the road. I'm not sure they're going to implode. I fucking hate them, but the truth is that they are a winning organization. Even if they have a few bumps in the road, you know they'll be back on top of the division soon. It's been that way for the past 30 years and I don't know why it would change.

I don't like the Ravens either, but they have a good franchise. They've basically been relevant for almost their entire existence. I don't know why that would change either.

There are two frauds in the AFC-N. The Bengals and Browns. While the Browns look good right now, just give it some time and it will go back to normal.

 

[DanBengalfan]

yep. The Steelers and Ravens have to let off the crack for a bit, but they'll be right back in the mix before you know it.

Heard the same shit last preseason, we're awesome, they suck. Pitt finished ahead of us and Baltimore won the division, so yea, even if Cleveland wins the division for a change it would be a nice shake up.

 

[DanBengalfan]

nbc sports is a little gentler:

2019 NFL Power Rankings: Heading into the offseason

they still rate the other teams in the division higher, but not that much higher

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Not too much worse. This is about where I thought the pundits would put us. I was just shocked when they put us 30th in that one publication.

 

[Rex Racer]

The Steelers have hit a bump in the road. I'm not sure they're going to implode. I fucking hate them, but the truth is that they are a winning organization. Even if they have a few bumps in the road, you know they'll be back on top of the division soon. It's been that way for the past 30 years and I don't know why it would change.

I don't like the Ravens either, but they have a good franchise. They've basically been relevant for almost their entire existence. I don't know why that would change either.

There are two frauds in the AFC-N. The Bengals and Browns. While the Browns look good right now, just give it some time and it will go back to normal.

Work with me here

 

[Myles]

It's tough to evaluate teams accurately before the season starts.
I'd rather do the 3 worst teams based off of the past 10 years performance on and off the field.
These teams would be in the running:
Browns
Jets
Lions
Jags

 

[ATL96Steeler]

They are projecting us to be one of the 3 worst teams in the NFL this year, along with Miami and Arizona.

I like the under dog status. I think we are much better than they give us credit for. Our defense is better than I think alot of folks give us credit for, including our fans. We have a very solid secondary, and I think Jackson is going to be a top 5 corner this year. Bates looks like the real deal.

Then you have that Dline, and I am okay with Dunlap, Atkins, Billings/Wren, Hubbard/Willis.

LB is where it gets a bit scary, but if the Preston Brown returns to his form he had with the Bills, which is a reasonable expectation being only one year removed and plagued with injury, he could be a difference maker in the middle.

Vigil is nothing more than an average LB, but is capable of making some plays.

The other side, you have the rookie Pratt in there, converted S to LB helping cover TE's. Plus, on rush downs, you have a doberman to release off the edge in Lawson. The loss of Lawson last year, besides Green and Dalton hurt us the most. Guy had 8 to 8.5 sacks his rookie year and is a bolt of lightning off the edge. He is a true disrupt er and difference maker.

On offense, I would like to think the new coaching staff will be creative, innovative, find the mismatches, and help each guy on offense succeed more. I think alot of that is going to be running the ball with a whole lot more play action and bootlegs to spread the defense out. As long as guys can stay healthy, I think our offense is in a good position to compete with the talent on t hat side of the ball.

Dalton is decent. AJ Green all-pro. Boyd coming off a 1000 yard season and missing 2.5 games. Mixon led the AFC in rushing with our crappy oline. The oline appears to have been improved with Williams and Miller. Glenn is hopefully going to stay healthy this year, Price gets a second year in even though it is a new scheme. I would imagine the learning curve is less than it was last year being a rookie regardless of it being a new scheme. Boling is just a good solid guard.

You just can't count on Eifert staying healthy, so no point in hoping on that. Question is, how long will he be able to make it before getting re-injured: back, legs, etc.

I see our floor of 6 wins. I see our ceiling as high as 11 wins if things go our way. I think this team is much better than experts give us credit for, and yes, that is with my orange tinted shades on. However, I think health is going to be our biggest key. We do not have the depth a lot of teams have, so we start losing starters, our talent goes way down, especially at LB. There is a drastic fall off there, even with the starters being league average at best.

I wanted to give it a winner until you said 11 wins.

No way is CIN 3rd worst team in the NFL.

The DEF talent is way better than the performance they put out there for the lame duck Lewis last year. Like every team, they need a player or two to step up. I'm a fan of the Pratt pick, I think he will be a 1st yr starter under the new regime. I agree 100% on the Lawson call...imo the best pure edge guy on the roster.

I've heard more than once from Browns fans the DIV comes down to PIT and CLE...I could easily see a split in the DIV across the board and 10-6 winning this DIV. I counted BAL out LY and they won the damn thing and they have the least talented roster imo so I make no predictions on who will win it, but CIN should be in the mix if the new regime starts strong.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

The Steelers are 1 inch from imploding and the Raisins are shitbag organization so now is the time for Cincy and Cleveland to step up to the plate and put all that top of the draft talent to work.

You're funny.

PIT...was not an inch from imploding...PIT DID implode....last year. That was a bizarre season in more ways than one...Tomlin should be imo, but he's probably not on the hot seat. If they don't start well, he should not expect an extension beyond his last yr (2020). Still enough talent there to contend for the AFC title.

BAL...the roster can look ragtag or whatever, but they will have a competitive team.

CLE...its finally time for some winning expectations in CLE. Idt Mayfield has a lock on success yet, but they have their QB and loads of talent on both sides of the ball. Now, it's time to win, when there are expectations to win.

CIN...I think they have had very good talent for a long time. Should have gotten rid of Lewis maybe 2 yrs ago, but there is a ceiling on this team as long as Dalton is the QB...They have playoff win talent, but I don't expect them to represent the AFC in the SB while he's the QB1.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I wanted to give it a winner until you said 11 wins.

No way is CIN 3rd worst team in the NFL.

The DEF talent is way better than the performance they put out there for the lame duck Lewis last year. Like every team, they need a player or two to step up. I'm a fan of the Pratt pick, I think he will be a 1st yr starter under the new regime. I agree 100% on the Lawson call...imo the best pure edge guy on the roster.

I've heard more than once from Browns fans the DIV comes down to PIT and CLE...I could easily see a split in the DIV across the board and 10-6 winning this DIV. I counted BAL out LY and they won the damn thing and they have the least talented roster imo so I make no predictions on who will win it, but CIN should be in the mix if the new regime starts strong.

That was our ceiling. If guys stay healthy, and we play to our talent, I can see as many as 11 wins. However, injuries occur, guys have off years, shit happens. So while 11 wins is the max I could possibly see us getting if things go well in all those areas, I can see us only winning 6 games as well, because we do not have enough depth to counter act the loss of starters to injury. We are not deep talent wise like a lot of teams in several key areas.

I see us more in the 8-8 to 9-7 range, but allow for flex two games either way.

 

[eaglesnut]

This is shaping up to be an awful division.

You all have a chance.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

This is shaping up to be an awful division.

You all have a chance.

Appreciate that, but I am seeing this division only getting tougher with Cleveland getting better and this conference in general.

Top tier teams in AFC:

New England Patriots
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Indianapolis Colts

All the following teams are .500 teams with leeway either way 6-10 to 10-6.

Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee Titans
Pittsburgh Steelers
Baltimore Ravens
Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati Bengals

Teams that will finish in the bottom of the conference:
Denver Broncos
Oakland Raiders
NY Jets
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins

Patriots should walk away easily with another division champion

 

[eaglesnut]

Appreciate that, but I am seeing this division only getting tougher with Cleveland getting better and this conference in general.

Top tier teams in AFC:

New England Patriots
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Indianapolis Colts

All the following teams are .500 teams with leeway either way 6-10 to 10-6.

Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee Titans
Pittsburgh Steelers
Baltimore Ravens
Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati Bengals

Teams that will finish in the bottom of the conference:
Denver Broncos
Oakland Raiders
NY Jets
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins

Patriots should walk away easily with another division champion

Generally, I agree with your tiers, but the fact that the Brown's are division favorites should tell you all you need to know. The Steelers and Ravens are weak and falling.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

That was our ceiling. If guys stay healthy, and we play to our talent, I can see as many as 11 wins. However, injuries occur, guys have off years, shit happens. So while 11 wins is the max I could possibly see us getting if things go well in all those areas, I can see us only winning 6 games as well, because we do not have enough depth to counter act the loss of starters to injury. We are not deep talent wise like a lot of teams in several key areas.

I see us more in the 8-8 to 9-7 range, but allow for flex two games either way.

Okay...as a ceiling, maybe....I would say 8-8 to 10-6 is the range. 11 wins I think is the Steelers ceiling, but I've picked them to go 10-6.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

This is shaping up to be an awful division.

You all have a chance.

What's awful?

The north plays the AFCE, NFCW...good chance for 5 wins there, split in DIV 3 more, I think you can get at least 3 teams to win 9+ games.

 

[eaglesnut]

What's awful?

The north plays the AFCE, NFCW...good chance for 5 wins there, split in DIV 3 more, I think you can get at least 3 teams to win 9+ games.

Ok, so their records will be inflated since they get to play other weak divisions. That doesn't change anything though.

What's awful? The most well rounded roster is the Cleveland friggin Browns.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Ok, so their records will be inflated since they get to play other weak divisions. That doesn't change anything though.

What's awful? The most well rounded roster is the Cleveland friggin Browns.

Some truth there regarding the competition, but NE benefits from a weak DIV every year...doesn't seem to effect them in JAN. 2017...the NFCE was rather weak as well...but no shine off that Lombardi the Eagles bagged that season.

So it does change things...huh.

 

[eaglesnut]

Some truth there regarding the competition, but NE benefits from a weak DIV every year...doesn't seem to effect them in JAN. 2017...the NFCE was rather weak as well...but no shine off that Lombardi the Eagles bagged that season.

So it does change things...huh.

The Patriots have proven themselves in the playoffs for two decades. The Eagles proved themselves in the year their division was bad.

No matter how many free wins the schedule creators gifted them, there will be no truly good team coming out of the AFC North because none are in there in the first place.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

The Patriots have proven themselves in the playoffs for two decades. The Eagles proved themselves in the year their division was bad.

No matter how many free wins the schedule creators gifted them, there will be no truly good team coming out of the AFC North because none are in there in the first place.

I really think you are underestimating the Browns roster. The only real question is, can the new coaching staff put together a playbook on offense and defense that guys can excel at right away. Offense, i think they can because Kitchens stayed. Defense..well, we will see if they start slow on defense. Cincy has the same issue, but on both sides of the ball.

Cleveland may very well have a top 5 offense in the NFL this year. There defense talent wise is good enough to be top 5, but I anticipate a top 10 by the end of the year. They very well may be better than the Eagles. Then you have 3 other teams in the division that is next to or not far off from Cleveland talent wise and you have the makings of a tough division. They will beat each other up and the records will be mediocre because of that. NFC West is no joke with Seattle and Los Angeles. Then I believe SF will be much better with a full year of Jimmy G. and an improved defense. Arizona could be a hot mess again, but that depends on if Murray is the next coming of Mayfield and how long it takes him to take control of that offense and make it his. My guess is he is lacking enough weapons.

No NFL team is a walk in the park. I think a whole lot of folks are underestimating the AFC North division.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

The Patriots have proven themselves in the playoffs for two decades. The Eagles proved themselves in the year their division was bad.

No matter how many free wins the schedule creators gifted them, there will be no truly good team coming out of the AFC North because none are in there in the first place.

LOL...So in other words what applied to PHI doesn't apply to the AFC north.

I'll give the Pats even though they went a decade of winning a weak DIV every yr and not winning a SB...the Eagles not so much. They had several bad seasons, leading up to '17. They got hot one season and made good on it...per norm I'm willing to give credit where credit is due but they REALLY benefitted from playing a weak DIV that year....remember they went 6-0.

 

[DanBengalfan]

If Baker Mayfield gets Kimo'd I'm going to stop watching this sport, except for high school games.