... has always been a very fine line, shrouded by "ifs". A game of inches for sure! The sudden rise of teams who had been perrenial "losers", and the sudden drop of others who had for years been winners can both be very surprising. I actually am not too surprised by Atlanta. KC has come on much quicker than I expected, although long-term I expected Andy Reid to turn them around. Arizona I expected. Miami has surprised me. Philly, while more exciting, may not really be much better off under Kelly. And, the rapid ascension of Nick Foles has been interesting, although we got our taste of him playing for Andy Reid LAST year. Thoughts?
The difference between winning and losing is good coaching and good QB play mostly...ask the Detroit Lions who, like the Bucs, have a lot of talent but can't seem to get out of their own way...there are reasons for that and they're very fixable.
It's a small margin for sure. Good QBs can widen that gap significantly, as can good coaching.
An interesting find; with all the whining about our offense most of us do (myself included), the stats show us as the 32nd ranked passing team. Pitiful. However, just 1 yard a game better than us, ranked 30th, is the team that just beat us... Difference is their QB runs like a 2nd running back and they already got a top-tier run game. Oh, and a pretty good D too...
Coaching, playcalling, and a solid qb are the most important things to have in today's nfl.
One of the bigger factors is health. I think KC has two players on IR. The 2002 Bucs were fairly unscathed...
sometimes part of it is just strength of schedule. The Bucs won 10 games in 2010, but against opponents with a net record below .500 (I think). The Bucs have only one 4 games this year, but the records of the opponents is higher, substantially so I think.
One of the bigger factors is health. I think KC has two players on IR. The 2002 Bucs were fairly unscathed.
BINGO! While no coach ever uses injuries as an excuse, it is a HUGE factor. I remember the great 49ers teams with Joe Montana. They had many years when their defense struggled. In looking closer, they always had key injuries in those years... The old Pittsburgh Steelers of the '70's were a team that had few injuries too. Many teams probably WOULD have been more dominant if they'd stayed healthy. In 2002, Ronde now says he played the Eagles game with a partial tear in a knee ligament.. Lombardi's Packers survived many injuries, especially on their run to 3 consecutive NFL championships. They played the infamous "Ice Bowl" with their 3rd FB (who in those days was a big part of the Offense) and 2nd RB of the season. And QB Bart Starr missed some games during the season. In the Ice Bowl he was sacked something like 10 times at the hands of Dallas's "Doomsday Defense", but never missed a snap. The toughness of that team was probably greater than their talent...
The HC needs to go with the flow. He can't be sayin, its my way or the highway. That doesn't work in today's NFL.You have a QB that seems to excel at no huddle, give it a shot, what is there to lose? We won't make the playoffs? Pfff.Coaches need to adapt to their players skills, not the other way around.
"And, the rapid ascension of Nick Foles has been interesting, although we got our taste of him playing for Andy Reid LAST year. "We got a greater taste of him this year playing for Chip!
Toughness, discipline, camaraderie.Easy to define but hard to find/develop.
