Best & Worst Defenses

[CRA]

and I hate when writers start talking SOS rankings in the preseason.  We don't have the 4th easiest schedule.   That will be determined at the end of the year.   Now, it probably won't be one of the toughest.  All it takes is a couple teams that are all different this year to be better than last year and it's a middle of the road schedule. 

[KSpan]

34 minutes ago, CRA said:

and Evero took over what was already a top NFL defense in Denver.  It's not like he came in there and worked some magic to take them from weak to great. 

Amen. Evero did good work with the quality starting material that was there and had been running the same base scheme for years. Carolina is a different situation.

Edited August 30, 2023 by KSpan

[panthers55]

We are nothing like last year on either side of the ball. We had a makeshift defense without a true coordinator once Snow was canned and no secondary coaches at the end of the season. We have upgraded at a few positions player wise and significantly upgraded the staff. Add in the easier schedule and we will be ranked much higher than last year. Truth is ranking differences between 10 and 25 aren't that huge in most NFL categories so a big move is possible and not nearly as hard as folks seem to think.

[Sgt Schultz]

32 minutes ago, CRA said:

and I hate when writers start talking SOS rankings in the preseason.  We don't have the 4th easiest schedule.   That will be determined at the end of the year.   Now, it probably won't be one of the toughest.  All it takes is a couple teams that are all different this year to be better than last year and it's a middle of the road schedule. 

Add to that SOS does not necessarily tell us much when trying to evaluate or predict how an offense or defense will fare.  It really boils down to the offense vs. defense match ups (both ways) each individual week, vs. overall wins and losses.

For example, let's say a team in the top fourth of the league wins a lot of games, but struggles against the run.  If they play five opponents below the Mason-Dixon line that can run the ball, the SOS is going to lead people in the wrong direction.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Sgt Schultz

[CRA]

5 minutes ago, Sgt Schultz said:

Add to that SOS does not necessarily tell us much when trying to evaluate or predict how an offense or defense will fare.  It really boils down to the offense vs. defense match ups (both ways) each individual week, vs. overall wins and losses.

For example, let's say a team in the top fourth of the league wins a lot of games, but struggles against the run.  If they play five opponents below the Mason-Dixon line that can run the ball, the SOS is going to lead people in the wrong direction.

yep, we could of played trash teams last year that just happened to be good at stopping the run....and we don't win 7 games last year.  Matchups matter.  We had ideal matchups for a team that had no QB.  10 games against the 10 worst run defenses. 

[CRA]

what did our actual SOS end up being last year?  Didn't we end up with like the 30th easiest schedule when it was all said and done? 

I mean, it's all about matchups ultimately.  But we had it pretty easy last year.  Not sure how much room there is to expect any easier schedule than what we ended up getting last year. 

[Jon Snow]

Just now, CRA said:

what did our actual SOS end up being last year?  Didn't we end up with like the 30th easiest schedule when it was all said and done? 

I mean, it's all about matchups ultimately.  But we had it pretty easy last year.  Not sure how much room there is to expect any easier schedule than what we ended up getting last year. 

I've yet to see anyone predict the SOS for any team. It's an exercise in futility.  You cannot determine the strength of schedule accurately until the season is over.

[CRA]

2 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

I've yet to see anyone predict the SOS for any team. It's an exercise in futility.  You cannot determine the strength of schedule accurately until the season is over.

 Going into last season, I think they "predicted" it would be the 12th hardest.  Think it ended up being the 30th hardest.   So whatever it ends up being, there isn't much room to get easier. 

But I think SOS is overblown to an extent.  Matchup and styles are more important. 

[t96]

1 hour ago, CRA said:

and I hate when writers start talking SOS rankings in the preseason.  We don't have the 4th easiest schedule.   That will be determined at the end of the year.   Now, it probably won't be one of the toughest.  All it takes is a couple teams that are all different this year to be better than last year and it's a middle of the road schedule. 

I agree about not putting too much stock into it but by its nature teams that won their division will generally on average have a harder schedule than teams who finished 4th in their division. There is of course variation year to year in how teams do but it's rare for a lot of the top teams to drop off a ton, at least not enough such that the 1st place team winds up with an easier schedule than the 4th place team.

[Jon Snow]

Just now, CRA said:

 Going into last season, I think they "predicted" it would be the 12th hardest.  Think it ended up being the 30th hardest.   So whatever it ends up being, there isn't much room to get worse than 30th. 

I think playing in the nfcs helped (or hurt) last season depending on your point of view. We played some bad teams and showed we belonged right there among them. 

We still are a pretty bad team until proven otherwise.  Only this time we will not look like we are coached by a bunch of amateurs.

My hope is that this season we will spoil a lot of playoff dreams for other teams by kicking their asses on the field.  It might not always equate to a win but they will not want to play us again. 

[NorthTryon]

1 hour ago, CRA said:

and I hate when writers start talking SOS rankings in the preseason.  We don't have the 4th easiest schedule.   That will be determined at the end of the year.   Now, it probably won't be one of the toughest.  All it takes is a couple teams that are all different this year to be better than last year and it's a middle of the road schedule. 

That's why I was laughing last week when people were saying Saints were a lock to win the conference because they had the easiest SOS and Derek Carr. I was like based on what last year and D. Carr couldn't get it done with a smorgasbord of talent in Vegas.

[BPF]

8 hours ago, Jackofalltrades said:

I'm worried about the D, I'm a hardcore 43 guy.

I hope I'm wrong.

Right there with you. Really hoping we don't suck against the run or it's going to be a long season.

[Jon Snow]

5 hours ago, BPF said:

Right there with you. Really hoping we don't suck against the run or it's going to be a long season.

We have sucked against the run in a 4-3 for years now.  This is the first go in a 3-4 with a mishmash of players not accustomed to and most likely not suited for it. I would say set your expectations accordingly.