Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19 (Post 14560967)

It’s probably a big ask but if your full arsenal of offensive weapons is healthy come playoff time, they’re good enough to get you back to the title game.

An improving defense (which we’ve been seeing) is good enough to win it, IMO.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 14560969)

The fact that offenses have gotten so good at attacking your weaknesses is exactly why the stars and scrubs model that Veach seems to favor is so flawed.

If you have a weak point on your defense, opponents WILL exploit it. All the money in the world spent on our D-Line doesn't mean shit when you can barbecue our LBs in coverage pretty routinely. And teams won't do it every play or every drive (it isn't Madden), but you KNOW that when they need it, they'll have it.

Give me 3 above average players over 1 'difference maker' and 2 JAGs every time. Especially on defense.

It is more critical than ever that your defense simply be sound across the board than it is that you have stars on it. Without Clark or Jones last week we saw Ogbah and Okafor play better. Saunders has stepped up his game. Go run with simply decent guys at EVERY spot on the field and you'll be in good shape.

But we're playing 9 on 11 on too many plays given the god-awful condition of this linebacker group. Cannot have that.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 14560972)

This season is nothing close to over.

But with every week they're making their slog just a little tougher come January. Combined probability alone says that winning 3 games is a hell of a lot harder than winning 2 and that's probably the best we can hope for at this point. Worse still, higher stress games down the stretch yield MORE injuries at those critical junctions and less of an ability to manage workloads and get guys healthy and/or keep them fresh.

We're using up rope here that we'd sure like to have available in December. The degree of difficulty is getting higher. It's not impossible (nothing is with Mahomes under center) but you hate to see a franchise known for post-season dick-stepping put themselves in a harder position going forward.

Originally Posted by oldman (Post 14560974)

The only off season miss I see this year is with Clark. That may change as the season goes on, but you have to admit he did pretty well in this year's draft and picking up some top-flight backups (Ogbah).

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 14560969)

The fact that offenses have gotten so good at attacking your weaknesses is exactly why the stars and scrubs model that Veach seems to favor is so flawed.

If you have a weak point on your defense, opponents WILL exploit it. All the money in the world spent on our D-Line doesn't mean shit when you can barbecue our LBs in coverage pretty routinely. And teams won't do it every play or every drive (it isn't Madden), but you KNOW that when they need it, they'll have it.

Give me 3 above average players over 1 'difference maker' and 2 JAGs every time. Especially on defense.

It is more critical than ever that your defense simply be sound across the board than it is that you have stars on it. Without Clark or Jones last week we saw Ogbah and Okafor play better. Saunders has stepped up his game. Go run with simply decent guys at EVERY spot on the field and you'll be in good shape.

But we're playing 9 on 11 on too many plays given the god-awful condition of this linebacker group. Cannot have that.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 14560981)

Okafor's looking pretty not great (by some measures he's been among the worst DEs in the league this year). And Lee, while low cost, seems to have been overly relied upon. He may not have cost much to acquire, but he also seems to have been Veach's answer to the Will position and that's damning in its own way.

And the lack of depth on the OL or serious efforts to replace Morse isn't something you hand-waive either.

Veach had, at best, a middling off-season and because of that he finds his hands largely tied at the deadline, IMO.

Originally Posted by O.city (Post 14560976)

Looking at the schedule, I really see a path to 12 wins. Really, the only 'tough" win you'll have to have is beating either New England or Minny.

Sure, you have to finish 7-1. But you're telling me they shouldn't beat Denver, LACx2, Oakland, Chicago (by then they'll be on Chase Daniel or some other shit bird), and the Titans?

Sure you've had some games they should have won this year, but they should be getting healthy and as you said, with Mahomes and the offense healthy, they should wreck.

Originally Posted by arrowheadnation (Post 14560933)

I've always been in the "go for it" crowd as well....I use the Packers as the #1 reason. They have had a HOF QB every year since the mid 90's and only have 2 Super Bowls to show for it. This tells me you need to strike while the iron is hot.

Originally Posted by RunKC (Post 14560986)

This is exactly why I think it’s better to trade Chris Jones for a draft pick and use that money on adding more decent players to the defense.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 14560995)

And they haven't lost to a bad team yet. Their schedule has been SAVAGE.

But at some point you have to stop making excuses for losing to good teams and !@#$ing start beating them. We heard some of the same stuff last year when we almost beat 4 playoff teams and instead...didn't. Then the same reasons we lost to those teams showed up in the AFCCG.

The time for moral victories is well in our rearview. This is a contender that's 1-3 at home and has clearly definable and exploitable weaknesses. That shit needs to get resolved.