Record Prediction for 2024 Season

and a wild card

Have no idea how DJ will play. he could be a #10 type QB or a #30. he also could get his neck injured and have to retire.
the OL seems better, but we've been cursed the last decade or so.
i'm excited about the speed and potential of the WRs, but it's so young there's bound to be lots of ups and downs.
the DL has to be better with burns, don't they?
LBs should be ok unless okereke gets hurt, then it's in deep trouble.
the secondary is also very young and therefore unpredictable.

we are a few injuries from another disaster 4-13 record, but if we remain healthy and DJ plays well we could be 10-7 and in the playoffs. i have no confidence in predicting where we will end up.

and while yes he has a huge impact on the team's performance, that is not what will be the difference between this year and last year.

We already had lousy QB play last year.

If we can control the line of scrimmage this year on both sides of the ball, we will absolutely win more games even with Jones at QB.

If we can run the ball and create shorter down and distance situations on 3rd down, we will score more points.

To me, the key here is what we have done with the OL this off season and whether it will result in improvements on the field. Between the free agents and new OL coach.

First, I believe in the "bounce back" year where you come off a year where just everything went wrong especially early in the year and I think we cleaned things up an awful lot.

1. Team Psyche - new DC and morale should be improved. TBD
2. Health - you have to hope we stay healthy, unlike last year when we lost our best players early (Thomas, Jones, Barkley) and the schedule was brutal.
3. Offensive Line - veteran group and better depth even amongst Neal, Ezedu with another year under their belts. They must stay healthy and youth must develop.
4. Speed - this team is FAST, especially on offense and we can create matchup problems. But can Bellinger be that easy short target to keep drives alive?
5. Young team will improve as year moves along.

Start 2 - 0 or its over with a six game stretch against solid teams. If we start 2 - 0 and somehow surprise and go 3-3 or at worst 2 - 4 to be .500 at 8 games in we will be on our way to a winning record.

Jones must stay healthy and protect the ball.

8-9

Jones throws for 3500 or so yards. Throws around 23 Tds and rushes for 4-5 more. The offense scores 385 pts. Some ups and downs--roller coaster type season--we fail to close out a big game late in the year but battle throughout the season. Definitely a step up from last year but not quite there yet.

Giants let Jones sit on the last year of his deal or maybe extend it for one more season just to alleviate some of the pressure of weirdness--and they draft a QB within the first 2 rounds of the 25 draft.

Nabers goes for around 90-1100-8. Robinson 60-700-4.

Burns and Thibs combine for 20. Corners kill us but the D shows staying power and potential--just needs another off-season.

...every year.

goes to Theo Johnson, JMS and McFadden on defense. Theo gets a lot of RZ time and takes advantage of single coverage. 6+ TDs for the rookie. McFadden takes advantage of all that free space and ties for the lead in team TFLs with 16 along with Burns. JMS finishes slightly above average as a starting center, that's good enough.

We love Nubin by week 2-3.

.

We've added quite a lot of talent and some competent coaching (OL, DC) to the team that won 9 two yrs ago (last yr was a clusterf*^k for many reasons, so forget about it).

Compare this OL (and OL coach) and WR corps and add Burns, Okereke and Banks to the D that won a road playoff game in Jan. '23 and it's really not that hard to imagine 10 wins.

.

There's a pretty hard cap to what this team can do without a real QB