Wasn’t sure where to put this. Bye week status seems appropriate I guess.
IMO our start has really been part of Our identity (I’m really not trying to aggravate anyone using excuses). Our relative inexperience has been our Achilles heel. It just comes with the territory of being the youngest team in the NFL, much less THREE years running?? Is that normal? I’d love to see how many Teams have maintained the youngest roster for 3 consecutive seasons as it sounds unusual. Maybe not idk
For the first 2 seasons we were VERY young, now I would’ve guessed we were poised to break that mold a little.
What’s more amazing is while Jordan is in his 6th season As our QB he’s really only got just over 2yrs of starter “real” experience. Yet he counts as 5 full completed years which is a bit unusual and yet we’re still the youngest. How many guys in the NFL are in year 6 with 2 seasons of snaps? Rare.
As Jordan traverses his 3rd starting season we should see some minor to modest improvements on how his O assimilates. So far we’ve been sporadic but we’ve started off with a couple serious injuries. 2 of our most experienced starting OL in a young group missed significant time. A 3rd (Elgton) entirely switched positions. It’s not like going from LG to RG here. Many nuances change at Center and he’s still learning the position. He’s a Rookie all over again in many aspects. Yet no doubt with incredible upside and a known quantity superior athlete.
What I’m saying is good, not bad. You learn through trials and what NOT to do next time (moving the ball was a technicality but still a learning lesson) Yet we’ve got to allow our OL an extra month or so to gain steam. Plus our best OL (Tom) missed time. Once we get Tom back I think things will settle down a little bit there. Now it’s true that a Coach is never going to blame injuries and really it’s a mindset that nobody feels sorry for us. Yet imo that in itself implies recognition that we’re wounded. Luckily I’m just a lowly fan so I can say what I want and don’t need to be politically correct or worried about my teams mentality.
It’s ok injuries are a part of football and if they weren’t a factor we wouldn’t be excited to get Christian back.
Our MO has been to gel around mid season. 2025 should’ve ideally been earlier (4-6 weeks) or around now. I think it’s delayed because our musical chairs at OL. My guess is another 2-4 Weeks to get into form. In the meantime we’re plenty good enough to Win. As
@rmontro correctly alluded to… Thankfully we don’t play Detroit next week as they have hit full form ahead of us. Now it’s our turn to get there.
Imo this schedule and Bye week had really played out near ideal. We’ll lose some games down the stretch as we play better opponents, so stacking a buffer of Wins starting vs Cincinnati is huge. No more excuses. 3-1-1 rights a lot of wrongs.
