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 NFL 2016 THIS is teh year
Regular season is almost here.
I don't want to get into a huge debate about this, but I'll say this much about Deflategate:
I hate the Patriots and Belichick and Brady, but I think the advantage gained, if any, is close enough to minimal to not even be worth talking about. For instance, I'd say it's 50% as egregious as The Pine Tar incident in baseball, which was overturned despite being the correct call, and 0.5% as bad as Spygate.
Anyway, obviously the Eagles will be the story of the NFL. 10-6 this year will be a severe disappointment.
I liked Nick Foles a lot, but it appears that his adjustment in attempts to take less sacks + normal regression from otherworldly 2013 season + defenses adjusting turned him into a very mediocre QB last year. He was MUCH worse than his stats, which were ordinary, and the team was more efficient with Mark Sanchez playing. Bradford looks to be a major improvement in terms of accuracy and decision making, the hope is that he can play at least 12 games.
I loved LeSean McCoy, but his style of running doesn't fit well with the team's blocking scheme, but he had clearly lost a step last year.
I don't expect Murray to repeat what he did last year, but he shouldn't have to. Ryan Matthews has honestly looked like a better player in the preseason, and it just appears that any back can gain yardage with this team.
This team will move the ball and score points no matter what, and if things click they might score A LOT of points. Jordan Matthews looks like he could be a special player, and rookie Nelson Agholor has jaw-dropping skills. This is the year Zach Ertz is going to emerge with most of the playing time at TE, and plans to get Darren Sproles some snaps as a slot receiver should make them very dangerous.
The defensive front seven looks scary good to be quite frank, with tons of depth. Last year it was a disaster when DeMeco Ryans got hurt, now they have what should be 4 starting quality inside linebackers. I wouldn't trade the front 3 of Cox, Logan and Thornton for anyone in the league, and they have 4 explosive LB pass rushers in Graham, Curry, Barwin and Kendricks.
The biggest problem last year was the DBs, with the worst starting corners in the league. Maxwell and Thurmond just have to be mediocre for there to be a big improvement.
The special teams unit is the best I've seen on this team in all my years watching. The team had 6 return touchdowns last year, 2 on PR, 2 on KR and 2 on blocks. Kenjon Barner has 2 PR in preseason, so again, this looks like an advantage in scheming/coaching more than just having a sick return guy.
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Originally Posted by philly and the phanatics
