Well, my week 1 shenanigans seems to have worked pretty well. We re-signed chemistry anchor CB Blackwell, re-upped with WR Edward Gaines, and by leaving slots open in the depth chart managed to get him 113 targets and over 900 yards. So, I managed to dig out of my self-inflicted penalty.
GML: Baltimore Ravens 2095
We are the 12-4 #1 seed this year, so I guess we're back as a serious contender. That's good. And it backs up some of my "go for it now" moves this offseason.
Inexplicably, RB Terry Wells goes off for BY FAR his best season. 250-1,457 on 5.8 ypc, and another 463 receiving yards. So, we get some degree of dividend for our time and trouble invested in this guy, I guess.
Defensively, our pass rush was again pretty good (21.3%, good for 7th), but we were pretty pedestrian overall. Once again, this doesn't really look/feel like an elite team under the hood... our passing yards per attempt are lower than our opponents', frex. To me, that's a stat that usually tells the real story- being able to impose your will via the air game is the single most important thing in this game. This team is, basically mediocre at that, but for two straight years has been very good at winning. Hmmmm.
So:
rushing QB whose ratio improved
ground game comes to life unexpectedly
defense plays well but not great
- - - - -
12 wins and home field advantage
Ok, then.