2023 Season Prediction Thread - So How Many Games Will We Win?

[zCommander]

I am going to go with 10-7. You split with the division and then lose to Miami, San Fran, Buffalo and LA.

 

Like VoR said there is no way we could be worse than 8-8-1. What say you?

 

Hail! 

[88Comrade2000]

Of course we can, just like we can be better.

 

Starting essentially a rookie at qb, unknown if additions to oline improve the line or not.

 

We could easily see 6-11, 7-10 or 8-9. I think your pushing it, expecting anything beyond 9-8.

[zCommander]

8 hours ago, 88Comrade2000 said:

Of course we can, just like we can be better.

 

Starting essentially a rookie at qb, unknown if additions to oline improve the line or not.

 

We could easily see 6-11, 7-10 or 8-9. I think your pushing it, expecting anything beyond 9-8.

 

If we go 9-8 then that is only a half game better than last year. Ron getting rid of Turner and thinks he has upgraded the OL and definitely the D has to be at least 2 games better than last year and a playoff appearance. I would imagine he needs a playoff win to stay so I fully expect us to be pushing for 10-7 at minimum. I think we will do that. 

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by zCommander

[Koolblue13]

I think we're a double digit loss team, but good enough to not be drafting in the top 10.

[Warhead36]

10-7 and a Wild Card. Harris retains Rivera as coach but strips him of GM duties and brings in someone else to run personnel.

[88Comrade2000]

After camp/ preseason; you will have a better idea of what to expect.

[zCommander]

5 minutes ago, 88Comrade2000 said:

After camp/ preseason; you will have a better idea of what to expect.

 

What I expect, based on last year and the upgrade at the QB position, is a 10-7 season regardless of camp/preseason. 

[88Comrade2000]

1 hour ago, zCommander said:

 

What I expect, based on last year and the upgrade at the QB position, is a 10-7 season regardless of camp/preseason. 

We have no idea on Howell will fare. He could be good or he could suck.

[samy316]

I predict 8-9, but that’s more of a best case scenario than anything else.  We made no real improvements at O-Line in my opinion, and made no real improvement at all at TE.  If the O-Line is the same as last year, we’re staring at 6-7 wins at best.  I’m going with 8-9, ONLY because I think the defense will be outstanding, and carry us in a few games where we would surely lose.  Last year we were terrible in turnover differential.  I think we’ll be on the other side of that stat this year, and the defense will give us ample opportunities to score from good field position, or even score some defensive TD’s.

Edited July 5, 2023 by samy316

[FootballZombie]

Put me down for 8 wins. I think a middling finish is by far the more likely result than the ceiling caving-in perspective from the national media as well.

 

I think the team overall will be better, but we are probably playing a tougher schedule and the division is yoked so I would not be surprised with an equal or worse record as last season despite having some improvements in several areas.

 

I expect the D to be even better than least year. It is almost impossible for QB to be worse. I don't envision Howell or JB being the PFF 40th-65th ranked QB like Wentz and TH were.

 

*Shudder*

 

There will be growing pains tho, especially across the O. 

-Howell has barely played at this level

-JB is learning a new system.

-Regardless of QB, EB has never done this b4. There are somethings you learn by doing, so there will be growing pains there too.

 

Many already know how I feel about the O-line and the TEs. No warm-fuzzies there.

 

This squad has "middle of the pack" written all over it to me. I don't see the bottom falling out b/c our D should be great and we can always revert back to smash mouth football if the passing game is garbagio again and salvage several wins just like last year. You can grind out a bazillion carries between B-Rob, Gibby, C-Rod, Williams, Samuels.... depth aint an issue this year. 

[Simmsy]

We're good for 10.

[Voice_of_Reason]

On 7/4/2023 at 10:49 PM, zCommander said:

Like VoR said there is no way we could be worse than 8-8-1. What say you?

Just to be clear, I DID NOT SAY THAT.

 

I said, everything being equal, it's basically the same team, so should be relatively the same results.  somewhere between 8-9 and 9-8.  If everything is about the same. 

 

But there's always the possibility of a complete collapse.  Something that worked last year might fall apart.

 

Anything is possible. They could also win 12 games.  I doubt that will happen, but eh, you never know.  

[Voice_of_Reason]

11 hours ago, zCommander said:

 

What I expect, based on last year and the upgrade at the QB position, is a 10-7 season regardless of camp/preseason. 

I have no idea if Howell is an upgrade or not.  

 

But I don't think he would be worse than [REDACTED] and Wentz.  Who were both deplorable every game they played last year save ... 1?  The opener was the high-point of QB play for the entire season.  And that wasn't even great, with 2 INTs.  Take out [REDACTED's] rabbit foot moments of back judge's knocking down defenders, defenders inexplicably dropping INTs, and Terry making ridiculous circus catches on poorly thrown balls, it might have been the combined worst season of QB play in the NFL, and it might not have been that close.  

 

So, even if Howell approximates what our QBs do last year (which means his play is appallingly bad), the supporting cast is good enough to be middling. 

 

And if he is actually an upgrade, then it could be a lot better.  

22 hours ago, 88Comrade2000 said:

Of course we can, just like we can be better.

 

Starting essentially a rookie at qb, unknown if additions to oline improve the line or not.

 

We could easily see 6-11, 7-10 or 8-9. I think your pushing it, expecting anything beyond 9-8.

Counter point: the rookie QB probably can't be worse than the atrocity of QB play from last year.  

 

So, does it matter if he's a rookie or not?  We've already seen horrendous QB play with almost the same exact roster + an idiot OC.  

 

The OC is probably less of an idiot, maybe not even an idiot at all.  And the QB almost can't be worse.  

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

11-6

 

San Howell is about to put all you negative nancies on notice. 

[zCommander]

51 minutes ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

Just to be clear, I DID NOT SAY THAT. 

 

I had to go back and re-read what you said in the other thread, "I just can’t get over the fact the team was 8-8-1 with Wentz and TH, an old, slow, injured OL, and an idiot OC." I thought it was implied that they can't be worse. But I see what you mean though if all things are equal. 

 

And I am looking at the same thing as well, if all things are equal but with the better schemes by EB that should be a lot better than Turner and a QB that has an arm and legs to boot. To me it is still an upgrade so far and I am betting, as long as half the team doesn't get injured or something, we should be at least better by 1.5 more wins than last year. 

[Voice_of_Reason]

11 hours ago, zCommander said:

 

I had to go back and re-read what you said in the other thread, "I just can’t get over the fact the team was 8-8-1 with Wentz and TH, an old, slow, injured OL, and an idiot OC." I thought it was implied that they can't be worse. But I see what you mean though if all things are equal. 

 

And I am looking at the same thing as well, if all things are equal but with the better schemes by EB that should be a lot better than Turner and a QB that has an arm and legs to boot. To me it is still an upgrade so far and I am betting, as long as half the team doesn't get injured or something, we should be at least better by 1.5 more wins than last year. 

Also to be clear, I wasn’t taking offense or anything.  I thought you were throwing a light hearted jab and I threw one back.  All in good fun.  
 

The other thing I posted somewhere is “something which was working last year would have to go horribly wrong for us to drop from ~8 wins to 4-5 wins.”

 

Which is still what I believe. They really should have an elite defense (top 5) and a better scheme and play caller.

 

I have no idea if Howell will be better.  I just don’t think he’s going to be worse.  And that’s not really a compliment. It’s more of how bad the QB play was last year, especially if you take out the rabbit foot plays that are fluky at best.  
 

So that’s where I think, unless something which was good breaks, it’s about the same.

 

And I’ll give you something which could break: if Young comes back and freelances and destroys the chemistry on the DL, the defense will go backwards.  Do I think they will happen? No.  Could it? Yes.  

[Voice_of_Reason]

12 hours ago, AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy said:

11-6

 

San Howell is about to put all you negative nancies on notice. 

[Skinsinparadise]

I am higher on Sam Howell than most and higher on this RB crew than most -- and am intrigued by Bieiniemy.  But alas the weak O line IMO will limit the ceiling of all three.

 

The national media, Vegas, anayltics types are expecting the bottom to fall out -- a bad season, not a mediocre one.

 

But personally, I think they got another mediocre season in them.  The division foes in particular I think will have fun destroying this O line.   So finishing 4th I think is possible.  But I do think the Giants are slightly overrrated.  So finishing 3rd is possible.    I do think the Giants have the smarter brass -- both as to FO and coaches.  But I do think this team has more talent than them.

 

I am though very optimisitc about 2024.  The roster is loaded in many spots.    I like the idea of Howell growing this season and a new brass comes in and fixes the O line.  If that happens I think this easily is an 11 win team next season. 

 

But this season screams to me 8-9.  If you had to push me one game one way or another, I'd more likely go 7-10 than I would 9-8 but I could see 9-8 if everything breaks right.

  

Edited July 6, 2023 by Skinsinparadise

[Redwards]

i see 7-8 wins total.  And it wouldn't shock me to see only 6.  Sorry, I'm not sold on a 5th year redshirt rookie QB taking us to the playoffs.  (And that's not a knock on Sam in any way, shape or form.  For the record, I really like Sam.  A lot.)   Sure, there are those that say he's better than a 5th rounder and to look at the way he played two years ago in college, in the past he was evaluated higher, etc.  

 

But... no matter what argument you want to make in favor of Sam, the cold hard fact of the matter is that 32 Front Offices (who know a helluva lot more than the fans) skipped on him for 4 entire rounds, and other teams for the 5th round before we took him.  I don't buy that other teams' GMs and Front Offices as a whole just couldn't evaluate Sam properly and only looked at his senior year of tape, and those evaluation teams were just so bad that they just couldn't see how gifted Sam is.  Hell, if Ron really thought Sam was as good as he's pumping him up to be, he'd have taken him much sooner in the draft, especially with how horrifically he screws up our QB position.  And to add to that, Ron and Co. have done zero to earn my trust when it comes to effective evaluation of the QB position.   

 

I just can't believe that after over 30 years of not having even a single 11 game win season, and precious few 10 game win seasons, a relatively inexperienced 5th rounder is going to break that curse with a highly suspect and injury-prone O line playing in front of him, and running a new offense for the first time.  Not to mention, the quality of teams we play this year is vastly better than last year.   I'm not predicting Sam to be a catastrophe or anything, but it's possible to be playing competent ball but still coming up short in the win department.  I just hope the fans don't curse Sam when he inevitably makes the big mistakes that, compiled, cost us games.  It's all learning this year for Sam, and the level of expectation I see from legions of fans is truly worrisome.   

 

Could I be wrong?  Absolutely.  I've been right about our win totals for the better part of a decade now, though, and I have high confidence that at best, we equal last year's win total.   I'd love it to change, but I don't think this is the year.  Only one way to find out though: let the games begin. 

[The Rook]

 

 

 

 

 

The Rook

[Idaho fan]

7-10 Unfortunately we are still at the bottom of the NFCE and without a serious injury or two to our rivals Ill be surprised if the Skins get more than one win in the division.  Difficult to win more than 6 or 7 games when the other teams are all better in the division IMO.

[zCommander]

2 hours ago, The Rook said:

 

 

 

 

 

The Rook

 

You can come back later lol 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by zCommander

[clskinsfan]

Choosing this early I picked us with 5 wins. The entire campaign revolves around Sam. This will be a learning year for him. This defense is solid. With a chance to be top 12-15. The offense is stacked with weapons as well. The OL is a question mark. Although they did bring in a couple of free agents that they apparently like. Howell is the wildcard. And having the QB position be your wildcard is not really a good thing. If we get the Howell we saw against Dallas last year this team may surprise. If we get what most 1st/2nd year NFL QB's look like it is a 5 win team IMO.

[philibusters]

4 hours ago, Redwards said:

 

 

But... no matter what argument you want to make in favor of Sam, the cold hard fact of the matter is that 32 Front Offices (who know a helluva lot more than the fans) skipped on him for 4 entire rounds, and other teams for the 5th round before we took him.

 

For what its worth, Sam Howell was the very first pick of the 5th round. We traded picks 120 and 189 for picks 144 and 149.  So even though we generally picking 11th in each round, we ended up with the very first pick of the 5th round.

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

I guessed correctly. 7-10.