Look, I know there's a lot of you on this board who aren't interested in winning anymore games and would rather the high pick, and I get that. But if all you have to add to the discussion is a negative comment about there being no point, then just skip this thread. It's clear that Sean and this coaching staff are wanting to compete for as long as we have a chance. The point of this thread is.. What does that recipe look like?
Defensively, I feel like this is a rather easy discussion. We're far more healthy on that side of the football. Going into this season, I felt like we had a Championship level defense. While we were healthy, it sure looked that way. Now that Chauncey is back, I feel like we can get back to playing at that level defensively. We're solid at all levels, and Davenport is back. Teams can't run on us and they really know it. For as long as we're playing at a remotely competant level offensively, this defense will keep us in every single game that we play.. Which leads me to the offense.
We absolutely have to resemble an NFL offense. We have to possess the ball; limit the 3 and outs. Stay out of 3rd and 10+. Punts are okay, play the field position game. Ingram coming back should help out a lot; Tony Jones doesn't nearly have the vision or running ability that Ingram does. Him returning should allow us to lean on Kamara less in the running game, and more in the passing game. My only concern is getting it to him consistently; we threw to him twice on HB option on Sunday, but Taysom put the ball in a spot where he can run after the catch. It's no secret that I'm not a believer in Taysom as a long-term quarterback in this league, but I do think we can grind out wins with him if we play our cards right.
We have to find a way to be effective on the ground game on early downs.. which will be super tough with no real threat at receiver. But if we can limit the amount of times we're stopped for loss and no gain I think it'll go a long way. 3rd and 4-6 is super managable with our offense. Heavy dose of Kamara on outside zone, bang Ingram up inside. I'd love to run more zone/read with Taysom and Kamara. Keep running QB power and QB sweep, but at some point we need to mix up how we get Taysom out in the open on designed runs. I'd love to see us take a couple plays from the Bills playbook in how they use Josh Allen, particularly the QB draws that they run are super well designed. Continue the bootlegs, they are very effective, especially if we can keep Kamara rolling on the outside zone runs. Limit the sacks, limit the negative plays. Possess the ball, keep the ball, find ways to get points at all costs. Keep our defense fresh. Turnovers can't happen.
Obviously our toughest game of the 4 game stretch is coming up, but I strangely do think that we have a chance. Defensively we've played incredibly well in all 4 of our matchups versus the Tom Brady led Bucs, even in our playoff loss, the only reason we lost that game was giving them points off of turnovers. The defense will rise up for this game, we just have to find a way to scratch and claw our way to points because it will not be easy. We want to run the ball, and they're rather good at stopping the run. Getting 2-3 yards a pop would be a huge win versus this defense. I wouldn't even attempt running any sort of screen against this defense.. they're almost a guaranteed negative play with David and White at linebacker. If we can stay in 3rd and managable consistently, we'll have a really good shot. If we're constantly facing 3rd and long, the game will be as good as over.
TLDR: Lean on the 3 headed monster of Kamara/Ingram/Taysom in the run game, stay in 3rd and managable offensively. Get more creative with designed QB runs. Rely on the defense, as it's close to being whole again. Chauncey isn't the best player we have on defense, but he's the secret sauce that brings us to an elite level. We have 4 games left. I'd rather make the playoffs than not. As a fan, the excitement of wild card weekend is great.. just knowing that you're in the dance, even if on paper we don't belong. And for the sake of our team and it's future, I think it's important to keep the winning culture that we've established with this locker room, especially post-Brees. Even if it's not pretty.