[The Goat]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I see more reasons for optimism than pessimism, actually. I think we're 8-8 or 9-7 here, with the only thing keeping us from 10-6 or 11-5 being the indiscretion of a youthful QB - turnovers.

First off, we were incredibly injured last year. Injured and suspended. The return of healthy players alone is enough to stabilize us a bit. Lichtensteiger was really missed along the offensive line when he went down - it caused us to shuffle pieces that never really fit. And obviously Trent for those last four games. And Brown's hip still wasn't right - by Shanahan's account there's reason to hope that he's in better health this season.

Jarvis Jenkins never got a chance to make an impact for us - he adds depth. Getting rid of Landry is addition by subtraction in a way. You lose quite a talent but at least you have a healthy player in his spot.

Fred Davis returning from suspension and Chris Cooley coming back gives us TE depth. Remember, we were 3-1 at one point before the injuries really started mounting up. Not that we could have gone 12-4 with that team last year, but with health I don't see why 7-9 or 8-8 was unachievable.

Then we get to the improvements - hello real WRs. No star at WR still, but the depth is miles better than it was last year. And lastly, the obvious - QB. Griffin is going to make plenty of mistakes but I think he's going to move the ball. Our offensive line may not be perfect, but he's going to rip off the occasional long TD run when the line breaks down and he escapes.

You have to expect a rookie QB to make mistakes and throw INTs. But Grossman threw 20 last year in like 13 games started, plus he lost 5 more fumbles. I think that's even a lot of turnovers for a rookie. So what I'm saying is, Griffin really can't be worse than Rex was last year.

We'll get torched on long TD passes because I don't love our secondary. And Griffin will make mistakes. But the supporting cast is healthy and deep enough now for us to at least be in the playoff conversation in the month of December.

Great post. I also think Griffin will be an instant upgrade over Rex even adjusting for rookie mistakes.