The Raiders lost to the Falcons!  Very good!  Raiders 6-5.  We need the Steelers to send the Ravens to 6-5 on Tuesday.

The Dolphins won so they and the Colts are 7-4.  One game behind us.  (next week the Dolphins play the Bengals and the Colts play the Texans...while we play the Titans.  We're going to need to win to stay ahead of 'Phins and Colts)

@tour2ma said:

Agree... and most of it has been on the D-side.

We believed the front four would be our strength going into this season and it has been with the prospect raised that it will be even better down the home stretch.

We thought the LB corps would be problematic.. and it is, but has still chipped in plays.

For me it's the 2ndary that has shown the most improvement. I might even go so far as to say surprising improvement as Harrison and Mitchell have shown themselves capable of playing quality ball. Ward was always a given.

Offensively we had one question, RG... and the answer was better than anyone expected.

The only remaining question there is, where are the TEs? Stef's purportedly TE-centric passing attack has seen only 30% of its passes end up in TE hands... and I'm actually surprised the percentage is that high.

Well said.  Agree with everything.  I liked what I saw in Teller last year hoping the experience of it all would make him more consistent this year.  I've really enjoyed watching the OL after our first pick was a LT and our biggest FA commitment was a RT.  Those 2 investments were much needed and seem to be really paying off on the field.  Another thing that really paid off in the offseason was Hubbard's honest self evaluation and desire to be here in spite of a demotion.  We've already needed him to fill in and he provided the reliability our FO thought he would. Meatball on spaghetti, the hiring of Bill Callahan (w/22 years of NFL coaching experience) and Assistant Scott Peters brought this unit along quickly.

@flugel said:

There's a lot to like about the progress of this team. 

Agree... and most of it has been on the D-side.

We believed the front four would be our strength going into this season and it has been with the prospect raised that it will be even better down the home stretch.

We thought the LB corps would be problematic.. and it is, but has still chipped in plays.

For me it's the 2ndary that has shown the most improvement. I might even go so far as to say surprising improvement as Harrison and Mitchell have shown themselves capable of playing quality ball. Ward was always a given.

Offensively we had one question, RG... and the answer was better than anyone expected.

The only remaining question there is, where are the TEs? Stef's purportedly TE-centric passing attack has seen only 30% of its passes end up in TE hands... and I'm actually surprised the percentage is that high.

@tour2ma said:

Our 23rd must win of the season...

Titans are an enigma. Never know if they are going to show on a given Sunday. May be the biggest underperformer of 2020.

Colts are coming together at the right time for them... wrong time for us. They seem to be angling for that annual, "team you don't face in the playoffs" title that's handed out every year.

Colts are very tough especially when they have the leader of their defense on the field.  Then again, the Browns look tough when Myles Garrett is strip sacking QBs - and Denzel Ward and Ronnie Harrison are making plays in the secondary.  Cleveland won the last game without 2 of those guys while it had 2 RBs rush for over 100 yards apiece in the same game.  As recently as last year, the leadership gave that type of thing a sufficient enough excuse to lose.  There's a lot to like about the progress of this team.  If it gets into a post season with a nothing to lose mentality - we're gonna have some fun watching Tour!

Until then, 1 week at a time.  

@tour2ma said:

Our 23rd must win of the season...

LOL, I said the same thing to myself. The reality of a loss isn't so much the impact on our playoff chances, it's more the repercussions of losing to a very bad football team and how that happened. Nobody will give us a pass because of our injuries. Regardless of how debilitating our injuries are, there won't be an excuse large enough to cover this loss. 

The owner wants to lose every game in Jacksonville, but all of the coaches and players want to win. The Jags will have all new coaches and front office people next year to go along with their shiny new quarterback. I actually think the Jags have a better chance of getting Trevor Lawrence than the Jets. The Jets are going to eff around with Joe Flacco and win a game or two. Just watch. 

Anybody expecting us to go into Jacksonville and win by 20 is most likely to going to be disappointed. I don't see it happening, and that stadium, and frankly that TEAM, gives us more trouble than people remember. They are going to absolutely sell out on the run exactly like the Eagles did, and it's going to be tough sledding. I expect us to have a few stupid turnovers and keep them in the game. Browns still win, but it's going to be ugly. 

This is the way. 

@tour2ma said:

Our 23rd must win of the season...

1    Sun, Sep 13  @  Baltimore
2    Thu, Sep 17 vs  Cincinnati         Must Win
3    Sun, Sep 27  vs  Washington    Must Win
4    Sun, Oct 4    @   Dallas               Possible
5    Sun, Oct 11    vs  Indianapolis   Possible
6    Sun, Oct 18    @  Pittsburgh
7    Sun, Oct 25    @  Cincinnati      Must Win
8    Sun, Nov 1    vs   Las Vegas     Must Win
9    BYE WEEK
10    Sun, Nov 15    vs  Houston
11    Sun, Nov 22    vs  Philadelphia  Possible
12    Sun, Nov 29    @  Jacksonville  Must Win
13    Sun, Dec 6      @  Tennessee
14    Mon, Dec 14   vs  Baltimore
15    Sun, Dec 20    @  New York    Must Win
16    Sun, Dec 27    @  New York    Must Win
17    Sun, Jan 3    vs    Pittsburgh   Friggin' Win

-----------  So I do this before the season starts.  (I had the Raiders & Texans flipped, which comes out in the wash)  -  Just winning my remaining Must Win games gets us to 10 wins.

@orion said:

Well, we need to win.  It's a Must Win for us because you have to beat who you're supposed to beat.  

The Titans, Colts (playing each other) and the Bills are tied with us at 7-3.  I'm theorizing that we will lose to the Titans next week so I'm hoping they beat the Colts and go on to win their division leaving the Colts in the wild card mix.....we beat the Colts.

Our 23rd must win of the season...

Titans are an enigma. Never know if they are going to show on a given Sunday. May be the biggest underperformer of 2020.

Colts are coming together at the right time for them... wrong time for us. They seem to be angling for that annual, "team you don't face in the playoffs" title that's handed out every year.