With San Francisco coming off three consecutive conference championships and a trip to the Super Bowl two seasons ago, hopes were high heading into 2014. But injuries, infighting and the regression of Colin Kaepernick took the 49ers down a peg.
Now, Jim Harbaugh is coaching at the University of Michigan and Jim Tomsula is taking his place. Frank Gore is gone to Indianapolis and LBers Chris Borland and Patrick Willis have retired. Reggie Bush and Torrey Smith are newly signed. Carlos Hyde steps into Gore’s role. And, perhaps most importantly, Kaepernick has another shot to take the next step in his development.
So how does this team stack up in the NFC heading into the 2015 draft?
Zoneblitz: The 49ers fell from 12-4 and conference championship game to 8-8 and out of the playoffs. What caused the problems and how would you assess the season? (more…)
Miami was 7-5 at the three-quarters point of the 2014 season with at least an outside shot at the postseason. A promising season came to a crashing end, however, when a 1-3 finish dropped the Dolphins to 8-8 for the second consecutive season.
It was the sixth straight season on the outside of the playoffs and 10th in 11 years the team has failed to win double-digit games. But the offseason started off at a frenetic pace, with the signing of Ndamukong Suh as a free agent, the trade of Mike Wallace and the acquisition via trade of Kenny Stills. So management is not complacently sitting on its hands.
So are the Dolphins a better team now than at the end of the 2014 season? Is this the year Miami heads back into the playoffs with a chance to make some noise? Or is the Joe Philbin era on the brink of ending the same as so many of his head coaching predecessors have in Miami? Brian Miller, editor of PhinPhanatic.com, owner of Phinatics.com and co-host of Finsradio.net’s On the FinSide shares his thoughts.
Zoneblitz: The Dolphins were 7-5 at one point with a chance to at least knock on the door to the postseason before losing three of four to finish 8-8. What was your assessment of the season? (more…)
A season of high expectations fell apart quickly for New Orleans in 2014. The defense gave up 424 points and the Saints lost their last five games at home to finish a deeply disappointing 7-9.
Urgency reigned at the beginning of the new league year, as well. Stud tight end Jimmy Graham was sent to Seattle for Max Unger and WR Kenny Stills was sent to Miami – both deals netted picks in the first half of the 2015 draft. Mark Ingram was re-signed and CJ Spiller was added to give the offense a new dimension.
Can these changes bring the Saints back to postseason relevance in 2015? Travis Dauro, previously a writer at Canal Street Chronicles and now a freelance writer covering the Saints, re-joins Zoneblitz with his thoughts and observations on the 2014 letdown and the team’s efforts to recover heading into 2015.
Zoneblitz: Though the Saints were in playoff contention until late in the season, New Orleans finished 7-9 and out of the postseason in the weak NFC South. What’s your assessment of the season? (more…)
It was an up and down year for the Cleveland Browns, who used a mid-season surge to get into playoff contention before sliding to 7-9 in 2014.
But for a team on its third head coach in three seasons – one that made two first-round picks, neither of whom produced in their first year – and missing its biggest weapon in Josh Gordon for most of the season, to still produce the team’s best record since a 2007 10-6 mark shows signs of growth.
Can they sustain the indications of momentum? Or will the failure to solidify a long-term QB solution keep this team in the doldrums for more than the foreseeable future? Pete Smith, a contributing writer for Football Savages and former editor of Dawg Pound Daily, rejoined Zoneblitz to share his thoughts.
Zoneblitz: The Browns looked for a while like a postseason challenger before falling apart a bit at the end. How would you assess the season? (more…)
Mike Zimmer’s first year as head coach of the Vikings got off to a great start, as Minnesota trounced the St. Louis Rams. Then Adrian Peterson’s child abuse situation cost him the rest of his season and things started derailing a bit. Matt Cassel got hurt, thrusting Teddy Bridgewater into the starting lineup before the team really wanted him there.
All things considered, an improvement from 5-10-1 to 7-9 in year one doesn’t look all bad. So where do the Vikings go from here? How far is this team from rejoining the postseason ranks? Jon Merckle, staff writer for The Viking Age, shares some thoughts.
Zoneblitz: The Vikings improved to 7-9 in 2015 and looked like they might finally have a long-term QB solution. How would you assess the season? (more…)
The NFC West is as competitive a division as the NFL has seen in years, but as the St. Louis Rams entered the 2014 season, hopes were high that a strong defense and a healthy Sam Bradford could bring the team closer to the postseason.
Then disaster struck. Bradford again tore his ACL, missing the entire season and sending the team on a slow tailspin. There were moments of hope – such as a big, dominant win over Denver – but the combo of Shaun Hill and Austin Davis didn’t have what it took to lead the team to the playoffs.
As 2015 approaches, Bradford is gone. Nick Foles is at the helm, at least for the time being. And a strong defense again gives St. Louis at least a glimmer of hope that this will be the year.
How close are the Rams? Blaine Grisak, editor of Ramblin’ Fan, shares his thoughts.
Zoneblitz: The 6-10 record in 2014 was actually a one game step back from 2013. What caused that and how would you assess the season? (more…)
ago, hopes were high heading into 2014. But injuries, infighting and the regression of Colin Kaepernick took the 49ers down a peg.
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