Less scoring overall.
Last year's defense started out a bit shaky, but ended the year sneaky-good. I expect 2022 to be materially improved over that. LBs will be the best we've had in years, maybe ever.
I have my worries about the OL, the WRs' reliability, and the RBs ability to perform from two perspectives...(1) running behind an OL that could charitably be termed a work in progress, and (2) the degree to which three guys have recovered from serious injury.
Even with Neal, last year's OL wasn't stellar. Whether it was coaching, recruiting misses, or normal progress, I don't know. But this year's version will have to show on the field that they're an improvement before I'll believe it. So far, that hasn’t happened.
WRs, other than Burton, can't seem to catch the dang ball. Way too many drops, and it wasn't just ADay. Those are drive-killers, and we saw the impact in the NCG. I’m not looking for the second coming of Ozzie Newsome or Devonta Smith. I just want somebody who can catch a soft pass that hits them in the sternum.
Apart from Gibbs, RB has multiple question marks. From all reports, Gibbs looks to be for real. Miller looked better than I would have expected, especially since he had the handicap of running behind a 2nd OL that wasn't good enough to crack an already-suspect 1st OL.
Sanders, you just don't know. I always expected that injury to have a 2-year recovery period, and was pleasantly surprised that he contributed as much as he did in 2021. Great heart. But even after 2 years, there's no way anybody, even Sanders himself, will know what his new ceiling is until the season starts.
McClellan and Williams are coming off ACLs, and no matter what anybody says, between physical recovery, mental recovery, and getting back into football shape, those take a calendar year to return to pre-injury performance. Freshmen can often help at RB with the ball in their hands. But few come out of HS with the necessary blocking skills. So playing time, especially if they don't show up until summer, can be limited because of that.
At RB, seems like every negative has a "Yeah, but..." silver lining, and every positive has a, "Yeah, but..." dark cloud. I just don't think there's any way to predict what our running game will be, and until August we won't know any more than we do right now.
Both the running and passing games will depend on the OL being improved. Realistically, some guys will work out, and some will continue to be suspect. So I expect offensive performance to slide a bit. We're still talking about a championship-contending team, but one with vulnerabilities which, if not remedied, could prove costly against championship-contending opposition.