Ashley

Then we better bring home a ring this year. Our window of opportunity is now closing.

Crusader

Nah, Loomis got this. Next year is probably when we restructure Brees´to free up space.

TheOak

5 years of kicking arse and making the playoffs (I am counting 2012 as a should have/would have) is not a window... That is a solidly maintained very good team.

The Dude

Don't be surprised if our D takes a small step back or remains the same even with all the great acquisitions. Going from worst ever in the league by 1000yds to 4th is absolutely unheard of. They very well could have overachieved. If we improve awesome but even if we do take a small step back it is still a monumental improvement.

Danno

Agreed sort of. The reasons we were the worst ever had more to do with the misfit style of Spagnuolo and not the talent we had on the defense. This was said over and over and over again before we made the jump from last to 4th.

BTW: I think the Texans went from worst to 1st overall in one season just a few seasons ago, so its not really unheard of.

But your point is one I was tempted to make myself. A top 4 ranking will be hard to improve on regardless of how good you are and how much you've improved. So many factors go into that final ranking that it just isn't as simple as saying since we improved personnel on a top ranked defense then we should improve our ranking as well.

We indeed could be a better defense and yet not improve on the #4 ranking at all. Maybe we jump out to bigger leads and give up a lot more garbage yards/points. Maybe we have a couple really bad match-ups or lose a couple key players for a span, or we become more feast/famine due to desiring more turnovers, we gamble more (because we can afford to) and give up more yards, etc...

Regardless, a top 5-ish defense demands respect. Whether your #2 or #6, you are damn good.

Good observation Dude.

TheOak

Agreed brother man.. Even if we fall from 4th to 8th overall but become very consistent I am damn fine with that.

History has proven that adding 1-2 key players doesn't always bring monumental improvement, and the step from 4th ranked to higher is huge.

If we improve on just 1 area which is rushing (ranked 19th) that will be monumental. We were 4th in Points, 4th in total yards, and 2nd in passing yards.

* Second in passing yards with a defensive back field that was hammered with injury and fans complained about all season... Since our LBs cant cover and our CBs were horrible.