I'm worried about the upcoming season. It's not only that we have what appears to be a brutal schedule but also the schemes of those teams. We face a lot of aggressive defenses, particularly 3-4 ones. Historically, we have been terrible against blitzing 3-4 teams with solid NTs (see, Ravens, Steelers, Jets over the last 2 years). Other than blind loyalty, I have no reason to conclude that the Jets, Cowboys, Chargers, and Ravens are anything but bad matchups for us.
Plus, Denver (Dumervil) and Washington (our old buddy, Albert) are now running a 3-4 (although how well they will run it is still yet to be known). Finally, we also have several blitz-happy/very good pass rushing 4-3s on the schedule as well. Philly, Giants, and Colts can all get after the QB.
Above average pass rushing defenses generally seem to give us troubles and we have a boatload of them on the schedule next year. As a corrollary, this also raises Schaub injury concerns for me. Hope I'm wrong.
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