There Are A Lot of Awful and Mediocre Teams in the NFL This Year

[Yavin4]

Is it me? Or, are there some truly, truly awful teams in the NFL this year. There are teams that can barely function. You'd think that with all the scouting, coaching, and training that we wouldn't see this level of mediocrity but here it is.

Awful teams:
Redskins
Rams
Buccaneers
Lions
Texans
Chiefs
Raiders
Browns


Mediocre teams:
Cowboys
Panthers
Titans
Dolphins
Bills
Cardinals
Seahawks
Bengals

That's 16 of 32 teams that are mediocre to awful.

[BlooInBloo]

1. And the other 1/2 are decent to very good? AMAZING!

:rofl:

[Yavin4]

2. I Don't Get It

If half the league is terrible, then it makes for bad games throughout the season.

[rep the dems]

14. But your original post contradicts what you're saying now.

You didn't say that all those teams were terrible, you said that some were awful and some were mediocre. And as others have undoubtedly already said, it's only week 3 so we're bound to see some teams that are doing great right now fall from grace *coughBRONCOScough* and others pull themselves out of an early funk.

[JonLP24]

3. Your list doesn't make any sense

First off it's only 3 games in so a lot can change. The Bills were 4-0 last year, the Buccaneers were 9-3, the Chargers were 4-8, the Jets were 8-3 I can go on and on but none of these teams made the playoffs. The Bengals are a fluke play away from 3-0 and they just recently beat the Super Bowl champs and the Packers so why aren't the Steelers and Packers on the list? Doesn't that make them mediocre because they lost to the mediocre Bengals? You don't got the Jaguars on the list even though the Cardinals beat them 31-17. They were up 31-3 when they put Leinart in. Anyways you can't really tell where any team is at until about week 11.

[Auggie]

4. Exactly... teams are still adjusting, trying to find out what works.

[Yavin4]

9. My List Is Based On How These Teams Are Playing

These teams are not playing competent football. They cannot execute on either offense or defense. The Buccaneers didn't have a 1st down until the 4th quarter last Sunday.

[JonLP24]

10. That's the Buccaneers

Dallas is #3 in offense, Seattle is #10, Tennessee is #11, Arizona is the third highest pass team. For the most part you got the defense part right except for the fact Cincinnati is in the upper 16 rather then bottom when it comes to offense and defense. Arizona's defense was playing well tied for the lead in sacks but matched up against Peyton. Had some unfortunate things happen inside the 5 but I've seen Peyton rip apart a back-to-back top 5 defense in the first round of the playoffs(IE Denver of '03 & '04 who coincidentally Denver's D coordinator-Larry Coyer- during those years is now the D coordinator for Indy).

[Yavin4]

11. What about the Raiders, Browns, Redskins, and Rams

There are teams that are purely incompetent. They can barely put together a drive. A 9-7 game in the NFL is horrible.

[JonLP24]

17. I don't have a problem with their classification

Especially the Browns.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Well, Who Could Argue That?

Yes, they are really bad! But, every year there are 3 or 4 terrible teams. In this case, some of them are just "the usual suspects".
GAC

[Captain Hilts]

5. Game's gone downhill since too much expansion and head coaches calling the plays. nt

[Bill McBlueState]

6. It's too early to conclude anything this year,

but here's a histogram showing the distribution of wins last year:



There's a surprisingly long tail on the losing side of 8-8, consistent with the idea that there are more horrible teams than excellent teams.

If I had more time, I would compare this to the average distribution over the last 10-20 years to see if 2008 was unusual.

[NJmaverick]

7. Mike Lombardi of NFP talked about this subject in his column Monday

Quote
Yesterday in the NFL, there was a clear gap between teams -- the Bucs, Rams, Chiefs and Browns have no chance to win at all -- and what’s disconcerting is that those teams are a long way from being competitive. Is the NFL becoming like baseball? To me, there are 10 good teams, 10 average teams, eight bad teams and four teams with no chance.


http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Diner-morning-news-random-thoughts-1718.html

[DaveinMD]

12. every league is like this

the difference in football is that you can improve pretty quickly from one year to the next. However, there a few top franchises that are always there unless they suffer catastrophic injuries. Patriots, Steelers, Giants, Eagles, Colts.

[Yavin4]

16. So, In Essence, The NFL Is Just Like MLB

And all that crying about a salary cap is pure baloney.

[NJmaverick]

24. I wouldn't say that

I think the difference is in the MLB you have permanent haves and have nots. It's all about the team's wealth and market size. There are many teams that simply can't compete because they don't have the $$$.


Now in the NLF it's a matter of an organization's talent. You can have small market teams like Green Bay win Super Bowls. You can have teams with more money than God, like the Redskins, suffer through one mediocre season after another.

[joeybee12]

8. I think your list is gonna change in a few weeks...

I can't believe Denver is any good, and one off your medicore teams will rise, maybe Cincy or the Crimeboys or the Bills.

[Jack Rabbit]

13. There are a lot of mediocre teams in the NFL every year

It's called parity. It make the NFL a parody of itself.

[HuckleB]

15. You're spot on.

[EastTennesseeDem]

18. I'm flattered that you would say the Titans are mediocre.

But they have no secondary, no pass rush, and apparently no quarterback.

[bluedigger]

19. Are the Titans a victim of last season.

Are they just playing too tough of a schedule? Other than losing Haynesworth, aren't they fairly well intact? I haven't followed them too closely, but before I came down to NOLA for work, I lived half a mile from the stadium, and I would like to see them do better, (although I'm a Pats fan).

[EastTennesseeDem]

21. Haynesworth is turning into a huge, huge, huge loss

Cortland Finnegan is a beast at the CB position, but the safeties are inept and Finnegan is just one guy.

This wouldn't be as big of a deal as it is if they could get someone to rush the QB--someone like Haynesworth--but no one is able to do so. Every down, the QB able to take five steps back and scan the field about eight times until the corners let the receivers get by them while the safeties do nothing.

And Collins, I have no idea what is up with him. The offense actually improved in the offseason with the addition of Washington and Lendale White getting in shape, but he is just awful.

[bluedigger]

22. I have a Collins story.

My brother was servicing Collins' vehicle while he was in it. A colleague made a comment about Collins, thinking my bro knew he was there, but my bro didn't know, and made a derogotory comment (two seasons ago). When my bro realized what he had done, he apologized profusely. Collins was cool about it. :rofl: Still goes there.

[bluedigger]

20. I agree pretty much.

I think Skins probably will achieve mediocrity by season's end. Dolphins will probably go the other way due to key injuries. Cowboys and (maybe) Bengals will probably end up with winning records. Titans are a complete flyer.

So how does the other half shake out?

[HughBeaumont]

25. The Browns aren't GOOD enough to be "awful"

NFL teams are supposed to score touchdowns. The Browns have 1 offensive touchdown in 7 games (dating back to last season). After 10 years, they STILL refuse to build a line that can stop even St. Ignatius HS. This team is going nowhere really slow.