Can anybody reach 0-16 this year?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The race is on to see if anybody can accomplish one of the most difficult feets in the NFL. Go 0-16. The Chargers came close last year but choked in the end.

Teams still eligible:

NFC - Washington, Detroit, Arizona, Dallas
AFC - Buffalo, Tennessee

Who has the fortitude, the grit, the determination to completely fail? Dallas should win a couple of games and Tennesse, Detroit, and Buffalo has been cursed with a sluggish offense. None of these looks like a legitimate contender with their offense possibly getting somewhat hot any given week.

Redskins and Arizona look completely terrible. Arizona had about ten minutes of promise against Denver on their first game but that quickly faded. I just can’t see them making the distance to 0-16.

The Redskins, however, seem to be the legitimate contender. Nothing is working for them and I don’t forsee any changes in their future. Detroit might fit into this category with their quaterback situation about as equally perilous as the Redskins. However, Detroit has had several key injuries on defense and when they return the defense could possibly win a game for them as long as the offense doesn’t give up anther seven turnover game. I don’t see that happening in Washington.

2

'Skins all the way, baby!

3

I disagree with yur statement “Dallas should win a couple of games.” They looked vile against the Eagles last night. Right now I rank them on the top of the possibilities.

With three of the teams in the NFC East, obviously since they all play each other at least two of them must get wins. That is a shame, because I think they are the three worst teams of those still winless. It is possible all three manage to squeak out a win against one of the others, leaving no team winless… however, if I had to put money on one, I’d still say Cowboys.

4

Redskins, Cardinals and Cowboys all get to play each other twice, so could split and cancel each other out. Of course no one but the most dedicated fan will watch those two games. The Bills get to play the Patriots twice, plus a few other sucky teams so they will probably stumble into a win or two. Tennessee is not pathetic, just unbalanced, so they should win a couple if not many games, especially now that they realised they need a fullback and have picked one up in free agency.

That leaves Detroit. Since I don’t know Detroits schedule I will leave that up to the Detroit folks. But I am guessing that Detroit will be one of those teams that always manages to win just enough to give their fans false hope.

Anyway, whoever is worst this year still picks second at the next draft. Houston, we have a problem…

5

Cowboys. They’ve sucked all year, they have no quarterback, and with Smith being the only threat, it’s easy to contain him. No real offensive line, everyone’s old or hurt. Defense is good, but it’s not enough.

6

I’ve already mentioned this in Gazoo’s thread, but I’m pissed that the Bears are basically garunteed another ineffectual draft pick. They are always bad, but not bad enough to warrant that cherry top 5 pick. 3 wins will almost certainly put the Bears out of the top 5, 5 wins might put them out of the top 10. How pathetic is that? So, we can assume that we’ll be looking at basically the same roster again next season…where the hell are we going to get a decent RB and QB?

Are you punch-drunk? Dallas is totally pathetic. Not a single QB on the roster who can come out and toss for 100 yards, let along enough to win. Emmitt, god willing, will probably get hurt somehow this season. [sub]Yeah, I know its mean but I don’t want to see him break the record, ever[/sub] And they have a defense like a sieve. If it weren’t for how extraordinarily bad Washington and Arizona were, they’d be a lock for the number 2 pick. I can’t see Washington or Dallas putting together a win, honestly, but they play each other twice…ugly. Arizona, while terrible, is eons ahead of these two teams. I think AZ is good enough to look really competitive against inferior teams. Granted this description doesn’t make them sound good, they’ll most certainly out-play Dallas and Washington IMHO. Plummer, Boston, and the rest of the Cardinal offense can be effective when they aren’t under duress.

Tennessee is still an excellent team. They lost to a pair of good teams whoe played GREAT. Miami looked invincible in that game, and the healthy Jax team is one of the leagues most talented. Jax isn’t healthy now, but I promise you that Tennessee will roll over Cincy and Cleveland with ease.

Assuming that the NFC East teams all manage to get one against each other, I’ll look at the other contenders. Detroit and Buffalo. Both play in moderately solid divisions, and don’t have a real playmaker who can bear down and win a game himself on sheer will.

Detroit’s schedule:
St. Louis
at Minnesota
Tennessee
Cincinnati
at San Francisco
Tampa Bay
at Arizona
Green Bay
at Chicago
at Tampa Bay
Minnesota
at Pittsburgh
Chicago
Dallas

Note that last game, and also games against Cincy and Arizona. Not to mention the Norris is notorious for upsets in divisional rivalries. Sadly, I wouldn’t call those Bear’s matchups a lock either, even though they should be a comfortable favorite going against our D.

And here’s Buffalo:
NY Jets
at Jacksonville
at San Diego
Indianapolis
at New England
Seattle
Miami
at San Francisco
Carolina
New England
at Atlanta
at NY Jets
at Miami

Not the toughest schedule you will ever see, but I see no games that a average team would call a gimme. The softest spots so far (based on injuries and recent performances) are the New England games, the Seattle game, Atlanta, and Carolina. On paper Buffalo will be at least a 4 point dog to all these teams.

If I had to put my money on any one of these teams to go winless, it would be Buffalo. If I had to pick any of these teams on a given week to line up against however, I’d pick Dallas. Dallas is the worst and least talented team in the league, but they play probably the worst schedule in the league too. Washington is horrible, but between the few talented players they have, and the coach’s ability to squeeze a couple wins out against crappy teams, they most likely will get about 2 wins.

7

Detroit has got to be the front runner.Lions had a bye this week…they lost.
Interesting how Dallas and Detroit play the last week of the season.What kind of interest would that game generate if both 0-15 at the time?

8

you know they would end up in a 3-3 tie since neither team can do anything right.

9

Well, to toss a minor hijack in here…

I hope Kittner’s still around when the Bears pick and that they actually pick him. Hell, he’s already running a more complex offense at Illinois than he would be with the Bears.

10

Dyno, I actually have been thinking that, but I don’t dare say it out loud…it is a deep year for QBs it seems in college. Although I’m not immediately sure how many are Seniors.

11

Does anyone recall the heyday of the 80s and early 90s, when NFC East was synonymous with ‘powerhouse’? The era of Gibbs, Ryan, Parcells? Washing had Doug Williams, and The Posse, and didn’t know what 0 and anything meant.

Crap.

  • Rick (still a Redskins fan, who enjoys reliving the Glory Days than facing reality)
12

I’m sure all those Washington fans are rejoicing that the Cowboys are so bad…and vice versa. Those guys like seeing the other team lose almost as much as their team winning. Its got to be some consolation.

13

Well, despite their win in the season opener, the Seattle Seahawks appear to be doing their darndest to go 0-16. :stuck_out_tongue:

Damn they suck. At least we still have the Mariners…

14

…is the Redskins.

Since Joe Gibbs left town, the Redskins have been completely snakebit against the Cowboys. They’ve lost when they should’ve lost, and they’ve lost when they shouldn’t have.

In short, I have complete faith in the Redskins’ ability to lose two to the Dallas Cowboys. I’m hard-pressed to remember the last time the ‘Skins have beaten the Cowboys. (Any help here? The Redskins’ official site was useless in this regard, as was NFL.com; both sites seem to think that you want this year, and nothing but. The Washington Post site used to have a history of the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry, but they’ve taken the link down.)

IMHO, the Redskins’ best win opportunities are at home against the Seahawks on 11/4, and at home against the Cardinals on 1/6/02. I think they will lose the first, but in cold weather, the Cardinals may be just enough worse that the Redskins could pull out a win at the end.

If so, the terrorists will be to blame for ruining the perfection of the Redskins’ season. :smiley:

15

Exactly. The year the 'Boys went 1-15, the one team they beat? You guessed it. Now, that Dallas only won one game does mean the 'Skins managed to win the other game, but they suck way worse than that this year.

16

The Cowboys CAN go 0-16 this year, but NOT because they’re terrible! Even terrible teams in the NFL usually have plenty of talented athletes, and can generally win 2-3 games.

Based on talent alone, I’d expect the Cowboys to go 4-12. But the Cowboys aren’t just ANY bad football team… they’re “America’s Team,” and other teams hate them with a passion!

Imagine, for a moment, that an ordinary bad team like, oh, the Bears is 0-13, late in the season. And the Bears are playing, say, the Phoenix Cardinals (who are 3-10) at Soldier Field. Under these circumstances, the Bears are very likely to win. Why? Because the Bears want to win desperately, and are going to pull out all the stops. The Cards, on the other hand, know their season is over, and aren’t psyched up for this game at all. All the Cards want to do is finish out the season and go home. So, chances are, the Bears will eke out a win, and avoid the embarrassment of going 0-16.

But suppose the COWBOYS are 0-13, and playing the Cardinals at Texas Stadium. You think the Cards will roll over and die for the Cowboys? Guess again! The Cards HATE the Cowboys more than any other team… and that means the Cards will play that ONE game as if it were the Super Bowl! Sure, the following week, the Cards will be sluggish and apathetic again, but when they play the Cowboys, they’ll try their hardest.

Remember 1989? The Cowboys went 1-15 that year. Now, they were bad, but NOT as bad as their record suggests. They probably SHOULD have gone 5-11 or so, given the easy schedule they played. But they went 1-15 precisely because even the patsy teams on their schedule were pumped up when they played against Dallas! Interestingly, negative emotion and hatred gave the Cowboys their only win that season. The one and only team the Cowboys were psyched up for, the ONE team they hated enough to get pumped up for, was the Redskins! And sure enough, the Cowboys managed to beat the Redskins (who were MUCH better than the Cowboys that year).

Emotion matters in the NFL, and THAT’s why Dallas could easily go 0-16. Because even teams with no heart and no character will go all-out to whip “America’s Team.”
You see, when the Cardinals play an ordinary bad team (like, oh, the Bears) in a late-season game, the Cards don’t get psyched up. They don’t really care whether they win or lose. They just want to get the season over and go home.

17

Ya know, I used to watch every damn Lions game until they started to tank every freakin’ year! I certainly hope the Lions go 0-16 just so everyone here in Michigan knows how bad they screwed up trying to get them a new stadium…like the largest indoor stadium in the world wasn’t good enough… :rolleyes:

18

After seeing this past weekend of football, Detroit has moved into my top spot for going 0-16. Arizona has pulled off a win and the other teams at least managed to score some points. Detroit’s biggest offensive threat, their kicker Jason Hanson, was on the field for only one play. To kick off the ball at the beginning of the second half. Sick. If they manage to win a game this season I’ll be impressed.

19

I am not sure about this at all, but I think the 'skins beat the 'girls when the 'skins were 4-12.

20

In 1995:

http://www.football-reference.com/teams/was1995.htm

Beat them 27-23 and 24-17.

In 1996, 1-1.
In 1997, 1-1.
In 1998, lost both.
In 1999, lost both.
In 2000, lost both.

So it would appear that my sophomore year of high school was the last time the 'skins beat the cowboys.