Uh… no. I’m not entirely sold on the 49ers, but they have a 4 1/2 game lead with 10/11 games left to play and the 13th ranked defense. They’ve beaten Cincy, Seattle, Philadelphia and Detroit, throttled Tampa Bay, and their one loss was to Dallas in overtime.
The Rams have… a quarterback with a high ankle sprain and the league’s 30th ranked defense.
I will eat any item of clothing you care to name if the Rams win the division. I might add that no team has started 0-5 and even made the playoffs as a wild card since the wild card playoff format was adopted in 1990.
Haven’t followed this league for a while, but I just felt it worth mentioning that the Saints beat the Colts today 62-7.
Yeah, I know. Almost couldn’t believe it myself. Just to put it in perspective, the worst ever loss in the Super Bowl, once infamous for ridiculous blowouts, was 45 points. The only other game I know of like this was Dan Marino’s last game. (It was the divisional playoff, which I suppose makes it worse, although I doubt anyone on the Dolphins or Colts is interested in starting a debate.)
How the heck did this happen? I mean, the Texans have received massive drubbings. And the Browns. And, yes, the Saints. I don’t recall any Lions massacres, but the franchise is so hopeless overall that there’s gotta be at least a few. I know that Peyton Manning had an unfortunate injury early, but that’s all. I recall a similar situation with the Broncos were some critics were accusing them of giving up the season (which Terrell Davis furiously denied), but that meant a pretty lousy season, not 0-7 and the nuclear-powered steamrolling that happened today.
Ah, well, at least there’s none of the tedious nattering about “running up the score” and “poor sportsmanship”, although that may be because everyone’s too stunned to say anything.
Oh, and cymk, I don’t see an e-mail address for musgreen598, so I’ll say it here and you can pass it on if you like:
Enough dumping on the WNBA already. It’s been fourteen years. It’s not going anywhere. Deal with it.
The mistake wasn’t taking the wind. I’m tired of hearing this. The mistake was accepting the holding penalty, which allowed them another shot at a first down. Were you watching the same game?
I believe they said it was also the most points the Saints had ever scored in their 45 year history and the most points any team had ever scored against the Colts in their 58 year history.
There’s nothing particularly historic about a 62-7 blowout, team records aside. The Pats beat the Titans 59-0 a couple of seasons ago, and beat the Bills 56-10 a couple of years before that.
I’d just like to point out that my Arizona Cardinals are absolutely in this “Suck for Luck” thing. Can’t defend, multi-million dollar QB who can’t sustain drives, terrible offensive line, have won only 3 of their last 17 games. This is a recipe for suck. The only thing stopping them is it seems that Miami and Indy could well be tanking deliberately by this point - otherwise you’d think that they’d get (un)lucky at some point and win a game by fluke.
My only problem is that if Arizona does somehow wind up with the #1 pick, then there is a pretty good chance that they’ll deal the pick because they think Kolb is still the answer, hoping to get more O-line and pass rush help by getting some more picks.
ETA: Obviously, we can’t get the 0-16 record. I’m more talking about Andrew Luck. Mind you, they gave it a damn good go, only winning their one game against the Panthers in the final seconds, and largely because it was Cam Newton’s first ever game as a pro. Play that game next week and they’d lose.
Trading the pick is the only sensible thing to do. Someone, somewhere is going to give up three #1s for Luck- and a team that gives up three first rounders is going to stay bad for long enough for them to be high picks.
First round quarterbacks have a 50% bust rate. Luck is no different.
Wow. Just wow. Another week and three more losses by our three remaining, craptastic teams. Miami loses after leading by 15 in the 4th. St. Louis keeps the inepti-train rolling, and then Indianapolis turns into a directional college against the Saints.
Again, the teams are sorted by opponents’ winning percentage without the wins against that team. Also included is point differential per game, and Football Outsiders Team Efficiency DVOA value and rank.
St. Louis Rams .548
-19.2 / game
-36.9% (32nd)
Even with the Sunday Night Shellacking, St. Louis is still winning the point differential battle. I’m not sure this team can actually beat Arizona or Seattle.
Indianapolis Colts
.538
-16.3 / game
-26.9% (29th)
Peyton was apparently worth 11 points a game all by himself, based on PPG from last year to this.
Miami Dolphins
.500
-9.3 / game
-26.8% (28th)
how does a team lose a lead like that to a Tebow that had been playing like crap? A really, really, really bad defense, that’s how. Did they not realize Tebow runs it on the 2 point conversion?
(One-win teams: Jacksonville pending tonight’s game, Arizona, and Minnesota.)
I could honestly see the Colts and Dolphins both going winless. The Colts have the Jags and Titans each twice and the Panthers left as their most winnable games. Miami’s got the Chiefs, Redskins and Eagles.
Bob Kravitz, the Indianapolis Star’s excellent sports columnist, pointed out in his post-mortem of the Saints game that Monday night was the sort of game that gets defensive coaches fired.
At the very least, he doesn’t see head coach Caldwell and his staff returning next year. Yes, losing Manning stinks, but as more than one person has pointed out, Manning doesn’t play defense, and giving up 62 points means some players have just quit.
The Saints decided to even things out after walloping the Colts, and laid down for the Rams. I figured St. Louis would get a win or two somewhere, but not against the Saints.
Miami just can’t hold a lead; it’s surprising they can build one to begin with.
I am getting kind of torn now. I didn’t want the Rams to ‘Suck for Luck’, because I am good with Bradford. But, I was getting used to the idea that they could Suck for draft picks or, more importantly, for Justin Blackmon at #2,3, or 4. But with the Browns and two each against the Cardinals and Seahawks upcoming they have the potential to win enough to lose out on both. <sad panda>
I’m not sure that the Rams winning a big game against a good team, especially with a nice defensive effort, is a bad thing. Andrew Luck may very well be a once in a decade QB, but I watch Steven Jackson’s intensity and the young guys trying to develop, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want them to lose. Not being the worst team in the NFL is a good thing.
This is a subject that’s already spawned some discussion on sports radio:
ASSUME the Indianapolis Colts end the season 1-15 or 0-16 and get the top draft pick. Would Peyton Manning try to stop the team from drafting Andrew Luck?
I have no inside information about Manning’s health, but he’s getting up in years and now has an injury serious enough to make Colts management wonder… is he EVER going to be back at full strength? And even if he is, for how long?
The Colts have MANY needs, but it’s NOT too early to start looking for Peyton’s replacement. Would the Colts want to draft Andrew Luck, and would Manning sit still for that if they did?
Manning would have to be able to fully convince the etire organization that he can actually come back and play for a long time. As it looks now, he might not play another snap again.
Considering what the Raiders paid for Carson friggin’ Palmer, I’d guess Manning himself has some major trade value.
So, should the Colts “win” this particular race, there’s a few options.
A) Trade the first overall pick for a ton of picks (at least a couple 1sts and probably some other stuff).
B) Trade Manning for a ton of picks (even if he’s not the player he was and starts missing games, he’s still an instant upgrade over the majority of QBs in the league and worth a few extra wins per season).
C) Keep both. Unlikeliest option, as both Luck’s and Manning’s trade values become more questionable after a season.
Being from Houston, I’m hoping the Dolphins figure out a way to suck just enough to stay ahead of the Colts. It would be patently unfair for the Colts to happen to lose Manning just in time to get Luck. At that point, I might start believing in God and that God is capricious and spiteful.
The Dolphins are bad enough to go winless, but by golly, they seem to be playing hard. They SHOULD have beaten the Giants the other day, should have beaten the BRoncos, and outplayed the Jets for much of that Sunday night game.
They seem to have too much pride for their own good, which means I see them winning a few too many games to get the top draft pick.
I like it.
So anyway, is St. Louis the only team in the running that might not draft Luck? I don’t watch college ball, but if the hype for Luck is real - if your scouts say he’s really going to be the guy - I’d like the Browns to give up their #1 this year, Atlanta’s #1 this year from the trade, and their #1 next year to get him. I’m utterly exhausted of a wasted deckade trying to land a good QB on the cheap and even if Luck busting would set the franchise back even further - if that’s possible - I’d be willing to take the gamble just to have the chance to not be ass.
It’s kind of sad, but when the Browns play the Rams, I may be rooting more for the Rams to lose and stay in the race for the #1 pick than for the Browns to win it.
There’s nothing particularly historic about a 62-7 blowout, team records aside. The Pats beat the Titans 59-0 a couple of seasons ago, and beat the Bills 56-10 a couple of years before that.