Man, the Jags stunk up the joint against the Bears yesterday. I hate to think they are wasting the prime of Maurice-Jones Drew, but they are.
Well the Cleveland Clowns have stumbled to a win. Damn, they were my best hope for a totally winless team this year.
Boo! Browns choked when they were all we had left.
Who cares that I picked them to “upset” the Bengals in the pick’em leagues?
So do we let this thread die, or do we now focus on who’s going to get the top draft pick? Here are our 1-loss teams, in the order in which I think they’ll probably shake out:
Kansas City Chiefs
Cleveland Browns
Jacksonville Jaguars
Oakland Raiders
Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints
FWIW, I think the Browns are a better team than anyone on that list except New Orleans, but they also have the hardest schedule, so it’s possible it may shake out that way. I dunno - the Cleveland team is so loaded with rookies that they’re bound to start coming together later in the season. Then again, ownership change in a few days - he may blow shit up.
Yeah, I could see an argument for that - maybe sandwich them between the Raiders and Panthers. Cam Newton’s potential to bust a game open is a bit better than Richardson’s.
Here are the current dregs - all teams with 1 or 2 wins. Cleveland currently has a substantial lead on being the worst team in the league, because they have the most losses (because they haven’t had their bye yet), but it’s pretty close at the top (bottom?).
Regardless, I give the top stop to my Chefs, because they’re just a complete mess. The coaching is terrible, the QB situation is terrible, everything is a complete cesspool of talent. They have an amazing RB, but never use him. They have a fantastic WR, but can’t get him the ball. They even have a pretty solid 1-2 TE combo in Moeaki and Boss, but they can’t catch shit. The defense is…a sieve.
Jacksonville could very easily overtake them though. Their QB has a torn labrum. MJD is hobbled. They have no other identifiable talent or ability to win games. Clearly, my hometown bias is preventing me from locking J-ville into the top spot.
Carolina is clearly below them. We saw Cam Newton do some pretty amazing things last year, and there’s no reason he can’t single-handedly win a few games at some point.
I mentioned Cleveland. Yeah, the porous Colts defense held Richardson to single digit yards this weekend, but there’s something here that is going to rise up at some point. I can smell it, and it’s not just the lake.
Oakland is probably worse than Carolina and Cleveland, but they’re a game up on them, so they get this spot. Carson Palmer is actually doing pretty well, and they get to play the Chefs again - so they’re held back by that chance to win a few more.
The Lions, Bucs and Saints are an anomoly - they’ll all push towards the middle.
Kansas City (1-5)
Jacksonville (1-5)
Carolina (1-5)
Cleveland (1-6)
Oakland (2-4)
Tampa Bay (2-4)
Detroit (2-4)
New Orleans (2-4)
Richardson was pretty obviously hurt, so it wasn’t exactly an accomplishment on their part. Although if the Browns line can’t mandhandle the Colts d-line, they can’t push around anyone. It’s weird to see a line so fantastic at one area of the game be so horrible at the other.
Browns should’ve won this game - terrible coaching and a really flukey drop stopped them, but the passing game is starting to come together. I think you’re right to assess they’re not as bad as the other dregs.
New stat this week - point differential!
Kansas City (1-6) (-89)
Jacksonville (1-6) (-85)
Carolina (1-6) (-39)
Cleveland (2-6)(-32)
New Orleans (2-5) (-26)
Oakland (3-4) (-48)
Tampa Bay (3-4) (+31)
Detroit (3-4) (-13)
With wins for all three, Oakland, Tampa and Detroit all jump New Orleans, who sinks to 2-5.
Had to extend the list to teams with 3 wins, because, well - I just wanted to write down more than 4 teams.
Kansas City (1-7) (-107): The Chefs haven’t held a lead all season long.
Jacksonville (1-7) (-102): Only win is a lucky squeaker against the surprising 5-3 Colts.
Carolina (2-6) (-31): Newton showed that upstart RG3 how to get it done (by letting the other team lose).
Cleveland (2-7) (-42): What’s this “red zone offense” you speak of?
Tennessee (3-6) (-126): Gave up 28 points to Chicago - in the first quarter.
Cincinnati (3-5) (-29): The ginger should be better once it starts getting colder.
Buffalo (3-5) (-68): Take the Saints, and replace Brees with a cardboard cutout. Now you have the Bills!
Oakland (3-5) (-58): I hate the Raiders. 'Nuff said.
NY Jets (3-5) (-32): I give the Jets longshot odds to finish in the Top 5 (of the draft).
St. Louis (3-5) (-49): This may be the most indistinct team in the NFL.
Most of the NFC East
New Orleans (3-5) (-11): Seem to be on their way up. They’ll dig themselves out of this list pretty soon.
It’s clearly a two horse race for the worst record of the year. Kansas City just dumped a corner they paid a lot of money too…and Romeo just figured out he shouldn’t be calling the defense and head coaching. (Paging Jason Garrett!!!) Jville has nothing… those dudes need a overhaul and to admit the Blaine G was a mistake.
So is this suck for Barkley? suck for Geno… problem is their is no clear cut number one. The heisman front runner at K State isn’t a pro quarterback… Or maybe the running back at Oregon. though with what they run it’s hard to ascertain how good they really are. Also… McCarran isn’t a pro qb either… so It’s pretty much Matt B and Geno S… right? right??
Kansas City (1-7) (-107): Pending another loss tonight.
Jacksonville (1-8) (-119): Could quickly become favorites for the top pick with a Chefs upset tonight - because they’re not winning a game any time soon.
Carolina (2-7) (-53): Just can’t seem to do anything right - and Newton isn’t running the ball (NO ONE is running the ball here).
Cleveland (2-7) (-42): Bye week.
Buffalo (3-6) (-74): Just looked terrible yesterday. Why not trade one of the RBs for some picks?
Oakland (3-6) (-93): Seems you really have to work hard to give up 55 points to Baltimore. Well done?
NY Jets (3-6) (-53): There’s not much else that’s more entertaining than watching the Rex Ryan shitshow meltdown.
Philadelphia (3-6) (-65): No more Vick may be a blessing in disguise long term - but not right now.
Washington (3-6) (-22): I think they’ll get off the schnie before Philly does.
Dropped from rankings: St. Louis (a tie!), Tennessee, Cincinnati, New Orleans
Really thinned things down this week - lots of really terrible teams separating themselves from the pack.
Kansas City (1-9) (-132): I expect at least one more win out of this team, during it’s CAR/CLE/OAK run starting in a few weeks. Other than that, this team is spectacularly bad. Is Barkley good enough to draft first overall v. trading the pick away for more picks?
Jacksonville (1-9) (-125): This team certainly finds new and interesting ways to lose. Three OT losses? Having a QB pass for over 500 yards and still lose? Tremendously interesting team to watch lose games.
Cleveland (2-8) (-45): Remember, that 2-8 record came by winning a game 7-6 earlier in the season.
Carolina (2-8) (-59): The record really doesn’t show how close the Panthers have been to a better record. Tons of games came down to the wire, a number of them could have been switched with a FG. Maybe the best 2-8 team in a long time.Oakland (3-7) (-114):
Philadelphia (3-7) (-90): The great thing about this list of teams is the fact that none of them seem to have an easy schedule going forward. They’re ALL terrible, and are going to continue being terrible.
I feel sad for Jacksonville, but Kansas City is just sad.
Keep in mind point differential is pretty much irrelevant when determining the ranking of teams for draft purposes. The three tiebreakers are (a) use the division tiebreaker among teams in the same division, (b) use the conference tiebreaker among teams in the same conference, (c) strength (actually, weakness) of schedule, and (d) coin toss.
(c) is easy enough to figure out; since every team plays 16 games, a team’s “weakness of schedule” rating is the total of its opponents’ losses (plus 1/2 for each tie), counting division opponents twice; the total number of each team’s “opponents’ games” is 256.
No, he’s not, but the problem is nobody will want to trade up for him (or anyone else) for the top pick. This is an incredibly weak draft class, especially at QB.
No, but it is a decent-enough stat to illustrate terribleness.