The cleveland game was one they had to be counting on. They still have Zona at home and Houston at home.
The problem with the 0-16 attempt might be something like yesterdays Tenn-INDY game. On any given Sunday, someone can just plain show up when the other team doesn’t. INDY still won that thing, but maybe Oakland pulls out a surprise.
Still, with all that turmoil and seeming infighting, this team might not show up again this season. How can they really get ready week after week when they’re this bad?
I tend to think the Bears will lose at least one of their five-potentially-difficult-games stretch a bit later in the year - @NYG, @NYJ, @NE, MIN, @STL in five consecutive weeks. Even if each game looks very winnable individually, that’s a pretty rough stretch, and I’d be surprised if they came out of it 5-0 (even though I think that right now they’re the top team in the league). 14-2 or even 15-1 is likely or even probable, though, given how weak the rest of their schedule is.
As for the Raiders… I think they deserve to go 0-16, I think they are certainly terrible enough to go 0-16, but I think it would be extremely difficult for them not to stumble into a single win by accident if nothing else. They really are That Bad, though.
What’s pretty sad is that I’ve been very down on my team this year, and they deserve it. Though, despite being down 21-3 or something, I had little doubt we could come back and win the game. Oakland mostly took the lead on a few fluke plays… in the second half, even our crappy team completely shut them down and dominated them.
I like their chances better against a team that isn’t on the schedule. It might give them the element of surprise! Or maybe I just expect the Raiders charter plane pilot will get lost…
I’m inclined to think they have a better chance at 0-16 than any of the other candidates in recent memory. Not because they are that much worse than any of those teams but because I think there’s a fair bit of parity at the bottom this year unlike past seasons.
The usually awful franchises like the Texans, Browns and Cardinals all have shown signs of life. I see no reason why any of those teams with their improving offenses wouldn’t be a safe bet. Evidenced of course by the fact the Browns did beat them even with most breaks going Oakland’s way.
The Jets have been playing pretty well and probably shouldn’t be lumped in with the dregs this season despite preseason predictions.
The Lions are hapless enough, though with that talent they’d probably score a ton of points against Oakland, and they aren’t on the schedule. Ditto Green Bay.
Honestly looking at the schedule the only loss I see is that Cards game. At full strength the Raiders would get stomped, but with a hurt Fitzgerald and the possibility of Leinart having a really awful rookie game (or being hurt) following the Bears game on a short week makes them the prime opportunity.
If they get past that week winless they’ll go 0-16 unless one of the other team suffers a injury to a QB (Carr, Bulger, Pennington, Huard perhaps) as the season progresses.
Denny Green is looking pretty wise for firing his offensive coordinator after last Monday’s choke-fest against the Bears. I see Arizona was able to score a whopping 9 points against the mighty Oakland defense today. Smooth move.
I feel very bad for the Cardinals. They came within seconds - or a few screwups, anyway - from beating the best team in the league, and now they are apparently so devastasted that they lost to the worst one.
Will the implosion cause Arizona to go 1-15? I say yes. Edgerrin James has now carried the ball 49 times in the last two games for less than 100 yards. That’s what he gets for going to Arizona. And I guarantee you, if they hadn’t avioded Arizona before, free agents now realize there is something to this Arizona curse and are going to stop agreeing to play there, regardless of money, unless Arizona really starts overpaying. Big time coaches will also stop thinking they can turn the franchise around. It’s hopeless.
