This was a weekend where a few teams in the NFL showed themselves to be what they truly are – - miserable excuses for professional football teams. In a league that seeks “parity” with all sorts of interventions like a common draft and a salary cap, in a league that still clings to the idea that “on any given Sunday …”, there are a few teams that are so far below the standard of play that victories for those teams are special events unto themselves. Last weekend demonstrated that fact – - and the Detroit Lions had a BYE week.
The St. Louis Rams lost to the Colts 42-6. It was not that close. I realize that the Colts are an elite team in the league and could hang 42 points on just about anyone. Nevertheless, the Rams were not playing the same game that the Colts were playing. It looked like one of those creampuff college football scheduling quirks where a team at the top of the barrel reaches down to play a game against a team that could not win the game if they were allowed to have 12 players on the field on every snap.
The Tampa Bay Bucs traveled across the ocean to demonstrate their ineptitude on an international scale. At least they scored a touchdown while losing 35-7 to the Pats. Other than that, they showed themselves to be a miserable team.
The KC Chiefs gave up 37 points to the Chargers. One has come to expect far less from the Chargers’ offense these days. At the same time, the Chiefs only managed 7 points against a Chargers’ defense that has come down several pegs from what it was 2 years ago. The Chiefs are a miserable football team.
Aside: Larry Johnson took the opportunity of this loss to “tweet” that his coach never played football in college or in the NFL but that he and his father had done so. Larry Johnson is using the disastrous season in KC to demonstrate that he too belongs in the Pantheon of Pinheads among NFL players. Larry Johnson has been a good running back – - but not nearly good enough for the Chiefs to tolerate this nonsense. He should be at least benched for a game – - if not suspended for a game. Walter Payton could have gotten away with saying that although he had far too much class to do so. Larry Johnson is nowhere near the station in NFL history where he should be immune to punishment for that kind of nonsense.
The Cleveland Browns had better hope they are never sold to a Frenchman. If they play the way they did last weekend and a Frenchman owned them, they would soon come to be known as the Cleveland Merdre. A 31-3 loss to the Packers is bad; playing as if they would not be able to score double digits on a collegiate defense borders on criminal.
Three other teams played so badly last weekend that one has to wonder if they are as bad – - or maybe worse than some of the teams listed above. Consider the Chicago Bears who lost to the Bengals 45-10. The Bears came off their BYE week and supposedly used those two weeks to prepare to play a division-leading opponent. They showed up prepared to play no one. Were the players too focused on their previous successes and thinking they were going to stroll through this game? Were the Bears’ coaches out to lunch in getting the team ready to play here? All one can say is that the Bears showed nothing positive in this loss –- nothing on offense and nothing on defense either.
The Oakland Raiders lost to the Jets 35-0 and benched JaMarcus Russell in the second half. Sadly for Raider fans, there is no beacon of hope on the bench in the guise of a young QB who has the pedigree to lead fans believe he is the one to lead the team out of the abyss. The Raiders put Bruce Gradkowski in at QB. Oh, swell. Raiders’ fans need to come to a stark realization or two:
1. The game has not passed Al Davis by. That convenient and generalized charge allows Raiders’ fans to blame circumstances instead of Al Davis. The old Raiders’ vertical game can still work in the NFL if the right personnel are in place to play that game at a high level. Here is the real problem; Al Davis no longer has the “eye” or the “touch” to identify the talents within the “right personnel” to make that system or any system work well. He drafts wide receivers who simply cannot catch a football; he drafts offensive linemen who are turnstiles in pass protection situations; he drafts QBs who are not very mobile and expects them to play behind those turnstiles and successfully throw the ball to WRs who cannot catch. The game has not passed by Al Davis; Al Davis no longer knows how to identify talent within football players.
2. The rosy future for the Raiders likely lies beyond the date at which Al Davis is “on the other side of the turf” – - so to speak.
Lastly, the Washington Redskins showed up on MNF seemingly with the intent to show everyone who bothered to watch that they are a dispirited and dysfunctional organization. It is not a matter of who calls the plays; Vince Lombardi could call the plays for this team and it would still lose. It is not a matter of assembling players who are widely acknowledged good individual performers at their positions. It is not a matter of coaching experience. It is not a matter of playing the second string or third string QB. The Redskins organization is untenable; it is set up to fail.
The Redskins squad has been assembled by a person or persons who are hugely substandard in their ability to spot talent and also to put together a balanced team without glaring weaknesses. Added to that hugely fundamental flaw, the team is soft as a feather pillow because some of their “star power” players don’t practice all that much during training camp or during weeks in the season. They are always “nicked”. And since all the “star players” are BFFs with the owner and have the owner on speed-dial, there isn’t much that the coaches can do in order to get these guys to be professional in what they do beyond cashing their bloated paychecks. When it comes to “cashing in”, the Redskins’ players are top shelf.
The Detroit Lions were off last weekend and are probably in a position today to look at the landscape as painted last week and realize that they are no longer alone at the bottom rung of the NFL ladder. In fact, the Lions should consider that they have plenty of cover these days. And, maybe the Lions are the team on the way up in this morass. All those other teams really wish they could say that and not have fans around the country snickering as they listen to that hogwash.
Finally, just in case you believe in curses or bad omens or stuff like that, please consider that the Tennessee Titans have not won a football game since the date last year when a couple of their MENSA members stomped on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Terrible Towel”. So what are the Titans supposed to do to reverse the “Towel Curse”? I am sure Cubs’ fans could advise Titans’ fans on things they can do in order to delude themselves into thinking it is the curse and not the team.
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…