RSSNotes From the Cheap Seats: Staring Down a Losing Season
Oct 08
The time of year in the NFL when the contenders and pretenders show their true colors. When the win-loss record starts to separate the teams into the good, the bad and the ugly. Heading into the October stretch with a 5-0 record doesn’t guarantee a perfect season, but heading into October with a 0-5 record pretty much does guarantee a long and protracted whupping. Just ask the Miami Dolphins.
The Ugly: Miami Dolphins
This is a dicey analysis. Where do you put the blame in Miami? In the offseason, Miami traded away Sammy Morris and Wes Welker to the Patriots leaving them to essentially rely on Ronnie Brown for both their running game (114 yards on 23 carries yesterday against the Texans) and their passing game (39 yards on 5 receptions.) Only wide receiver Marty Booker has made any significant contribution this season in the passing game. (Chris Chambers started strong but has evaporated in the last two games.) You could make a pretty good case that QB Trent Green was the best player on the offense, and he took a knee to the brain in yesterday’s game when he went on a low block against Texans defensive tackle Travis Johnson. Green was back at the stadium after the game, but no word yet on whether he will be able to start next week.
On Sunday, Miami took the lead in the first quarter against the 2-2 Houston Texans and did not relinquish it until a third quarter field goal by Texans kicker Kris Brown, who then tied the game again in the fourth and went for the go-ahead score on the final drive the game. The 57-yard kick sealed Miami’s woeful season with 00:01 on the clock. Let me recap in case you missed it: Miami had zero offense in the second half except for a field goal kick by Jay Feely from 48 yards, and Houston had not one, not two, but three successful field goals from over 50 yards that allowed the Texans to catch up and pass the Dolphins for the win.
You can trace some of the roots of Miami’s problems to Dan Marino. Since Marino, Miami has had a string of only moderately successful QBs including Jay Fielder, Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, A.J. Feeley, Sage Rosenfels, Gus Frerotte, Daunte Culpepper, Joey Harrington, Cleo Lemon and Trent Green (if I missed anyone, just let me know…) Miami hasn’t dealt well with its quarterbacks. Fielder was the quarterback of choice until he went down in the 2004 season. The Dolphins essentially rolled his body into a carpet and dumped it into the Everglades hoping nobody would notice. That’s what they do with underperforming QBs, just ask…well any quarterback since. But even when Fielder when the anointed starter, he always seemed to feel the heat of his back-up QB (Lucas in 2002, Griese in 2003, Feeley in 2004) and that is not a recipe for an inspiring offense.
Take the Daunte Culpepper era: four games 2 TDs, 1 interception (1-3 record.) Sure, Culpepper was damaged goods, and the team might have been better served by starting the season with someone else. But to dump Culpepper for Harrington, and then dump Harrington for Lemon (who may have regained his starting job this season in the absence of Green?) was just piling on one desperate decision after another. Long ago, the lack of consistency at quarterback was slowly strangling this team.
Miami’s future looks grim. Because for all that, and we never got around to dissecting the defensive woes (age,) Ricky Williams, Nick Saban, or the fact that the Dolphins play in the Patriots division. As to the latter, it’s not so much that the Patriots are the runaway team to beat, again. It’s that the Jets and the Bills have such a lock on mediocrity that the Dolphins can barely compete at their level. Let the John Beck era begin!
The Bad: Cleveland Browns
The Browns missed an opportunity. New England’s sloppy play on Sunday was ripe for an upset, but instead of capitalizing, the Browns played the Pats close to the vest and lost. Fortunately for them, it may have gone unnoticed since the Indians became the only team in a close-out division series game that failed to sweep their opponent.
Cleveland can only blame itself. New England was horrible. QB Tom Brady had a hard time finding receivers, and they had a hard time finding the ball. The stats don’t tell the tale properly of how out of sync the Pats offense was (in fact, in the end, at least statistically, it was business as usual.) The Pats were penalized more yards on one fewer penalties. Randy Moss was non-existent (46 yards on 3 receptions, no touchdowns.) But Brady also had three touchdown, and no interceptions (he’s only got two on the season) found his groove with Benjamin Watson and Donte’ Stallworth and Sammy Morris ran for another 102 yards, his second consecutive game over 100 yards.
The Browns had 3 first half tipped interceptions by quarterback Derek Anderson, running back Jamal Lewis left the game with an injury, as did wide receiver Joe Jurevicius. It was all too much for the Browns offense to overcome. They did manage a respectable fourth quarter, and put points on the board to bring the game within 10. Browns defense recorded zero sacks and couldn’t break through New England’s massive front line to pressure Brady.
Look, the W was a long shot anyway. But the Pats waited all the way until 0:52 left to put the game out of reach, and the Browns, especially head coach Romeo Crennel, should have sniffed out the opportunity. They are in a ridiculously competitive division and a win in New England could have muffled some of the naysayers. The Pats gave them that chance. Hey, on the upside, next week the Browns are at home against Miami.
The Good: New York Giants
The Giants are kind of a mixed bag so far this season. They lost to Dallas and Green Bay (both undefeated at the time) but lost badly. Then they went into Washington and pulled out a win and a week later, trampled the Philadelphia Eagles, giving them two consecutive division wins (much needed if Dallas continues to roll.) A win against the Jets yesterday wasn’t critical, except that good teams don’t lost to crappy teams. And the Giants desperately want to be a good team.
Give the Giants credit on both sides of the ball. The offense scored four touchdowns (plus an Aaron Ross interception for a touchdown) and the defense stifled the Jets (admittedly, it doesn’t take much.) Quarterback Eli Manning’s stats aren’t spectacular, but he seems to be making better adjustments in the second halves of games.
But being a good team may not be enough. Dallas is steamrolling and Washington is playing competitively. The Giants upcoming games are at Atlanta, at home against San Francisco, and at Miami (score!) There next gut check game isn’t until early November when they host the Dallas Cowboys. By then, though they could likely have surpassed Washington in the standings, but can those three wins really mark the Giants as a legitimate postseason contender?
(Washington’s schedule in that same span: at Green Bay, home at Arizona and at New England. And don’t tell me the Packers and the Cardinals -- both of whom currently lead their respective divisions -- don’t have something to prove in the next couple of weeks. At the very least, Washington has a challenge ahead of them.)
This, then is the critical issue, can the Giants prove that they are a better than average team until they play a better than average team?
More Notes from the Cheap Seats
There are two 5-0 teams left in the AFC and Dallas has a reasonable chance to be the only 5-0 team in the NFC after tonight’s game against the Buffalo Bills. Indianapolis will always be a Super Bowl contender so long as they are led by Peyton Manning. That said, the Colts are depleted. Marvin Harrison and Joseph Addai are both out with injuries. Freddy Keiaho, Bob Sanders and Rob Morris are too (Morris has a season-ending knee injury.)
Thankfully, Manning still had Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne to play catch with (plus wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez ably filling in) as they destroyed the Tampa Bay Bucs. Going into a bye week, with the potential to get at least some of their starters back in the mix before a game against Jacksonville, don’t expect too much concern.
Can Indianapolis possibly be looking ahead to the match-up against New England on November 4? Why not, sure as hell everybody else is. Expect head coach Bill Belichick to come down hard on the offense for their undisciplined play against Cleveland yesterday. And likewise, expect that New England will be focused on winning out their next three games before heading to Indianapolis. New England is scary this season and all the talk of a perfect season will go into overdrive when the Pats beat the Colts. And don’t think a little revenge for last year’s AFC Championship game isn’t on Brady’s mind. Sure, it was two Reche Caldwell drops that sealed the Indianapolis win in that game, but the bottom line is that the Pats could smell the Super Bowl and it was the Colts that took home the rings.
Dallas has an almost guaranteed free pass to 5-0 with a Bills match-up tonight. To give the Bills a whupping on national television will give Dallas the credibility they’ve been aching for. Romo is a spotlight player; he plays best on primetime. Expect this game to be over in the first half.
