Regular Season Wrap Up

The regular season has ended. The results are in. We now know who is going to the playoffs, and who is going golfing. Which coaches have been fired (so far, after day one). And who will have the first draft pick.

After looking at the status of the league and everyone’s records for each quarter of the season (see earlier articles titled “The Quarter Pole,” “Half Way Home,” and “Three Quarters of the Way Home),” you can look back and see that the winning and losing patterns that were established early mostly seemed to hold up. Let’s take a look.

The Stiffs

Tampa Bay Bucs – they were losers early, often and late. 2 – 14 record and First Pick in next year’s draft. Awful. The worst team in the worst division in modern pro football history. It is unbelievable that their coach was not fired. Might he have been “rewarded” for tanking games so they could get that first pick?

Tennessee Titans – see above, also 2 – 14 record and 2nd pick. Their coach has also survived a horse manure year. Hmmm.

J-Ville Jags – They finished 3 – 13, thanks to a titanic showdown win late in the season vs. the Titans (remember them?), which cost them a draft pick position. They were dregs of the league for most of this season, along with…

The Raiduhs – (queue the “Autumn Wind is a Raider” music)  After starting out 0 and 10, the Silver and Black won half of their last six games. The players played hard, but they play stupid and out of control much too often. If ever a team needed a disciplinary coach, this team is it. They certainly are looking for a coach, that’s for sure.

The Red Skins – They finished 4 and 12. They traded everything but the kitchen sink to the Rams for RGIII, and this is what they achieved with him? Now, they are thinking of cutting him and going in a different direction. I hear the Rams might be willing to give them a 7th round pick for him.

The J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets – 4 and 12. This sad sack of a team actually, at one time, seemed like a contender in the AFC East, before losing about eight games in a row. And sadly, (for Rex Ryan) they sacked their coach and GM. And more sadly for those wacky Jets fans, their city lost their spot hosting the NFL Draft. Who’s gonna boo all of the questionable draft selections?

Da Bears – The Bears at one point were three and three. They ended up losing eight of their last ten games, which cost their coach and GM their jobs. It’s nice to know that Jay Cutler’s salary worked out to him being paid approximately one million dollars for each of his 18 interceptions. Nice for Jay, that is. Not so good for his now-fired head coach. Or Da Bears.

The Merely Bad

Atlanta Falcons – Were 6 and 10, and but for a last game of the season loss to Carolina, they could have been the division champions at 7 and 9. Their defense was SO BAD, most of the final scores of their games ended up looking like halftime scores for NBA teams. That’s not a good thing. Coach Mike Smith, he the man with the cool white hair – he gone.

New York Giants – Were playing some pretty good offense once Odell Beckham Jr. was finally unleashed on the league. Unfortunately, the team was already out of the playoffs by then. How about this fact? If you COMBINED the wins of both the Jets AND the Giants, their 10 win total would STILL not make the playoffs in the NFC (not counting the NFC South). Yep, New York sure is the center of the football universe. Not.

St. Louis Rams – This is a team that was good enough defensively to knock off the two defending Super Bowl participants the Seahawks and the Broncos. They were also bad enough offensively to go 6 and 10. What can be said about a team that puts their whole season on the legs of a quarterback that always seems to get those same legs injured every year? EVERY year.

Minnesota Vikings – They went 7 and 9 and did it without star running back Adrian Peterson, and WITH a rookie quarterback most of the way. And in a division with two strong teams (the Pack and the Lions). That ain’t half bad.

Cleveland Browns – At one time, they were 7 and 5 and right there, looking like they might make the playoffs. They finished at 7 and 9, and maybe thinking that it wasn’t such a good idea to draft Johnny Football. “Yo, people, I’m making the big bucks for throwing interceptions. Let’s party! Let’s make it rain!”

The Aints – This is a team that most people thought would win about 11 games this year and ended up not even winning enough to win a division that was won with a sub .500 record. Drew Brees threw a few too many interceptions, but the problem was more likely that Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan is a lousy coach. Maybe if he gets fired, the two Ryan brothers could go try to get unemployment checks together.

Almost Playoff Worthy

The Dolphins and the Niners both went 8 and 8. Both teams had moments when they seemed like they could beat anybody. They also had moments when they could lose to anybody. That’s why teams go 8 and 8. Jim Harbaugh was sent packing as coach of the Niners, but that was more of a personality reason (grating and hard to deal with) than for results.

The Houston Texans, San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills were all right there in the playoff picture (finishing 9 and 7), all the way up to the end, before losing a game late in the season to miss out on those playoffs. They all played what would have to be described as “up to their potential.” They really were good enough to almost make the pllayoffs, and flawed enough to just miss out. They need to do that critical “thing” in the off season to get it over that hump.

The Philadelphia Eagles were on everybody’s list to make it into the playoffs for most of the year. They finished at 10 and 6. They SHOULD have made the playoffs with that record. But, because of all of the good teams that won 11, AND the fact that a division champion at 7-8-1 was allowed to advance (by some quirky reason where you can be two and a half games better than a team, but the OTHER guys still make the playoffs over you), they got screwed. Nice set up, Roger Goodell.

Playoffs? You’re Talking About Playoffs?

The twelve teams that made the playoffs all seemed to be strong early and HAD to stay strong late in the season to stay ahead of those teams we have called “playoff worthy.”

The twelve playoff teams are:

New England Patriots (12 – 4), Denver Broncos (12 – 4), Indianapolis Colts (11 – 5), Pittsburgh Steelers (11 – 5), Cincinnati Bengals (10 – 5 – 1) and Baltimore Ravens (10 – 6) in the AFC. (Interesting note – the Indy Colts used to be the Baltimore Colts. The Baltimore Ravens used to be the old Cleveland Browns. And the Pittsburgh Steelers are still the Pittsburgh Steelers, but all three of those franchises were former NFL/NFC teams that joined the AFL teams to fill out the AFC when the two leagues merged).

And the Seattle Seahawks (12 – 4), Green Bay Packers (12 – 4), Dallas Cowboys (12 – 4), Arizona Cardinals (11 – 5), Detroit Lions (11 – 5) and the champions of the NFC South the Carolina Panthers (7 – 8 – 1) in the NFC. (And another note, the Detroit Lions are one of only a handful of teams that have NEVER played in a Super Bowl.)

A common thread of these playoff teams. 10 out of the 12 teams have a STRONG quarterback (Brady, Manning, Luck, Big Ben and Flacco in the AFC and Russell Wilson, Rodgers, Romo, Stafford, and Cam Newton in the NFC) running the show, while one has a good, but probably not great QB in Andy Dalton, and only ONE would be considered weak, and that is the poor, injury-plagued Arizona Cardinals. Sorry, teams that like to think that a game manager/field general handing off to a running game is the way to go – this is a QUARTERBACK-driven league. You want to make the playoffs, GET yourself a QB.

The Patriots, the Donks, the Pack and Seattle get byes the first weekend, while the other teams all have to play each other on Wild Card Weekend. In a league with 16 grueling games before the playoffs, that is a big advantage for those four teams NOT having to play that extra game.

And even though the league will laugh at the Carolina Panthers for being in the playoffs with a 7 – 8 and 1 record (I told you readers that Bengal – Panther tie would figure into this year’s playoffs), they enter the playoffs with four straight wins, AND the AZ Cards have lost four of their last six games down the stretch (albeit AFTER starting QB Carson Palmer was hurt). And the game is AT Carolina.

That’s it for now. We’ll talk more playoff football as the tournament develops. For now, let the (playoff) games begin.