1-9
No, that's not one through eight. That's the record of wins and losses for the Saint Louis Rams. Blah.
I will say this for my Rams. Since trading our star middle linebacker, Will Witherspoon, to the Philadelphia Eagles, our defense has actually improved. So far, we've managed to hold two teams with excellent post season potential, the New Orleans Saints and the Arizona Cardinals, to just 21 points a piece. With the return of a healthy Marc Bulger, we've managed to at least start competing again. However, we still aren't winning. And with that, I plead again that we draft Sam Bradford. There are now only two other teams that are 1-9...the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Cleveland Browns. Tampa Bay has their future in a strong armed young player by the name of Josh Freeman from Kansas State, and I don't know about Cleveland's plans but they have someone who they believe can be their franchise player in Notre Dame's Brady Quinn. Oakland and Detroit, both 2-8, should finish with better records than St. Louis, and only Oakland will be in the market for a QB, provided that Toledo's Bruce Gradkowski doesn't continue winning.
Steven Jackson is a great running back. But at the most he's got 4 more good years in him. We need to start winning and start winning soon.
6 year drought
Dear, dear me. Mighty Michigan, the winnigist division - 1 football program in history, has now finished back-to-back losing season, and is in the midst of the worst losing streak to Ohio State in history. It's a pretty awful feeling. But like what I saw from Auburn this year, Michigan is in the midst of a transition to a spread offense, and some of the pieces are in place. There are flashes of brilliance in both teams, and moments when you really believe these teams are legitimate. The key difference between Michigan and Auburn is the decision to start the incoming freshmen stars.
Michigan, lacking a scholarship quarterback this season, had no choice but to play the star Freshmen Tate Forcier and DeNard Robinson. They have combined to throw nearly 20 interceptions this season and only 5 wins. They started 4-0, transitioning between the true spread run by Forcier and the Wildcat captained by Robinson. Thus, while the blame cannot solely be placed on one QB, the fragile mental state of these two young talents may have be compromised by starting their careers 5-7.
Tyrik Rollison, the hope of the Tiger Nation, on the other hand, has redshirted and spent an entire year learning a system and learning from the mistakes of players like Kodi Burns and Chris Todd. With another recruiting year to build the talent around him, and a lack of pressure to save a team from obscurity, Rollison appears to be in position to take over and lead this team to the promised land. One can only hope that Gus Mahlzon and The Chiz know what they're doing and can replace the terror of Ben Tate. Oh, and improving our defense would be GREAT.
The Bungles
Just when I thought the Bengals were ready to become a professional franchise, turnovers against the Raiders turn us back into a mere over-achieving team. The Steelers are having an off year again, which negates the value of our domination of our division. Not to mention Cedric Benson, the resurgent Texas Longhorn, is injured. Bah, I say, bah! My only hope is that the Tigers of Auburn can pull some miraculous upset over the Mighty Crimson Tide and save my second awful season in a row. You'd think with me being a fan of four different teams, I could eventually pick a winner. Bah.
There are tons of mediocre teams in the NFL this season I've noticed that all seem to be "in the process" of deciding whether or not they'd like to be decent. take the bucs for instance- when they can get some things going their way (maybe it "was" the cream-sickle jerseys that did it) then they can squeak in a win. I have yet to see a truly thorough NFL team this season... manning has pulled his team out of holes multiple times now and the saints have had hiccups as well. I'm sure im wrong on some points but hey that's what comes from me only watching/hearing about games on ESPN usually after they happen.
ReplyDeleteI'm guna jump to something I do know more about -- Auburn football. What seems interesting to me is how 2 teams can show up-- one that loses to teams that then lose to other teams that we beat and one that can blow teams out of the water at times. An interesting stat to me as well is how in our losses vs our wins we have had waaaay less turnovers. Our defense is laughable yes but it does do its job when they create turnovers. I think the experience now for true freshman on our defense will ultimately help us in a few years or at least im crossing my fingers. Now on the offensive side, other than the fact that our entire offensive line will be gone in 2 years, we are looking pretty darn good. rollison might turn out to be the star he can potentially be but i think it might be a race between him and the other 2 - caudle and trotter - come next spring (as long as caudle fixes his "throw it to the other team" problem and trotter is finally healthy). I'm also not worried about replacing Tate as McCalebb will heal and will be the speed that we need not to mention the 99.99% possibility we keep Michael Dyer who is a bruiser and a pretty decent chance to get another good running back and a core of wr's that would probably be the best bunch (on paper) that Auburn has ever had. All we need is a QB... oh and a defense of course.
PS im also in the bunch that thinks that Auburn can pull something out if we play our best game on Friday (or at least keep it close)
PSS sorry about the outrageously long comment/have a good thanksgiving break!