Putting a cap on Week 14 of the 2011 season…
A strange kind of déjà vu in the Gateway City as the Rams fell to 2-11 after a miserable 30-13 loss at Seattle on Monday night. It’s been a very rough year for QB Sam Bradford and company as scoring points has become basically a chore. Granted the former Oklahoma standout has missed 3 games this season but that doesn’t totally explain the offense’s ineptitude. The year before Bradford was selected, the 1-15 Rams were dead last in points (175) and offensive touchdowns (16) scored in 2009. After 13 games this season, Steve Spagnuolo’s team has scored a league-low 153 points and 12 offensive TDs (6 of the 12 by RB Steven Jackson)…
Those looking to head south for the winter may want to change you travel plans in terms of NFL viewing and rooting. With a little levity aimed at geography, it’s worth noting that the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin is 13-0 this season, while the state of Florida (in the form of the Dolphins, Jaguars and Buccaneers) is a combined 12-27, with all 3 clubs a disappointing 4-9 in 2011. And could bad things happen in three in the Sunshine State as Jack Del Rio was relieved of his duties in Jacksonville a few weeks ago and Miami fired head coach Tony Sparano…
Speaking of the sunshine state, all 3 of those aforementioned clubs were in Florida on Sunday as the Dolphins lost at home to the Eagles while the Jaguars were beating the Buccaneers, 41-14 at Jacksonville. Raheem Morris’ team has to rank as one of the bigger disappointments this season, especially after this club opened at 4-2 and were coming off a win over the Saints. Since then, the Bucs have lost 7 straight games and committed 23 turnovers during that skid (compared to just 8 turnovers in their first 6 games), including 7 on Sunday against the Jaguars. And a team that allowed only 318 points last season (9th in the NFL) has given up 370 points in 13 contests…
It’s been an interesting season and it will be even more intriguing to see how the AFC shakes out it terms of seeding. The Patriots, Ravens, Texans and Steelers all sit at 10-3, with New England owning a 2-game lead in the AFC East, Houston already a division champion and Baltimore and Pittsburgh fighting it out in the AFC North. How rare is it that we have 4 10-win teams in the same conference with 3 weeks to play? You have to go back to 2004, when the AFC’s Patriots and Steelers were both 12-1 and the Colts and Chargers were 10-3. That season ended with 14-2 New England winning at 15-1 Pittsburgh in the AFC title game on the way to a victory over the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX…
Kudos to the Houston Texans, who have now won a team-record 7 straight games (they won 6 games total in 2010) and on Sunday clinched their first-ever AFC South title, along with their first-ever playoff berth and also won 10 games in a season for the first time in the franchises’ 10-year history…
Congratulations are also in order for the Saints, who are headed back to the postseason for the third consecutive season. The only previous time the franchise made 3 straight playoff appearances was from 1990-92 under head coach Jim Mora. But thanks to their 22-17 win at Tennessee, New Orleans’ record stands at 10-3, marking the first time in team annals that the Cajuns have won at least 10 games in 3 consecutive years (13-3 in 2009, 11-5 in 2010)…
You know it’s a very long season when you’re 5 games out of third place in your division. But the once-formidable Minnesota Vikings are in the midst of a 5-game losing streak and a 2-11 campaign. But one bright spot has been DE Jared Allen, who had 3 sacks on Sunday at Detroit–raising his season total to a league-high 17.5 sacks. Since records of such sacks have been kept (since 1982), the record for most sacks by a player in a season is 22.5 by Giants’ DE Michael Strahan in 2001. More significantly, could Allen capture NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors for a 2-win team? Shades of the 1992 Seahawks, who finished 2-14 and scored 140 points (fewest by a team in a 16-game season) but saw DT Cortez Kennedy grab the award that season…
Another quick reminder of just how long of a season it’s been in Indianapolis, who fell to 0-13 after a 24-10 loss to Baltimore, a team that QB Peyton Manning and company had beaten 8 straight times, including playoff meetings in 2006 and ’09. Keep in mind that prior to this season’s winless disaster, the Colts were a combined 36-12 in their previous 3 regular-seasons combined from 2008-10…
After opening the season at 9-1, the newly-crowned San Francisco 49ers have lost 2 of their last 3 games as their offense continues to have its issues consistently finding the end zone. In their last 3 games, Jim Harbaugh’s club has scored 3 touchdowns while PK David Akers has kicked 10 field goals and for the season, the Niners’ offense has produced just 25 TDs while Akers has connected for 36 field goals. It will be interesting to see if this shortcoming comes back to haunt the 49ers in the postseason…
Make it 6 straight wins and 7 of 8 victories for the Broncos with QB Tim Tebow at the helm, the latest a 13-10 overtime victory over the Bears on Sunday (the third OT victory in 8 games). And it’s worth reviewing just how better-late-than-never John Fox’s club has been during this stretch as the Broncos have scored 164 points in those 8 games–78 points in the first 3 quarters compared to 86 points in the fourth quarter and overtime)…
