Your Next NFL Dynasty: The Houston Texans. Yes, Really.

Back in the late 1990’s, the NFL was on the brink of returning to Los Angeles.  On March 16, 1999 the 31 NFL owners voted to grant a team to LA, contingent on them getting together an ownership team and stadium deal.

However, the city of LA would not allow tax dollars to go to a stadium.  The group that was to be the owners of the LA team offered to contribute $540 million towards an NFL team and stadium.  That’s when Houston (the biggest rival to LA at the time for a team) stepped in with a $700 million offer.

Money talks and the Texans were born.

Now in their eighth season, Houston has gone from doormat to interesting team with promise to bonafide franchise.  And it all starts with head coach Gary Kubiak.

It’s more than mere chance that Kubiak is the new leader of this young franchise.  The head coach was born in Houston and once held the Texas state high school record for career passing yards with 6,190. 

He starred at Texas A&M before spending his entire nine-year career as a backup in Denver where he learned a thing or two about winning from the legendary John Elway.

After retirement, Kubiak got into coaching and wound up as the quarterbacks coach for San Francisco in 1994.  All that happened that year was that Steve Young had a career year (35 TD, 10 INT, career high 112.8 rating) and won the MVP and the Super Bowl.   

Kubiak was then hired to be the offensive coordinator in Denver where he stayed from 1995-2005.  During that time the Broncos finished outside the top ten in scoring just one time; the year after Elway’s retirement. 

Both Brian Griese and Jake Plummer made their only pro bowls while playing under Kubiak and he helped change the way teams run the football in the NFL.

Players like Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, and Rueben Droughns turned in 1,000 yard seasons while 6th rounder Terrell Davis and 2nd rounder Clinton Portis became NFL stars and undrafted free agent Rod Smith turned in a hall of fame worthy career.

Then in ’05 it was Kubiak’s turn to lead a team and he only had two NFL coaches with whom he had worked for in his entire 12-year career: Two-time super bowl winner George Seifert and two-time super bowl winner Mike Shanahan.  Will he too find himself as the winner of two Lombardi trophies?

I dare say he will.

But that doesn’t mean he didn’t need help.

In 2008 he hired Kyle Shanahan (son of Mike) to be his offensive coordinator.  Though he doesn’t turn 30 until next month, Kyle is a chip off the old block.  Houston finished 3rd in the league in yardage last season and currently sits at eighth this year. 

Before this season Kubiak also promoted Frank Bush from defensive assistant to defensive coordinator and Houston is 16th in the league in yards allowed which is their best position since their first year in the league. 

Gary Kubiak also has his eyes on working to develop another future hall of fame quarterback; the unlikely Matt Schaub.

Unlike Young and Elway, Schaub wasn’t the top overall pick and nobody knew what to expect from the Falcons third rounder out of Virginia.  It was still unknown how good this preseason star would be when the Texans traded two second round picks to acquire a QB who had only started two regular season games in his career.

It was silly of anyone to doubt Kubiak when it comes to quarterbacks.

After missing five games in each of the last two season, Schaub has taken off and currently leads the NFL in yards, completions, and touchdowns at the seasons halfway point.  There’s no reason to believe that Schaub won’t continue to rise and be a star in this league for a long time and even though he’s already 28-years-old, that’s nothing compared to Young, who didn’t get his first full-time shot in the league until he was 30.

And there’s hardly any mileage on that arm of his, so it’s not unlikely that Schaub could play for at least another ten years.

Alongside him on offense is superstar WR Andre Johnson.  Johnson, also 28, has led the franchise in yards for every season except their first, when he was still playing at the University of Miami.  He led the NFL in yards and catches last year and currently is leading in yardage again.  Like Young and Rice, Elway and Smith, this tandem is going to go a long way together. 

Just like in Denver, don’t expect Kubiak and Shanahan to stick to one particular running back.  Steve Slaton (another late round find from Kubiak) was a rookie star for this team last year.  And though he has struggled to find his groove this year, he’s only 23 years old and he’s still dynamite when catching the ball out of the backfield, already grabbing 23 balls for 314 yards.

One thing you should learn about Kubiak teams is that it’s about a system as much as it’s about its players.  That’s why Ryan Moats has been one of the most talked about players in the league recently after rushing for 126 yards and three touchdowns against Buffalo in week eight. 

Don’t worry, this team will find players.

That’s why the season-ending injury to tight end Owen Daniels hurts, but it won’t cripple this team. 

When Denver won the Super Bowl in 1998, they went 4-0 under backup QB Bubby Brister. 

On defense, the Texans are bolstered by smart draft picks like Mario Williams (how many people thought that was the right move on draft day?  Honestly, they were calling it the “Reggie Bush Sweepstakes”) DeMeco Ryans (2nd rounder and AP Defensive Rookie of the Year) and Brian Cushing (leads all rookies in tackles with 66, which is ten more than 2nd best and 26 more than third best.)

And all of those guys are 25 and under.

The only thing that stands in the way of Houston and a long run of division championships is Indianapolis.  A team that’s easily on its way to its eighth straight double-digit win total.  The Colts haven’t won less than 12 games since 2002, the Texans first year in the league.

But a changing of the guard is not uncommon.  They have to happen sometime. 

In fact, it even happened for the Colts in 1999, the year after Elway retired and Peyton Manning led the them to 13 wins in his second year in the league.

This Sunday the Texans and the Colts will meet for the 15th time in their history.  Houston is 1-13 in those first 14 contests, but none will quite be like the ones that will happen this year.

As they sit at 5-3, on the verge of their first winning season, Houston has an opportunity to make their mark on the league and announce “We’re Here.”

They can’t ask for a changing of the guard, they must demand it.  Despite the fact that Houston isn’t the media market that LA is, they stepped up and demanded a franchise and they received it. 

I believe Houston will show that they belong on Sunday, that Kubiak and company will make take the Texans to the playoffs for the first time this year, and eventually win the whole thing.  Perhaps, even twice.

Houston, you are the next dynasty.  Welcome to the NFL rookie.

 

 

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What’s That Smell? It’s 1/4 of The NFL Absolutely Stinking

It used to be that the league’s bottom-feeders were just that; at the bottom. 

But this season, those “bottom-feeders” appear to have crept up and now make up at least a quarter of the league.  Last season five teams finished with 12 or more losses.  This year, as many as eight or nine teams have a realistic shot of losing at least that many games. 

What’s more alarming is that most of the league’s worst teams don’t simply appear to be unlucky or injury prone—they legitimately look like they don’t belong on the professional level.

For perhaps the first time in NFL history, you could argue that the NFL’s worst eight teams and the top eight from the BCS don’t differ very much in terms of talent.

Realistically, could Oklahoma have more “pro” level players on offense than the Cleveland Browns?

And yes, there is a difference between being an “NFL Pro” and being an “NFL Pro on the Cleveland Browns.”

As the league has expanded to 32 teams the watered down talent level has recently become obvious

I’m not claiming that a college football team could ever realistically beat an NFL team, the difference however is becoming closer and closer to negligable.

Last season you had the Lions, Rams, and Chiefs as the three teams that were clearly in a class of terrible by themselves.  The year before that, it was the 1-15 Dolphins and the 3-13 Rams—and before that, the 2-14 Raiders.

This year, it appears that at least eight teams account for the worst of the worst.

For example, there were two teams last season that were outscored by more than 200 points: The Lions and Rams.  Before that, a team hadn’t been outscored by more than 200 points since the 2003 Arizona Cardinals.

It hasn’t happened to two teams in the same season since 2000 when the Cardinals and Cleveland Browns achieved that feat.

This year, six teams are on pace to be outscored by at least 200 points.  Yes, six teams.

So who are these teams and who is the worst of all?  Here is a breakdown:

 

Not Quite Bad Enough

There are a handful of teams in the league that are bad football teams that find themselves in the middle of the pack thanks to this season of supreme awfulness.

Normally, these teams would be somewhere in the bottom quarter in the league in terms of talent-level and play.  But they have “lucked out” and instead are just bad and inconsistent football teams that will likely neither make the playoffs (except in some extreme cases) nor get a top 8 pick in next years draft. 

But don’t be mistaken, these teams do stink.  Just not as bad as the teams that are about to be listed.

These teams include the entire NFC West, excluding the horrendous St. Louis Rams.  The Cardinals, Niners, and Seahawks all find themselves unable to win on a consistent basis and sometimes on the wrong end of a blowout. 

One of these teams will make the playoffs, but none of them are good.  While the Cardinals were nearly champions of the world last season, and could very well make another surprising run this season, they still only sit two games ahead of the 2-5 Seahawks for a reason.

Inconsistency has seen the Cardinals beat the Giants on the road one week and then lost to the Panthers at home the next. 

A tough schedule has taken a toll on the 3-4 Niners, but it only goes to show that if they were in any other division and didn’t get to play the Cards, Hawks, and Rams (their only three victories,) they could easily find themselves with a top 5 pick.

In their two victories, the Seahawks outscored the Rams and Jaguars a combined 69-0.  In their 5 losses, the score has been 66-147.  In other words, they’ve been dominated.

Speaking of the Jaguars, they got two of their three victories over then-winless Tennessee and St. Louis.  They also got blown out by the not-so-good Seahawks 41-0 and gave the Titans their first win of the season yesterday. 

The Bills and Panthers also have found themselves on the wrong end of some scores (Bills 3, Browns 6) this year that have shown that they too could’ve perhaps been among the worst if it weren’t for this phenomenon of very bad teams.

Now, for the very worst of the worst.  Breaking down the case for what makes these teams so bad and what the bright side is (if there is one.)

 

The Washington Redskins

 

Why they stink

Though they are 2-5 and have only been outscored by 27 points, the Skins have a very good argument for being amongst the leagues worst.  They didn’t play a team with a win until their 7th game of the season, and the Lions, Panthers, and Chiefs all got their first W of the season against the hapless ‘Skins.

Also, the Redskins offense hasn’t put up more than 17 points in any game this year.  They are the only team not to drop 18 or more on offense.

 

The Bright Side

The 27 points they gave up to Philadelphia on Sunday was the most they’ve allowed all year.  In fact, their 17.6 points allowed per game is 5th best in the league, even more impressive considering how bad their offense is.  Something has to be said for level of competition, as they’ve played five of the seven other teams on this very list, but the Skins aren’t the worst team in the league, which they have proven by beating the Bucs and Rams.  (Even if those games were very close.)

 

The Tennessee Titans

 

Why they stink

What a difference a year makes.  Though what that difference is, I’m not sure.

The Titans returned nearly the same team as the 13-3 squad from last year, minus All-Pro DT Albert Haynesworth.  But is that how you go from starting a year 10-0 to starting the next one 0-6? 

The Titans have had a tough schedule, perhaps playing five playoff teams over their first six games of the year.  Still, they have the league’s 28th worst point differential and they’ve given up the league’s most points which includes a two-week stretch in which they were outscored 90-9 by the Colts and Patriots.  They passed for -7 yards in that game against the Pats.

 

The Bright Side

Running back Chris Johnson might be the best player in the league.  He’s averaging a ridiculous 6.9 yards per carry despite the complete absence of a passing game. 

If you have the league’s best player, that can’t possibly make you the worst, can it?  The Titans got an encouraging win with Vince Young at quarterback and they’ve got a good core of young players to build around. 

Jeff Fisher is one of the best coaches to ever work in this league and with some soft games remaining on the schedule the Titans could avoid 12 losses.

 

The Detroit Lions

 

Why They Stink

The perception seems to be that the Lions are much better than they were last season.  Which they are.  But that only tells you how bad they were in 2008, not that they are by any means good this year.

They’re still being outscored by more than 13 points per game, they’ve given up the 2nd most points in the league, and they just lost to the Rams.  A team that had won 5 games in two and a half years. 

 

The Bright Side

For the first time in awhile, I do feel their is a bright side in Detroit.  They beat those Redskins, and they put the test to the Steelers in week 5 with a 28-20 loss.  The core of this offense is young and talented with Matthew Stafford (21 years old,) Calvin Johnson (24) and Kevin Smith (23) 

Things aren’t going to get a whole lot easier for the Lions, and I still predict no less than 12 losses and as many as 14, but the Lions can put up enough points to show they aren’t the worst team in the league.  They just need to improve that defense a lot.

 

The Oakland Raiders

 

Why They Stink

It would be very polite to say that the Raiders offense is bad. 

The truth is, it’s hard-to-watch-change-the-channel bad.  They haven’t scored more than 20 points in a game this season, and the 16 they put up on San Diego this week was the most they’ve scored since week 1.  They’ve failed to gain 200 yards in five of their eight games and failed to top 100 yards passing in four of those games.

It’s not good when you average .25 passing touchdowns per game.  None of their high draft picks spent on offense in recent years have seemed to pan out and it’s hard to know where to place blame.  It’s probably easier to just say that nobody is helping anybody else, and if you listen to JaMarcus Russell give interviews that doesn’t seem to be way off-base.

This is just a selfish organization.

 

The Bright Side

Russell, Darren McFadden, and Darrius Heyward-Bey are all very young.  It would probably do this team well to sign some vocal, veteran, selfless players to come in here and give these guys some real guidance.

Perhaps they also need to hire one of the many available experienced head coaches, like a Bill Cowher, to change the attitude in Oakland. 

They aren’t the worst team because they’ve got talented players and they’ve beaten Philadelphia and Kansas City.  But they are still very, very bad.

 

The Kansas City Chiefs

 

Why They Stink

The Chiefs started out the 2007 season at an encouraging 4-3.  Since that time however, they are an astonishing 3-29. 

They’ve given up 400 total yards five times this season and they’ve failed to throw for more than 100 yards three times.  On top of that, they just deactivated their leading rusher Larry Johnson, perhaps this time for good.

As for leading receiver Dwayne Bowe, you can’t really say he’s going to be a part of the solution, when he’s been here and put up good numbers during their entire 3-29 stretch. 

There just isn’t much talent on this team.

 

The Bright Side

Back in 2001 the Chiefs traded for backup QB Trent Green and named him starter right away, even with a lot of doubters saying Green was only a system quarterback.  Then the offense picked up with 4 straight seasons of a top 6 ranking and the Chiefs even went 13-3 in 2003.  Perhaps lightening can strike twice with Matt Cassel. 

The Chiefs have a lot of work to do, and they could be headed to another two or three win season, but they aren’t quite the league’s worst.

 

The Cleveland Browns

 

Why They Stink

A large part of me wants to say that the Browns are the worst team in the league.  And boy do they have a case.

Over their last 14 regular season games the Browns have averaged 7.79 points per game.  They scored 1 touchdown in their last 6 games of ’08, a defensive interception return.  Over 8 games this year, they’ve scored a total of five offensive touchdowns: Derek Anderson threw for two and ran for two, and Brady Quinn threw for one. 

Leading receiver Mohamad Massaquoi has a respectable 328 yards.  After him are Mike Furrey with 121 yards and backup running back Jerome Harrison with 111 yards.  The most talented player on this entire team might be kick returner Josh Cribbs. 

I literally wouldn’t want anyone on the Cleveland offense on my team outside of left tackle Joe Thomas.  They’ve scored six or less in five games this year.  Mangini could very well be one-and-done for the Browns. 

 

The Bright Side:

Cribbs, Thomas, Massaquoi, Kamerion Wimbley, and games remaining against the Chiefs, Lions, and Raiders.

 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers

 

Why They Stink

The Bucs are the only winless team remaining in the NFL.  They had close calls against the ‘Skins and Panthers, but a loss is a loss.  They are 28th in points scored, 30th in points allowed, and 29th in point differential. 

In week 3 against the Giants they had one of the worst offensive performances of all-time with 5 first downs total and 86 yards of offense. 

The best quarterback on their team is probably 21-year-old Josh Freeman, an excellent example of how some NFL teams just aren’t that much different than a great college team. 

They could use upgrades at nearly every position on the field.

If you look at the remaining schedule for the Bucs, its very possible we could have 0-16 teams in back-to-back seasons.

 

The Bright Side

There might not be a bright side in Tampa, outside of the sun of course.  Other than they could very well end up with the top pick in the draft and take a franchise cornerstone that they’ve been lacking since their 2002 championship. 

I just don’t think they’re as bad as the next team.

 

The St. Louis Rams

 

Why They Stink

There was a stretch during 2006 when the Rams, who went 8-8 that year, lost seven of eight.  Perhaps that was a sign that shouldn’t have been ignored.  They’ve won just six games since that season.

It’s been a remarkable run of streaks since then.

They started 2007 with eight losses, then won three of four.  Then they lost their next seven regular season games, then they won two in a row.  Then they lost 17 straight before beating Detroit on Sunday.

They cant score (last in the league) and they can’t stop you (29th in the league.)  They’re being outscored by 18 points per game, worst in the NFL.  Last year they were outscored by 14.6 points per game, 31st in the league, and -233 points total. 

They are on pace this season for an epic mark of -288 points. 

This team isn’t a shell of its former self.  It’s a shell of the shell of the shell.

On top of all those bad numbers, this is a team that plays in the NFC West.  The league’s worst division pretty much during that entire run of St Louis being awful from 2007 till now.  How bad could things have gotten if they played in the NFC East or the AFC South?

 

The Bright Side

They did beat the Lions and narrowly lost to the Redskins and Jaguars.  But on any given sunday any team can win.  It doesn’t mean you’re the best team.

St. Louis is still the worst team in the league.  Frankly, they should trade Steven Jackson while he’s still young and still productive.  Try to get some extra draft picks and rebuild a roster that’s desperately in need of help in all areas.

Because, St. Louis, you stink worse than anyone.  But don’t get too disparaged, this is just a smelly year and like a room full of farters, nobody is gonna point the finger.

 

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Suicide Hotlines Flooded With Calls Concerning Brett Favre

Jon Merz volunteers at a suicide hotline in Los Angeles every other weekend.  He’ll be on duty this Sunday, the same day Brett Favre makes his highly-publicized return to Lambeau Field as a Viking.

Jon is expecting it to be a busy weekend.

“I was here on Tuesday.  We were already getting calls from people in preparation for this weekend, saying that they didn’t know if they could handle all the coverage that Brett Favre would be getting this week.  Especially on Sunday.”

What Jon is referring to is the endless amount of hours and countless segments that are likely to be spent talking about Favre returning to Green Bay to play the Packers at Lambeau for the first time. 

For most of the last 15 years, anything Favre has done has usually been talked about on sports radio and television, making sure to cover every detail. 

From his on-again, off-again retirements to his trade to the Jets to his “heroic” Monday Night performances, the name Brett Favre has been uttered on ESPN an estimated 4.6 million times. 

One such caller into the suicide hotline was 31-year-old Marcus Clinton. 

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Marcus.  “I love sports.  I love the NFL.  But if I hear someone talk about Brett Favre one more goddamn time I’m going to blow my brains out.  I know that’s a figure of speech, but I really mean it.  Who really cares if (Favre) is playing on another team?  Joe Montana played on the Chiefs.  Emmitt Smith played on the Cardinals.  He’s just one guy, get over it.”

As I sat in the room last night with the volunteers at the call center, I heard call after call of similar complaints.  After two hours of sitting there, nearly 30 people had called in worried about whether or not they would make it to Monday. 

“I don’t even know if Monday is going to be safe,” said Merz.  “Monday Night Football is on ESPN.  What do you think they’re going to talk about, or who do you think they may talk to during halftime?”

As public concern for the situation grows across the country, sports media outlets have yet to show any signs of backing off the Favre coverage. 

“Brett Favre is America.  He’s everything.  He’s God.  And I’m going to talk about him to death.  Also, I can tell you what day Brett Favre will retire.  Dec. 21, 2012,” said ESPN analyst Chris Berman.

At approximately 9:15 PM last night, a call came into the center from a hysterical woman who went by the name “Nancy.” 

She simply said, “THEY KEEP HYPING UP THIS INTERVIEW BETWEEN BRADSHAW AND FAVRE!!  OH MY GOD!!  OH MY –.” 

There was a loud bang and then simply silence.

Thanks, Brett.

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From The Yucks To The Bucs and Back Again: How Tampa Bay Lost Its Way

If defense wins championships, then there was no team that could have ever stopped the 2002 Buccaneers.

The team featured five pro bowlers on that side of the ball, and that’s not including Ronde Barber, Brian Kelly, Anthony McFarland, Dexter Jackson, and Dwight Smith.

The Steel Curtain, Da Bears, The Bucs. They’ll easily go down amongst the best of all-time, with a handful of Hall of Famers.

However, seven years later and they have made the playoffs just twice (0 wins) and won more than nine games just once. And while it seemed the light at the end of the tunnel was always near for Tampa, with four top five finishes on defense in six years, the wheels have finally fallen off.

The Bucs have as many losses this year (seven) as they did last year, and it only took them seven games to get there. And while their offense is bad as usual (28th in the league), their defense has finally caught up (27th in the league.)

So how did the Bucs go back to being the Yucks?

Following that Super Bowl victory, the Bucs turned their attention to an offense that ranked 18th in the league. Brad Johnson was an efficient, but not spectacular, quarterback. Their leading rusher Michael Pittman gained just 718 yards on the ground and leading receiver Keyshawn Johnson managed 1088 yards through the air.

Take an all-time great defense and improve your offense and you’ve got the makings for one of the great teams ever, right?

Four of the Bucs next five top picks after their Super Bowl victory were spent on offensive players. But whether it was because they failed to live up to early signs of promise (Michael Clayton) or were devastated by injury (Cadillac Williams) the players that the Bucs chose were never able to sustain any kind of success in the NFL.

This is part of the reason the Bucs have not had any kind of stability or consistency on offense.

Over the last seven seasons, including this season, six different quarterbacks have led the team in passing. Only Jeff Garcia managed to hold onto a job for more than one season.

Four different running backs have led the team in rushing over the last six seasons. And five different wide receivers have led the team in yards since 2003.

Legendary players like Bruce Gradkowski, Chris Simms, Earnest Graham, and Michael Clayton have been focal points of this offense.

That’s not a good sign.

But it was okay because the defense was always solid. Even last year the Bucs finished 9th in the league in yards allowed and at one point were 9-3 before losing their last four games and falling short of the playoffs.

But years of losing players to free agency and retirement and not replacing them will eventually catch up with you.

When the Bucs sent five players to the pro bowl after becoming world champions, the average age of those players was 29.8. After 2003, Warren Sapp and John Lynch were released and left to go try and help other franchises. Pro Bowl linebacker Shelton Quarles never made another pro bowl roster and retired after the 2006 season. Defensive End Simeon Rice hasn’t played in the NFL since 2007 and is now playing in the UFL. Future Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Brooks decided last season would be his final season.

Maybe he was onto something.

Those legendary names of 2002 have been replaced by names like Sabby Piscitelli, Geno Hayes, Jimmy Wilkerson, and Quincy Black. Ronde Barber still remains, but at 34 he is the oldest player on the team.

All that time spent on trying to improve the offense, meant that they were losing ground on defense.

Their top pick in 2007, defensive end Gaines Adams, was traded away after two disappointing seasons. Currently their defensive is set to build around linebacker Barrett Ruud and cornerback Aqib Talib. But its slim pickings after those two.

On offense, Cadillac Williams tries to revive a once-promising career. However its one thing to lead your team in rushing yards and its another thing when that total is only 305 yards in seven games.

Also on offense, Kellen Winslow Jr. has been a great pickup for a team in need of a player that can actually make catches. Winslow has been the only bright spot on offense though.

The team dropped Byron Leftwich after week three and decided to go with unknown Josh Johnson at quarterback after the team gained a total of 86 yards against the Giants. The response? The Bucs have averaged 254.25 yards per game, 2.5 turnovers, and 14 first downs with Johnson at QB. In the three games that Leftwich started at QB, including the 86 yard debacle in which they totaled 5 first downs, the Bucs averaged 296.3 yards, 1 turnover, and 16.6 first downs.

They haven’t even come close to the 450 yards they gained in week one or the 353 yards they gained in week two.

I suppose people in Tampa are so used to the Bucs being a great defensive team that they ignored the 450 yards per game and the 33.5 points per game that they gave up in those first two weeks.

Not that Leftwich got completely screwed by that organization. But let’s point the finger where it right belongs.

Ownership had blamed Gruden, Garcia, Keyshawn Johnson, and anyone else they could for not winning a playoff game in five years. But they were the ones that made the hires, the fires, the signings, the releases, and the picks.

They were the ones who drafted Cadillac Williams, even though he had two season-ending injuries at Auburn.

They drafted Gaines Adams over Adrian Peterson.

They release Lynch and Sapp.

Former GM Bruce Allen is former for a reason.

And while new GM Mark Dominik might be doing a lot of things right, his first season is looking very wrong. And it starts with releasing Leftwich and not having a viable backup plan.

QB Josh Freeman was their first round pick this season. But unlike Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, and Mark Sanchez, he hasn’t shown the ability to start in his first year.

This is hurting the Bucs and perhaps could be a reason to worry for the future. What if Freeman won’t be ready until the players around him are also ready? What wide receivers does he have to throw to? What running back can he rely on? How many lineman can be relied upon to protect him?

Josh Johnson is completing fewer passes for less yards, less touchdowns, and more interceptions than what Leftwich was doing. The real question is: How can 17th overall pick Josh Freeman do any worse?

Johnson is 23-years-old. Is he supposed to be a wise sage compared to the 21-year-old Freeman? Or is that management knows they’ve really not built a foundation to build a house on?

I’ve always believed that you’ve got to build an offense from the outside-in. Surround the quarterback position with talent and fill that gap in last. The Bucs have instead seen an empire crumble and thrown unproven and far-from-ready men in the fire, waiting to get eaten alive.

This franchise may only get worse before it gets any better. The defense is awful and the offense is worse. The stars are gone and the remaining ones may want to leave while they still have a chance.

Yes, the Yucks are here to stay. Again.

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There’s No Defense for the Rams Offense: Why St. Louis Has Fallen on Hard Times

When the New England Patriots beat the Tennessee Titans 59-0 in week six, it was a sight to behold. You knew you were watching a highly talented offense firing in perfect harmony on all cylinders.

They were working so well together that they had put up 45 points by halftime and the full 59 by the end of the third quarter. 

There were a lot of amazing topics of discussion to come away with after a game like this, such as Tom Brady’s five second quarter touchdown passes or Randy Moss and Wes Welker catching two TDs apiece. 

But as I sit here this afternoon, there’s just one fact that has been boggling my mind:  The New England Patriots managed to put up 59 points in three quarters, whereas the St. Louis Rams didn’t surpass 59 points in the season until the third quarter of their seventh game of the year. 

A decade after winning the Super Bowl with one of the greatest offenses of all time, I must stop to wonder: What the heck happened?

Ten years ago the Rams shocked the world. They went 13-3 and averaged over 32 points per game on their way to a Super Bowl win over the Titans. Their defense was fourth in the league in points allowed at just over 15 per game. 

But the next season they were the league’s worst defense and lost six of their last 10 games before a first round loss in the playoffs to the New Orleans Saints. Just as the Rams had become used to scoring at will, so did their opponents. 

Despite the fact that the Rams would make the Super Bowl the following year, this really was already the beginning of the end. 

The bread and butter of the Rams was really quite simple: Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, and Orlando Pace—five Hall of Famers on the same offense. Mix in a little Az-Zahir Hakim and some Ricky Proehl, and you’ve got a team that won 56 regular season games between 1999 and 2003, with two Super Bowl appearances and one championship. 

So why then is this team headed for its sixth straight non-winning season? 

When the Rams got the reputation of a horrible defensive team, that’s where they started focusing all their attention. It’s a strategy that makes sense when your offense is No. 1 in the league for three straight seasons (1999-2001).

However, as the years went on, the Rams got older, and coaches got fired (Mike Martz specifically), the offense got awful.

In the draft, the Rams completely switched their gameplan from previous seasons. 

Flashback to 1996 when St. Louis had five picks in the first three rounds. All five of those picks were on offense. Specifically, all five were skill position players (Lawrence Phillips, Eddie Kennison, Tony Banks, Ernie Conwell, and Jerald Moore).

Back in 1994 they drafted Bruce. In 1997 they took Pace. And in 1999, the year they won it all, they drafted Holt and traded for Faulk. 

The Rams plan was clear: Get very talented on offense. That’s exactly what they did, and they made history. 

However, despite the fact that the plan worked very well, they didn’t stick to it.

In the 10 NFL drafts since their Super Bowl win, the Rams have drafted 29 players at skill positions. Most of them were taken on day two, and most of their names have never been uttered in a game telecast. Out of those 29 players, just two were drafted in the first round (Trung Canidate and Steven Jackson) and just two more in the second round (Brian Leonard and Donnie Avery).

In 2001, the Rams found themselves with five picks on day one of the draft again, and like 1996, every pick was dedicated to one side of the ball—only this time, that side of the ball was defense. 

With three first round picks, the Rams selected Damione Lewis, Adam Archuleta, and Ryan Pickett. They passed on such players as Marcus Stroud, Nate Clements, and Steve Hutchinson.

It’s okay to focus on an area of need, but it also helps when you’re good at finding talented players for that need. 

In 2002, a year after going 14-2 and just barely losing to the Patriots in the Super Bowl, Kurt Warner played below expectations and got injured. By 2004, he was let go as the team decided to go with the younger and cheaper Marc Bulger. Five years later and it’s Warner who is still going to the Bowls (Super and Pro), while Bulger looks like the aging vet who needs to hang it up. 

Perhaps Warner’s departure from St. Louis set off a curse that may never be broken. That curse rings out in first round busts like linebacker Robert Thomas, Jimmy Kennedy, Tye Hill, and Adam Carriker—all defensive players who have yet to show they belong on this level of play. 

They could have also focused some of that attention on offense. Like after Bulger went 2-10 as a starter in 2007, they could have drafted Matt Ryan over Chris Long. When Isaac Bruce started to truly show signs of aging in 2005, they could have drafted Santonio Holmes over Hill in 2006. 

This isn’t pure shoulda, coulda, woulda. This isn’t rosterbation. This is a matter of “you have a need, you need to fix it.”

This is an organization ignoring a problem that’s been developing over several seasons. The only smart move they’ve made in the last 10 years was drafting Steven Jackson. 

It’s not a move they’ve even tried to replicate.

They’ve spent so much time trying not to ignore the bleeding on defense that they’ve completely ignored the slow but steady crumbling of any talented players on offense. Despite all that effort they’ve put into improving the defense, they haven’t finished in the top 20 in that category since 2004.

So how can the Rams improve on their 5-34 record since the start of the 2007 season? 

The first step would be to not forget what got you to the Super Bowl: acquiring highly talented players at the skill position. Many people say that Kurt Warner lucked out by being the quarterback of that team, just like he’s lucky to have Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald in Arizona. But luck had nothing to do with it.

Those players were there because management made smart moves. They’re no longer making smart moves.

It’s not that they’re just trying and failing either. In the last nine first rounds the Rams have drafted just one skill player (Jackson) and not attempted to get a fresh set of hands in the wide receiver corps or a fresh arm at quarterback. Because of that they’ve finished 28th and 30th in points the last two seasons and currently sit dead last this year. 

Drafting Jason Smith second overall this year is a start. If he can turn into the type of player that Pace was, they’ve got a foundation. Now they just need to find the next Warner, Bruce, and Holt. 

Or at least…try to.

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