It’s about time that I was able to put this doc out. For the 18 teams that missed the playoffs the only way to go for most of them is up depending on the situation. Anyways lets go over who crumbled in the end.
New England Patriots (My Kingdom for an OC): I think it’s unfair to really judge the Patriots after a season like this. The reason I’m saying this is because when you have two men calling plays on offense with no experience there’s a good chance that it blows up in your face. But even with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge being hacks like they were with the Lions and Giants, New England still made it to the end before falling off. To me the difference of why they missed the playoffs was not injuries, or that game in Buffalo. It was when Nelson Agholor had a free path to the endzone against Baltimore only to get robbed just as he was about to break away. If they win that game they are most likely in the playoffs. But it’s just a what if story. I won’t go hard on Mac Jones because once again they had no legitimate Offensive Coordinator. The good news for Patriots fans is that they still have a solid defense, and running game. But they may need a weapon or two for Mac to work with. And Belichick is not a big fan of the diva WR if you know what I mean. I would laugh at them hiring Bill O’Brien as their new OC but we tend to forget that he was in the Patriots system for a long time. As much as people want the so-called Evil Empire to fall, I think they’ll be in contention as long as Kraft is in charge. Just don’t let their rival’s actions fool you.
New York Jets (The Fake Spike Reincarnated): The Jets have found another way to troll their fanbase. Early in the season hopes were high in North Jersey. Zach Wilson was playing up to the high expectations placed on him in the offseason. Breece Hall was the leading candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Sauce Gardiner becoming a generational talent in the secondary. A Top 5 defense that took no prisoners. Gang Green was leading the AFC East with a 7-3 record after an epic win over the Bills. The optimism of playoff football returning to the Big Apple was at a peak. But then one play changed the season. The walk off punt return for a touchdown against the Patriots in Week 11. Many will blame Wilson for the loss but has any Jets QB done well against New England over the course of the Belichick Era? What was Robert Saleh’s response? He benched him in favor of Mike White. (Not that Mike White) Once that happened the ButtFumble narratives returned thanks to the 2nd coming of the Fake Spike. BOOM! They lost their last seven games to end the year. If that’s not a typical Jet collapse I don’t know what is. After a year like this, management is getting very desperate and jobs are potentially on the line. Well Mike Lafleur was sacked as OC after not utilizing his weapons properly in the 2nd Half. Who did they replace him with? Nathaniel Hackett. (And Todd Downing as the pass game coordinator) Looks like they’re going all in on Aaron Rodgers just like they did with Brett Favre 15 years ago. Considering Rodgers has a stake in the Milwaukee Bucks and their co-owners are from New York it will be tempting for him to go there. More on that later.
Cleveland Browns (No One Feels Bad): Championship Contenders. We thought the Browns were championship contenders at the start of the offseason. All of Cleveland beating their chests about how they were going to destroy the entire AFC. An age where the Browns and Bengals dominating the AFC North was highly anticipated. Then we realize the New Frontier was just a marketing idea. The Browns as usual didn’t live up to the hype. Most of the blame from the Dawg Pound will be the Deshaun Watson suspension as for why they missed the playoffs. I want to be crystal clear. Watson missing 11 games was not the issue. Joe Woods’ defense was horrible for most of the season, Nick Chubb was gassed by the end of the season, and when Watson returned he just didn’t have it. The killing blow of their season was getting embarrassed at home by the New Orleans Saints in Week 16 in frigid conditions. AGAINST A DOME TEAM! If they win that game that might have put them in the playoffs. Once again another wasted year for the Browns. I think that seat is getting super hot for Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt. Joe Woods has already been fired and replaced him with Jim Schwartz. If they have another rough season I would expect Jimmy Haslam to blow up the universe again. Speaking of which, whats he got up his sleeves? (BOOM!) (Marc Lasry sells his potion of the Bucks to Haslam Family) ARE YOU (CENSORED) KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW! HOW THE (CENSORED) IS HE NOW ONE OF THE OWNERS OF THE MILWAUKEE BUCKS! WES EDENS YOU BETTER NOT LET HIM GET FULL CONTROL OF TEAM OPERATIONS!
Pittsburgh Steelers (BLAME CANADA!): I wonder as to why the Steelers missed the playoffs this season? Some will say it’s because of the early season QB controversy, others will say TJ Watt getting hurt, and the rest will say those bad losses in games they should have won. Or if you’re from YinzerLand all you’ll do is put all the blame on Matt Canada. Yes he was a problem during the 1st Half of the year, and everyone stills wants him fired. Here’s why he’s staying. The Steeler Way of not firing coaches, and the offense’s performance against Baltimore in Week 17. Even if their season ended without a playoff berth, Pittsburgh won a tremendous amount of respect. Any team that starts the year 3-7 should be headed for tank bowl territory right? Not the Steelers. They won 6 of 7 to end the year behind an emerging Kenny Pickett, and a strong defense. If it weren’t for Miami beating the Jets in Week 18 this team would have made the playoffs. This season has taught everyone one rule about Pittsburgh. Whenever you think they’re done, they find new ways to win and shock you when you least expect it. I wonder what they’ll do this offseason to build off the momentum. (They’re gonna draft Joey Porter Jr aren’t they. The most Steeler thing possible)
Houston Texans (Week 18 Hell): We knew that the Texans were going to be bad. That part isn’t surprising. What is surprising is that they had a golden opportunity to secure the #1 overall pick and they blew it. Other than a Week 1 tie against Indianapolis and a fluke win over Jacksonville, it was looking like Houston had the #1 pick all but handed to them. However Lovie Smith just had to have his competitive spirit get in the way. They ended the season with wins in 2 of the last 3 games including that thriller against the Colts in Week 18. As a result of giving his former team the #1 selection, Lovie was chucked out by Cal McNair. In his place comes DeMeco Ryans, who was one of the first great faces of the Texans franchise. I loved what he did in San Francisco, and Houston you could see that for yourselves. The question now is, what do they do in the draft? They have two top picks to work with. I know they will get either Stroud or Young depending on who is out there at #2 but there are so many other positions of needs. And Brandon Cooks probably getting traded only adds to that list. Good luck Houston, you’ll need plenty of it.
Indianapolis Colts (The Glue Factory): Once again I’m going to ask. Was a QB really the weakness on this team? If you were to ask a Colts fan or the Irsays when they are looking back at this season they’d say yes. My counterargument says otherwise. Have the Colts ever been able to develop receivers, or an O-Line since Peyton Manning left? That answer is no. Don’t bring up Jonathan Taylor’s 2021 season, that was because he feasted on weak opponents and got exposed by real teams. The same happened this year. Matt Ryan just like Philip Rivers, and Carson Wentz was chucked into a pack of wolves all season long whether he deserved it or not. When you tie with the Houston Texans to open the season, there’s a good chance you’re in for a long season. That was the case. Frank Reich was fired at midseason despite being the least of their issues. Irsay replaced him with a puppet in Jeff Saturday. His greatest accomplishment during his stint as interim coach was blowing a 33-0 lead to the Vikings at halftime. Indy you can hire Shane Steichen as your new head coach but as long as the Irsays have control of day to day operations there will only be underachievement and the ruining of top QB talents. They’re gonna trade up to the #1 pick and draft Bryce Young aren’t they? (The Colts did the same thing for Jeff George in 1990. The result? 2 Legit 2 Quit)
Tennessee Titans (The Injury Bell Tolls, AGAIN): Last season the Titans were able to overcome the massive amounts of injuries thanks to an easy schedule, plus the weak division in the NFL. This year the same thing happened on the injury front. But they couldn’t overcome it. Early on that wasn’t the case. Tennessee overcame their 0-2 start to win 7 of their next 8. Even if cracks were starting to show in Ryan Tannehill’s game, they were about to run away with the division and get another Wild Card exit. However they wouldn’t even get there. BOOM! The Titans lost 7 straight to finish the year coupled with the Jaguars hot streak in December cost Todd Downing and the rest of the offensive staff their jobs. I wouldn’t call this a collapse, it’s more like a string of rotten luck. The reason I’m saying this is that the Titans when healthy are a serious contender. It’s just that it hasn’t been this way since 2020. Yes, they will fire their conditioning coach after 2021, but even then it’s a bad situation. It may be getting uglier in Nashville. Now the Titans want a new stadium when Nissan Stadium isn’t even that old or in bad shape. They probably saw what the Rams and Chargers did with SoFi and want that for themselves. Let me be clear. YOU ARE NOT LOS ANGELES! YOU ARE TENNESSEE! ACT LIKE IT! (Enjoy Cap Hell and Mike Vrabel being on the hot seat)
Denver Broncos (1977 Atlanta Falcons): I was one of the few that saw the Russell Wilson experiment not working out. Let’s just say I nailed that one. The issue for the Broncos for most of the years since Elway has retired has been a simple one. A TERRIBLE OFFENSIVE LINE! And they did nothing about it this season. They just pretended that they were a QB away from being a Super Bowl Contender. Boy did it blow up for them didn’t it. Once the Seattle game happened, it was a never ending gong show that angered players and fans alike. The Broncos wasted one of the best defenses in their history thanks to an offense that set records for ineptitude Here’s what I don’t understand. Why would they hire Nathaniel Hackett when he was clearly carried by Aaron Rodgers, and Davante Adams, plus was a terrible OC in Jacksonville? That’s because John Elway wanted to do the same thing he did when Denver had Peyton Manning. It was a mistake. Hackett didn’t survive a whole season. He was fired right after the Christmas Day Massacre against the Rams. Speaking of Elway, it was he, not George Paton, that orchestrated the trade for Wilson. I know people are going to call me crazy for saying that just like saying the O-Line wasn’t the biggest issue but here’s the thing. Paton doesn’t have the idiocy to make a move like that. The Magnificent 7 does. You can hire Sean Payton all you want, but it doesn’t stop the fact that there is still a long way to go before Denver becomes good again. Wonderful the 1st Round pick you gave to Seattle is a Top 5 pick guaranteed. If they draft their next great QB with that pick I will laugh so hard. BECAUSE THAT COULD HAVE BEEN YOU!
Las Vegas Raiders (Don’t Hire Belichick Assistants!): I thought that the Raiders would make noise after the chaotic run to the playoffs they had in 2021. On paper with the talent they brought this team should have been a playoff contender at minimum. The reason they weren’t was the men behind the bench. I’m not saying this is solely on Josh McDaniels, but having inexperienced coordinators to go with him is not a good sign. That’s why they blew three separate 17 point leads to lose each game. Think losing to Jeff Saturday and the Colts in his 1st game as the interim coach, and blowing a 16-3 lead against Baker Mayfield who hadn’t even learned the entire Rams playbook. The scapegoat for this failure according to Mark Davis happens to be Derek Carr. Why are you cutting him? He’s probably the reason why you even had a slight chance to make the playoffs come December. The real issue is Davis learning nothing from his late father during the mid-2000s. And considering Davante Adams may also want out because Carr is gone, this could get ugly for Vegas. Knowing the Raiders they’ll get Aaron Rodgers or Jimmy G in the offseason and pretend that everything is fine. Because that worked for them with Rich Gannon. Have fun being lorded by Chiefs Kingdom yet again. (You like Denver and the LA Chargers thought KC was done. Well too bad)
Washington Commanders (The Carson Wentz Experience): Once again most of the attention regarding this franchise has been off the field instead of on it. Like most years that damn good culture in Washington always gets in the headlines for the wrong reason. On the field it was what I sort of expected. Just bland mediocrity. But there were some bright spots. The Commies put together a nice win streak in the middle of the season, Taylor Heinicke’s feel good story was taking centerstage, the defense was back in 2020 form, and they had a 2 game lead for the 7th seed in the NFC. It looked as if playoff football was head towards the Nations Capitol. As is typical in all things DC Sports, the Commies take a gimme situation and mess it up. The controversial loss to the Giants in Week 15 doomed them, and it would eventually cost them a playoff berth. There are pieces on this roster, but they need someone to guide the ship on offense. Thats why Washington went out and hired Eric Bienemy away from Kansas City. This is the definition of a boom or bust hire. Although he’s with Ron Rivera, I think he’ll be ok. Just better fix that QB and O-Line situations quickly.
Chicago Bears (Tank City): Not much to say about this season. The Bears suffered a true punishment year after years of being broken by the Double Doink, Ryan Pace, and Matt Nagy. Even if the team was bad record wise they hung tough for much of those games. It’s mostly because Justin Fields was finally able to run free after being held back by Nagy. He nearly broke Lamar Jackson’s record for rushing yards by a QB in a season. Unlike 2019 LJ, Fields was the only reason that Chicago was watchable. The defense became a mess once they traded Roquan Smith to Baltimore, and they didn’t win another game after that. The only thing they’ll be remembered for this year is not keeping their original 2nd Round pick so that they could trade for Chase Claypool in favor of using the 2nd Round pick they got from the Ravens. Now watch the Steelers use that pick on a game changer with the 1st pick of Day 2 of the NFL Draft.
Detroit Lions (Major Progress): Congratulations Lions, you are the unlucky servants of being the best team not to make the playoffs. In your defense this was the best year you’ve had since 2016. A 1-6 start should have resulted in another endless tank that Detroit knows all too well. Instead the opposite happened. The Lions found a new form. That form was a relentless hard working mindset that translated at the end of the season. They won 8 of 10 to finish the season. Even if they were eliminated via tiebreaker their final week heroics gave something their fans haven’t seen since the Barry Sanders Era. Hope. Jared Goff has gone from castoff of the Rams, to potential savior of the Lions. Aidan Hutchinson clearly lived up to the hype especially in the 2nd Half. Plus a young core is starting to emerge. Plus they also have that Top 5 pick from LA. Kroenke you have your answer to the Anthony Davis Trade. Detroit you better not mess up this chance of glory like every other chance you’ve had.
Green Bay Packers (Complete Failure): I thought the Packers had the team to finally get over the hump coming into the season. I know they lost Davante Adams and ZaDarius Smith but still with that much talent on the roster, it should have been set in stone that they were going to make a serious push towards championship #14. However we didn’t take into account a few things. Turns out having to learn a new offensive system is easier said than done. That’s what happened this season. Despite a late season emergence from Christian Watson, Aaron Rodgers and the running game had to hold up for plenty of flaws in their game. That being a declining O-Line and raw talent at receiver. Starting 4-8 was considered a death sentence by many in the football landscape. But then Green Bay decided to go on one of those late season runs. The dreams of Aaron Rodgers making ESPN shovel their own snow yet again were on everyone’s mind. That was until that last game against the Lions. A chance to solidify a matchup in San Fran for Wild Card Weekend blown away thanks to the same things that doomed them all year. A banged up O-Line and terrible play calling. Things are getting dicey for the Packers. Now they have to make a decision. Do they keep Rodgers, or do they roll the dice on Jordan Love. If the latter happens, let’s just say it’ll be the same ending that Brett Favre had in Green Bay. If Rodgers is going anywhere it’s the Jets simply because he has a minority stake in the Milwaukee Bucks and he’s dating the daughter of co-owner Wes Edens. (And the Bucks ownership crew is based in New York) No it’s not because of recreating Brett Favre it’s because of other reasons darn it.
Atlanta Falcons (Better Than Expected): This was supposed to be their tank year going into it. Trading away the two faces of the franchise, Calvin Ridley getting suspended and then also let go of, the Falcons should have been competing for a Top 5 pick. Instead Atlanta showed promise thanks to a very young core of players starting to emerge. Drake London had an excellent rookie season, Kyle Pitts, when healthy, is a game changer, Tyler Allgeier came on strong at the end of the season. To be fair they almost made the playoffs. The game that doomed them was a crushing loss against Washington where they were denied victory at the one yard line. That’s not including two crushing losses to the Saints, and getting screwed over by the NFL in Week 5 against Tampa. (Plus squandering plenty of 4th Down chances in Baltimore in the bitter cold) As I said, the future looks promising in the ATL. The question now is whether Desmond Ridder has the tools to be a franchise QB? He showed flashes of his potential in their last two games. If he can keep this up, they should be playoff contenders going forward. However they aren’t the only ones in their division that have a solid upside.
Carolina Panthers (You Aren’t a Clown Show): This season for the Panthers can really be described as two different phases. In the first phase, they went all-in on Baker Mayfield, kept Matt Rhule around yet both failed miserably thanks to a rough schedule early on as well as bad coaching. Rhule was fired by mid-season and Christian McCaffery was traded to San Francisco shortly after that. Most people would have thought this would have been one of the biggest tank jobs in the NFL. However the opposite happened. Carolina got healthy, they developed a solid running game, PJ Walker was serviceable, even when he got hurt Sam Darnold wasn’t that bad either. They fought all the way back to have a chance at winning the division at the end of the season. (Even if it was Tank Division) Then they blew a 11 point lead in the 4th Quarter against the Buccaneers in Week 17 to lose the NFC South. There are pieces on board but they need the right hand to guide them. That’s why the Panthers hired Frank Reich, one of the more reasonable hires of the offseason. I wouldn’t say the question mark is at QB, but more on the Offensive Line. They’ll need a line that can control the game if they have any chance at making the playoffs. Although the NFC South is a joke and if the cards play out in their favor they could make noise. I’ll check on this later.
New Orleans Saints (Why Did You Hire Dennis Allen?): Some people had this team as a contender at the start of the year. I get why they still had some talent left over from the Brees years and added Jarvis Landry, Chris Olave and the Honey Badger in the offseason. But I was one of them that disagreed. Why? That answer is simple. Coaching. I know they wanted an in-house hiring in Dennis Allen to replace Sean Payton, but here’s the risk. He has learned nothing from his time with the Raiders. There were plenty of instances. Blowing two winnable games against Tampa Bay was the killing blow that haunted them in the end. (Plus giving up a big comeback against Cincinnati in Week 6) The questions about their future are really kicking in now. Michael Thomas was once the best receiver in the game, now he’s the most injury prone player at that position. How long until Alvin Kamara wants out of the Big Easy? And who will be their long term QB? I would say go for one in FA or the draft but you are $60M over the cap and your 1st Round pick which is a Top 10 selection belongs to Philadelphia. You’re stuck with Andy Dalton or Jameis Winston as your QB until you shed all the bad contracts. Welcome back to Aints status.
Arizona Cardinals (Detention): The Cardinals have learned absolutely nothing from past mistakes. If last year was a disaster at the end of the season, this year fully proves it. I knew their season was over before it even began. Heres how? You don’t trade a 1st Round pick for an inconsistent Marquise Brown and then give him $25M a year when you need Offensive Line help. And Baltimore took a generational Center with the pick you gave them. I know DeAndre Hopkins was suspended the first six weeks, but you already had AJ Green and Zach Ertz on the roster. The reasoning was because they wanted to prevent Kyler Murray from leaving. Speaking of Green and JJ Watt those two witnessed their career swan song in front of this mess. Once that first game against the Chiefs happened, the ride wasn’t going to end any time soon. And worse Kyler tore his ACL late in the year, and might miss most of 2023. Also why did they hire Kliff Kingsbury in the first place? Just because he coached Patrick Mahomes in college, doesn’t mean he’ll translate over to the NFL. I know they replaced him with Jonathan Gannon but once again its another raw hiring for a franchise full of those in their history. They have a long way to go and I don’t trust the Bidwell’s to fix this properly. What could have been a squad rivaling the one in 2008, only turned into the second coming of their one hit wonder in 1998. FOR SHAME!
Los Angeles Rams (2022 Sean McVay = 2020 LeBron/Dave Roberts): The city of LA in terms of sports has kinda hit a wall. Considering that the Rams like the Lakers and Dodgers sold their souls for that elusive championship it’s not shocking to see them take a step back. I didn’t think it would be this bad of a decline. LA had the worst record by any defending champion in the history of the game. It all started on Opening Night when they got embarrassed by Buffalo on National TV. (And BillsMafia took over SoFi as well) It continued as Matthew Stafford suffered a serious arm injury and who knows if he ever is the same QB. Cooper Kupp also suffered a season ending injury by midseason. They even had to drag out Baker Mayfield off of waivers, it was that bad. The most insane part about this is that the Rams are falling into the same traps as the other LA teams that have won championships as of late. Bad contracts, injuries, underachievement, rotten luck, and being lorded over by the Bay Area yet again. But all they’re going to say is simple. “We have a ring.” Yes we know, you don’t have to remind us of that. To me the Rams are going through what the Ravens did after 2012. That was their all in year and the key players they lost in the offseason came back to haunt them. But hey they won a ring right?
Bragging Rights Sports 