Wednesday Morning QB (NFL Week 7)
The term has already been coined by the NFL as “Suck for Luck” has become the new term for the worst teams in the NFL. The saying refers to teams that are in the running for the top draft pick which will most likely be Andrew Luck the quarterback for Stanford who will finish his last year in College this year. Luck is a potential Heisman Trophy winner and is widely considered the #1 draft pick because he has shown his ability to lead a pro style offence. With this quarterback considered the top pick in the draft the worst team in the league will get him. The “battle” for last place has a few contenders already as the Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts and the St. Louis Rams have all gone without a win so far. Of course St. Louis is out of the running as they will most likely pass up on Luck due to their young QB in Sam Bradford. The two teams left are the Indianapolis Colts and the Miami Dolphins who have not been able to get a win largely thanks to their quarterback situations. The Indianapolis Colts are not in the same situation as many bad teams as they have a franchise QB that is considered one of the best in the game. Peyton Manning has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL for years and is known for his football mind and for changing plays at the line. With Peyton Manning the Colts are always a favorite for the Super Bowl but as we have seen this year without Manning the Colts can be considered the worst team in the NFL. Manning has not been in the lineup all season for the Colts with a neck injury that has not fully healed yet forcing the Colts to turn to Kerry Collins who was also hurt this year and their perennial backup Curtis Painter. This has forced the Colts brass to think about the future and just how much their team has been built around one player. Not only is the offence not operating well without the adjustments of Manning but the defence has been forced to play without a lead which is not what they were built for. With this realization and the realization that Manning only has a few years left in the NFL the Colts will be looking to build their team back up for life without Manning. A big part of this could be drafting Luck to sit behind Manning for a few years and pull an Aaron Rodgers who replaced Brett Favre with great success. As the Colts look for their possible replacement in Luck the Miami Dolphins are trying to finally find a replacement for their legendary QB Dan Marino after he retired in 1999. They have yet to find a top-tier QB after Marino trying to hand the ball Jay Fielder, A.J. Feeley, Sage Rosenfels, Gus Ferrote, Joey Harrington, Daunte Culpepper, Cleo Lemon, Trent Green, John Beck, Chad Pennington, Chad Henne, Tyler Thigpen, and now Matt Moore. That is a total of 13 QBs that have started since Dan Marino and none have been able to guide the Dolphins anywhere, even Dan Marino couldn’t do much not winning a Super Bowl. As they continue to lose games the Dolphins get closer to firing head coach Tony Sparano and closer to possibly finding their next #1 QB in Andrew Luck. If the Dolphins continue to be as bad as they are they might win the Luck sweepstakes and try to turn the team around. Both the Colts and the Dolphins are in the running for Andrew Luck and are both threatening to match the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only team to lose 16 games in a season. The “Suck for Luck” terminology will continue all year but the last thing any fan wants to here is that their team is losing on purpose to have a chance at Andrew Luck. NFL teams do not try to lose but the players tend to give up when they get down but with losing teams there is still hope, mainly that it will turn around next year with the draft.
As the Colts and Dolphins continue losing the two teams that were in the same spot last season have become the surprises of the NFL. The Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions have struggled through the last few years at the bottom of the league. This year they have moved up to become two of the best teams. The Bills came out strong and won their first three games including their comeback win over the New England Patriots. The Detroit Lions came out even stronger winning their first five games remaining the only undefeated team along with the Green Bay Packers in week 5. Since these starts the teams have seemed to change their tunes as the Bills have lost two of their last three games before a bye in week 7 while the Lions have lost their last two games. Many NFL fans are cheering for these two teams who are a part of a struggling area of the nation and could use some promising news. A collapse cannot be declared yet as teams will still have an opportunity to finally make the playoffs after years of finishing the season out of the postseason. These teams have had a history of losing and the biggest worry is that with the loses the old attitudes will return and they will begin to struggle instead of continuing their great comeback seasons. Only time will tell if these teams can recover and stay out of the negative attitude and it will all start this week. Buffalo will take on a surprising but now struggling Washington Redskins in a home game away from home in Toronto. Meanwhile the Lions will take on Denver with their new QB Tim Tebow as they try to end their losing streak.
Standings:
American Football Conference
AFC East:
1. New England Patriots (.833)
2. Buffalo Bills (.667)
3. New York Jets (.571)
4. Miami Dolphins (.000)
AFC North:
1. Pittsburgh Steelers (.714)
2. Baltimore Ravens (.667)
3. Cincinnati Bengals (.667)
4. Cleveland Browns (.500)
AFC South:
1. Houston Texans (.571)
2. Tennessee Titans (.500)
3. Jacksonville Jaguars (.286)
4. Indianapolis Colts (.000)
AFC West:
1. San Diego Chargers (.667)
2. Oakland Raiders (.571)
3. Kansas City Chiefs (.500)
4. Denver Broncos (.333)
National Football Conference
NFC East:
1. New York Giants (.667)
2. Dallas Cowboys (.500)
3. Washington Redskins (.500)
4. Philadelphia Eagles (.333)
NFC North:
1. Green Bay Packers (1.00)
2. Detroit Lions (.714)
3. Chicago Bears (.571)
4. Minnesota Vikings (.143)
NFC South:
1. New Orleans Saints (.714)
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (.571)
3. Atlanta Falcons (.571)
4. Carolina Panthers (.286)
NFC West:
1. San Francisco 49ers (.833)
2. Seattle Seahawks (.333)
3. Arizona Cardinals (.167)
4. St. Louis Rams (.000)
POW Awards
American Football Conference:
Arian Foster, RB (AFC Offensive POW)
25 rsh (5 rec)
115 yds (119 rec yds)
4.6 avg
2 TD (1 recTD)
Brandon Flowers, CB (AFC Defensive POW)
3 tkl
3 PDef
2 INT
1 TD
Josh Scobee, K (AFC Special Team POW)
4/4 FG
54 lng
0/0 XP
12 pts
National Football Conference:
Drew Brees, QB (NFC Offensive POW)
88.6 cmp%
325 yds
5 TD
0 INT
Lance Briggs, LB (NFC Defensive POW)
6 tkl
0 sck
2 PDef
1 INT
Mason Crosby, K (NFC Special Teams POW)
4/4 FG
58 lng
3/3 XP
15 pts
Key Scores:
Chicago Bears 24 – 18 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
– The Bears and Bucs played the annual game in London, England this year as the Bears began to climb back into the NFC North picture with a win
New York Jets 27 – 21 San Diego Chargers
– Rex Ryan talked a lot before the game and LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Cromartie played their first games against their former team winning a close one
New Orleans Saints 62 – 7 Indianapolis Colts
– The Colts hit their bottom as the defence was dominated by Drew Brees and the Saints who put up 62 points against the struggling team
Jacksonville Jaguars 12 – 7 Baltimore Ravens
– The Jags and Ravens showed just how bad their offences are as Josh Scobee kicked all 12 points in a Jags win that saw both offences do nothing
Key Week 8 Matchups:
Miami Dolphins vs. New York Giants (Oct. 30th; 1:00 pm)
– Tony Sparano has been defended by his owner but every loss could be his last as the Dolphins look for their first win against the Giants
Washington Redskins vs. Buffalo Bills (Oct. 30th; 4:05 pm)
– The Bills will play another game in the Bills in Toronto Series as they look to recover from a stumble in the three weeks before the bye week
Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Oct. 30th; 8:20 pm)
– Sunday Night would have been a great game if the Dream team actually was a dream but the Eagles will try to recover against an oft maligned Cowboys team
San Diego Chargers vs. Kansas City Chiefs (Oct. 31st; 8:30 pm)
– The Chargers and the Chiefs battled for the AFC West last year but this year it seems like the Chargers will take it as the Chiefs look to recover from a bad start to the season
The Sport Addiction 