Power Outage: The Ten Worst Teams

 This is the time of year when you see plenty of predictions on which teams will be battling to be the best.  Well, this list will take a look at at the NFL from the other side and rank the bottom ten teams.  Instead of Super Bowl expectations, these teams will fight it out to see which loser gets the top draft pick in 2010.  How ecstatic are you if you’re a Chargers fan, as it looks like the other three teams from that division will all make this list. 
This bottom ten goes downward, where you’ll find the expected worst team of this bunch.  

10.       New York Jets:  I love what the Jets have done this offseason with the hiring of Rex Ryan to be their new head coach.  His history as a top defensive mind brings instant credibility, along with a take no prisoners attitude.  That being said, they’re still starting a rookie quarterback in Mark Sanchez, who is sure to make his share of rookie mistakes.  A veteran QB to give Sanchez a year’s worth of experience might’ve made the Jets a wildcard contender this season, but the Jets have opted to throw Sanchez into the deep end and see if he can swim.  With a stable of RBs like Thomas Jones, Leon Washington and Shonn Greene and a defense that will take the attack to the opposing team’s offense the Jets won’t get blown out of too many games, but will have a hard time putting up enough points to win many as well.

 9.         Buffalo Bills:  Buffalo may have made the biggest free agent headlines in the offseason with the signing of Terrell Owens, but trading away OL Jason Peters to the Eagles may prove to be their undoing in 2009.  Hard to see how Marshawn Lynch and  Fred Jackson  will find any lanes to run through with that weak offensive line.  And how long until Owens complains about not getting the ball from QB Trent Edwards because Edwards is running for his life?  Doesn’t matter how good your skill position players are if the opposing teams defensive players are running free in your backfield.

8.         San Francisco 49ers:  Outside of Frank Gore, is there anyone on the 49ers team you’re dying to see?  As of this writing Michael Crabtree is still unsigned.  The 49ers swear he will be signed soone, but hasn’t he already missed way too much time to be of any value this season?  Shaun Hill seems to be a backup QB, but he is all the San Francisco has at the moment, and I still believe they will give Alex Smith one more shot to see if he can be the QB they wanted him to be when they drafted him #1 overall in 2005.

 7.         Tampa Bay Buccaneers:  Tampa Bay is the definition of a team in a transition year.  They fired head coach Jon Gruden at the end of last season, allowed QB Jeff Garcia and WR Joey Galloway to leave the team in free agency, and made no effort to re-sign future Hall of Fame Linebacker Derrick Brooks.  Throw in the fact that their starting QB will be Byron Leftwich to start the season and WR Antonio Bryant underwent knee surgery for a torn meniscus in mid-August, and you have a recipe for a 6-10 season.  The addition of RB Derrick Ward should help the running game, but not enough to take Tampa out of the bottom 10 worst teams in the NFL.

6.         Denver Broncos:  It’s been documented quite thoroughly what a disaster the Broncos off-season has been. The saga of Brandon Marshall will continue unless he gets a contract extension from Denver or is traded.  QB Kyle Orton suffered an open dislocation of the right index finger in the pre-season, but who knows how much that will affect his passes, which weren’t that great when he was healthy.  They failed to add any top level defenseive talent in the draft to improve their Swiss cheese front seven defense.   

5.         St. Louis Rams:  If not for RB Steven Jackson the Rams would occupy the bottom slot in my rankings.  Jackson is an all world talent at RB, the problem is the opposing team defense knows that as well.  QB Marc Bulger has little in the way of offensive weapons to throw to and teams will be stacking the line of scrimmage to stop Jackson.  Jackson will get his touches this season, lots of them, but there will be plenty of bumps and bruises to go along with those touches. 

4.         Cleveland Browns:  I’m not sure new Head Coach Eric Mangini knows what he has gotten himself into here.  Neither QB Brady Quinn nor Derek Anderson has made it easy for him to pick a starting quarterback, with Quinn evnutally getting the nod just days before the start of the regular season.  Wide receiver Braylon Edwards is coming off a season in which he had a terrible case of the drops, and RB Jamal Lewis is on the wrong side of 30 and hearing the footsteps of Jerome Harrison and James Davis.   The dog pound could be choking on their bones by mid-season. 

3.         Kansas City Chiefs:  The Chiefs were another team that tried to make a bid splash this off-season, with trade for QB Matt Cassel.  Now the question is, can Cassel take the controls of a team that doesn’t have a great nucleus around him?  Sure, Dwayne Bowe is a good Wide Receiver, but who else on that team scares you?  There is not another receiver on the roster that can take double teams away from Bowe, they traded All-Pro Tight End Tony Gonzalez to the Falcons, and Larry Johnson seems to have more scrapes with the law than with the end zone the past few seasons.  This could be a long first season for rookie Head Coach Todd Haley.

 2.         Oakland Raiders:  You get the feeling that the Raiders won’t turn around the sad state of their franchise until Owner Al Davis either retires or sells the team.  Davis doesn’t seem to have caught up with the times as far with player evaluation and offensive schmes.  He also likes to go through head coaches like George Steinbrenner used to go through managers.  The jury is still out on QB JaMarcus Russell.  We’ll find out soon if the receivers are to blame for his inability to take the next step, or is the blame on him.  The Raiders do have a solid running game with Darren McFadden, Justin Fargas, and Michael Bush, but if they can’t pass the ball, that will only keep the opposing teams at bay for so long.

1.        Detroit Lions:  I actually didn’t want to rank Detroit as the worst team in the NFL (again), but it’s hard to see where more than two or three wins will come from.  The team is going with rookie Matthew Stafford at quarterback, over veteran Daunte Culpepper.  Not sure it matters, as this team just doesn’t have enough skill players on offense or defense to put up much of a fight in games.  RB Kevin Smith is solid and  Calvin Johnson is already a stud, but the Lions need another draft or two before they become relevant again, due to many years of bad drafting.

This post was written by George Kurtz