The NFC West is 6-22 outside of the division. The record since the merger for worst record outside the division is 13-27 (.325 winning percentage). The NFC West is in all likelihood going to shatter that record. The National League divisions you mention never had 3/4 of their teams being anywhere near as bad as San Fransisco, Seattle, and St. Louis are in this year's NFC West. Arizona is a better team than some of the division winners in those National League divisions, but they're still not as good as their record would indicate, and the NFC West as a whole is still exuding craptacular suckitude at heretofore unseen rates.
Well, winning/losing percentages tend to be much more extreme in football than in baseball. That said, there were one or two years where it looked like the NL West "champion" might not even break .500. At this point it would take a really Cardinals-worthy collapse for Arizona to wind up at 8-8. Part of Arizona's weakness is Kurt Warner. He just seems to have a knack for losing the football, doesn't he. Other than that, he's great. I fear Bulger has simply had the stuffing beaten out of him. It's probably a chore for him to go in there each week and get smashed around like he's a tackling dummy. If we had some proper QB protection, consistently, and he were allowed to get his confidence and concentration back (as has happened with Warner, I imagine), I think he'd perform much better. Only a scrambler could hope to do well with the Rams' offensive blocking the way it is. If the Rams' OL could actually block and the defense could actually tackle, the team would be SO much better. Probably not "Good", but those are the two main fundamental problems, I think.
Throwing a challenge flag with 3:39 left and your team up by 37 might be the biggest dick move I've ever seen a coach make.
The Lions may suck, but it's tradition. When I was knee high to a grasshopper having Thanksgiving dinner over at Grandma and Grampa's in Auburn, WA, the Detroit Lions were on the TV getting their asses kicked. When I was deployed to Keflavik, Iceland in VP-5, the squadron ate a big turkey dinner and watched the Lions get their asses kicked on Armed Forces TV. Today, I sit in Boise, Idaho on Thanksgiving day and watch the Titans plant their foot squarely in Detroit's ass. There is some comfort in knowing that at some point in the future, lying on my deathbed and sucking my turkey-flavored gums on Thanksgiving day, the Detroit Lions will be on the holovid getting their asses kicked. Thanksgiving Day Detroit Lions Suckage- from cradle to grave. Life ought to have at least that much consistency to it, shouldn't it?
Looks like it turned out that there weren't any football games yesterday. And about those Cardinals . . .
Not only am I annoyed because my opponent in my need to win to clinch a bye fantasy league has both McNabb and Chris Johnson, but that Card-Eagles game should have been so much closer. Fault the Cardinals because their defense sucks and they have trouble running the ball, but all year they didn't have the dropsies. There were some horrible drops and that back breaking 4th quarter fumble that blew this game away. The other two games went as expected.
Part of that record being so bad is that the West is terrible and is coupled with drawing the East divisions this year. Not only are both East divisions very good top to bottom, but you add in the having to travel cross country which has never yeilded good results. This year I think it's epicly bad with everybody west of and including Denver being 0 fer going to the Eastern time zone.
The AFC East is okay-to-good from top to bottom. Except for one game by the Jets, the division hasn't had much in the way of impressive out-of-division victories. They're a bunch of 8-8 or 9-7 teams playing really easy schedules against the AFC and NFC West divisions; their out-of-division schedule looks almost as easy as Arizona's in division schedule. The NFC East is a genuinely strong division, although Dallas and Washington are distinctly overrated and the real difference the NFC East has with the AFC East is the Giants. The Rams are a historically bad team that's going to be outscored by 300+ points by the time the season is over. How they managed to win two games will perplex statisticians from now 'till eternity. Seattle and San Fransisco are run-of-the-mill stinkers, the kind you expect at most one of in your division. The Cardinals' out-of-division schedule is somewhat tough, but they're spotted what should be a 6-0 in division. They, like most of the AFC and NFC East, are an 8-8 or 9-7 team that's going to win one or two more games than they should because of an easy schedule. They're not a bad team, but they're a team that would be at best borderline for the playoffs if schedules were better balanced, and they're not nearly good enough to rescue the NFC west from being the worst division ever.
I think the 8-8 broncos hosting the 12-4 or 11-5 Colts in the first round of the playoffs will be worse than the whatever happens wit the NFC West. I subscribe to the bill simmons school of you have to win atleast 10 games to host a playoff game.
I think he's gone. If for no other reason because he's a big salary cap hit next year. If he was a popular, well-liked quarterback that had won a championship, he might be able to stay, but he hasn't and he won't, IMHO.
Now what's really interesting is that "St. Louis Rams" is an anagram for "ass turmoils." That explains a lot, really.
So Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg in a nightclub. Now that there's a reason to point and laugh at Giants fans, the season is complete.
I watched CBS' pregame show. They unanimously predicted the Jets to beat Denver, and Boomer said he doesn't expect the Jets to lose any of the rest of the season. Hope he's right.
