Sunday Surprises: What ever happened to parity?
“I swear, JaMarcus will throw a touchdown pass before I die.”
Watching this past weekend’s games brought up an issue that’s been irking us like an ass rash: why are so many teams unwatchable? Just a few years ago, almost every game was a hard fought contest…or at least the teams scored touchdowns, unlike the 6–3 Cleveland-Buffalo debacle that we witnessed yesterday afternoon.
Sure, every year there’s a team or two that isn’t exactly setting new standards for gridiron excellence (see ’07 Dolphins, ’08 Lions), but we’ve never had it this bad. The 2009 season has opened with two teams at 0–5, and four others at 1–4. And those singular wins are mostly the result of playing one of the other dreadful teams named above.
The picture looks even bleaker when we put these bottom-feeders in context with the rest of the league. For example, the Giants scored more points this weekend (44) than the Rams have all season long (37), while Derek Anderson — who actually beat out another quarterback for his position — completed only 2 of 17 passes yesterday for 23 yards yet still managed to eke out a win only because he played against a team coached by Dick Jauron.
So what’s a Buccaneers or Chiefs or Rams fan to do as they cross their fingers, hoping that next week’s game won’t be blacked out? Wish we had some advice, but at least Raiders fans can take solace in the fact that Al Davis can’t live that much longer.
Category: Football