Yahoo: Six Teams on the Decline

[Outlaw Torn]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=sixnflplayoffteamsthatmi&prov=tsn&type=lgns

Click for the whole article.

When picking the teams that will make the playoffs in a given year, the so-called experts (as opposed to the so-called idiots, of which I proudly am one) typically play it safe.

They look at the dozen franchises that made it a year ago, and they replace maybe the bottom team in each conference's playoff field with a team that was close to qualifying.

But the reality is that, typically, half of the teams that played in the postseason last year won't be back the next time around.

In 2008, more than half of the 2007 playoff teams didn't return for an encore.

Seven of the 12 franchises didn't qualify again. In the AFC, only two of the six from the year before were bounced; in the NFC, the turnover rate was 83.3 percent as five of the six teams that qualified in 2007 were left holding a big bag of nothing in '08.

for present purposes, we'll assume that six of the teams will make it back and six won't.

Today's challenge? Identifying the six teams that will play only 16 games that count this season.

4. New York Giants

I know, I know. I said last year that the Giants wouldn't follow their Super Bowl title with another playoff appearance.

So maybe, if I say it again, the odds will be in my favor.

This time around, my confidence is bolstered by the fact that the Giants can't consistently move the ball without a high-end wideout like Plaxico Burress(notes). Apart from what he does when he catches the ball, his mere presence opens up the rest of the offense by requiring teams to devote two defenders to him at all times.

So, once he was gone for the year due to an unfortunate incident involving a gun, a bullet and his leg, the Giants weren't the same.

He's now gone for good, and even though rookies Hakeem Nicks(notes) and Ramses Barden(notes) might replace his production, they won't command the same respect that essentially reduces the field to 10-on-9.

[barens2]

Regarding the Giants, I'd say playing in a tough division is going to make it close, but putting the onus on the wide receiver corp is shortsighted, when clearly, the defense should be even better than last year. The receiving corp may be inexperienced, but they don't lack talent, and with the defense giving them lots of opportunities, I'm going to have to say...

Playoffs!!

[BillyKilmer]

I think NY is good squad.

[CPortJGibbs89]

I think NY will be right there battling for the division this year. They draft extremely well. There D-Line is going to have a sick rotation not to mention Osi coming back. They have a bunch of recievers and one could step up and be a # 1 this year. I think they are far from a decline at this point.

[AKM311]

I wouldn't say they are on the decline, but they will not be as dominant as they were the last couple of years.

I think they will have a worse record than last year, but it won't be because they are a worse team.

However, if that o-line streak of starting together ends, they will be in trouble like us. That o-line has been the constant force for them for over 30 games straight.

[HighOnHendrix]

I only skimmed the article, but I agree with all but the Giants. They may or may not win the division, but I'd be surprised if they didn't make the playoffs.

[Inquisitor]

This time around, my confidence is bolstered by the fact that the Giants can't consistently move the ball without a high-end wideout like Plaxico Burress(notes).

This is inaccurate crap, evidenced by the games against the Cardinals, Redskins, Panthers, Seahawks and Vikings.

The only games the Giants offense struggled last year against without Plax was the Cowboys and Eagles, coincidentally (not really) two of the best pass rushing defenses in the NFL. To say in a sweeping fashion that the Giants can't move the ball consistently is silly since we have yet to see what the final product will look like week one. But to say it couldn't move consistently at all last year without Plax is patently false, and lazy writing by Florio once again.

What he should have said was the Giants could not move the ball last year without Plax consistently against elite defenses, that would have been spot on. With the additions of Nicks, Barden and Beckum, and all the other options we have already we'll have to wait and see how our passing offense shapes up. We still have one of the best running games in the league to lean on, and one of the best coaching staffs as well, so I'm pretty confident.

[bubba9497]

The Dallas Cowboys

[HighOnHendrix]

The Dallas Cowboys

Not bad, King B.

[Tom [Giants fan]]

How good or great the Giants are will depend on how fast Nicks gets it. Barden simply has to jump for the ball so I don't think there is much working with him. It is obvious why they drafted him. But Nicks has a lot of potential and they say he is NFL ready.

If one or both of these guys are ready quickly, this guy will be eating his words again because the rest of the team is solid.

[Big Blue Joe]

Same story, different year. Two years ago the Giants couldn't win without Tiki Barber. Last season they couldn't win without Osi and Strahan. This year it's Plax. By the law of averages, I guess one of these days the media might actually be right about this crap.

[HighOnHendrix]

Same story, different year. Two years ago the Giants couldn't win without Tiki Barber. Last season they couldn't win without Osi and Strahan. This year it's Plax. By the law of averages, I guess one of these days the media might actually be right about this crap.

Same strategy the anti-whoever-the-Redskins'-current-QB-is crowd uses to clamor for the backup in perpetuity.

[Warhead36]

Giants are fairly young at most positions and are still strong up front. They will contend.

[dizzinator53]

Same story, different year. Two years ago the Giants couldn't win without Tiki Barber. Last season they couldn't win without Osi and Strahan. This year it's Plax. By the law of averages, I guess one of these days the media might actually be right about this crap.

Well they certainly didn't win any big games last year without Plax.

[Big Blue Joe]

Well they certainly didn't win any big games last year without Plax.

Really? They beat the Redskins(a division rival), the eventual NFC Champions, and clinched the #1 seed in week 16 by beating the #2 seed Carolina Panthers. What games qualify as big games to you?

[stickyshooZ]

I don't see the Giants slowing down at all. They are a relatively young team. If Nicks pans out, they'll be even more deadly. They're already stacked at RB, DL, LB, OL and have a QB that can get the job done.

I expect things will be more difficult for Miami, but they're still a good team because they do the fundamentals well.

The AFC west is still a cluster****, so it would not surprise me if the Chargers walk away with the division. The only real rival is Denver. KC is still rebuilding and Oakland is Oakland.

[Vicious]

I don't think the Giants are on the decline.. If they are going to decline, it's not going to be by much. They'll still have a similar team that won the super bowl.

[Laron Burgundy]

I actually kinda agree with him on the giants. With no Plax, defenses can concentrate more against their running game. With their running game in check, eli will have more problems as a qb. And I'd like to see how their d looks with a new d coordinator. They'll probably still make the playoffs but I bet their offense is a lot worse than last year.

Chargers, meanwhile, have got to be a joke. There is no way they don't win their division. Perhaps he forgets that the Chargers should have been 9-7 last year with the Broncos at 7-9. One thing to look at is when a team's net points is vastly off from their record. Broncos, even with Cutler, were -78. Chargers were +92, both were 8-8. Chargers had the net points of an 11-5 team, and that's probably the record they'll have next year. Broncos were on par with most 5-11 teams, and the other teams in their division were WORSE. Of course, that assumes that no team gets better or worse during an offseason. Oakland got Lorenzo Neal, Denver lost Cutler but got some defensive players, and Kansas City picked up Cassel. San Diego is getting Merriman back. Nobody will compete with the Chargers in their division.

[Dead Money]

I really think that the vaGiants will change their offense a little to suit their wide outs. Steve Smith steps up even more this year and they've got plenty of talent there with Tyree, Hixon, Maningham, Moss and now Nicks... Looks like we'll never know how average Eli is with a bunch of weapons like that to throw to. Nobody there screams doubleteam like the old chuck & duck duo of Eli to Plex, but the run game is solid and they commit to it, while they always seem to find ways to spread the ball around while their defense get them the ball back all the time.

The key to winning in the East is spreading the ball around. McNugget always founda way to do it even with Freddy Mitchell as his go to guy and the Cowboys always get contributions from people like Crayton and Austin that make them balanced.

The Redskins of course, will continue to toil in anonymity if they can't spread the ball around to anyone other than Moss, Cooley and Portis on the regular basis.

[sens11]

It's easy to put the Giants on this list because of the loss of Plax. His loss starts to make them one dimensional.

I doubt they will decline as their defense is certainly going to be better.

I agree with Bubby.. I think the Cowboys are way on the decline.

[Pocono]

Cowboys decline? Decline from what?

As for the Giants if a team loses players that made up 40% of their O yardage wise it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect a decline when they've added nothing but rookies to their O. At WR I think it's great they added two players whose first names[Akeem and Ramses] sound like a tag-team from the IWF[islamic Wrestling Federation- Today Today come see Akeem and Ramses square off against Abdul and Mohammad in Jihadmania III] but who knows what they'll do when they hit the field. I still don't understand if you want your son to play football and name him Ramses after a condom why you don't make him an OLM whose job it is to see nothing bad developes from penetration.

Earlier in a detailed analysis one Giant poster said all Barden has to do is jump for the ball. Well if you want someone who can get up there perhaps we can broker a three-way deal where the Eagles get Tuck and the 76ers send Sameul Dalembert to the Giants and the Sixers... well they get to get rid of Dalembert. If all it takes to replace Burris is someone tall who can jump then he'd be perfect for the Giants.

[Big Blue Joe]

Earlier in a detailed analysis one Giant poster said all Barden has to do is jump for the ball. Well if you want someone who can get up there perhaps we can broker a three-way deal where the Eagles get Tuck and the 76ers send Sameul Dalembert to the Giants and the Sixers... well they get to get rid of Dalembert. If all it takes to replace Burris is someone tall who can jump then he'd be perfect for the Giants.

I'm curious. Could you provide a quote in this thread where anyone said Barden was going to replace Plax by himself this year?

[Pocono]

I'm curious. Could you provide a quote in this thread where anyone said Barden was going to replace Plax by himself this year?

"How good or great the Giants are will depend on how fast Nicks gets it. Barden simply has to jump for the ball so I don't think there is much working with him. It is obvious why they drafted him. But Nicks has a lot of potential and they say he is NFL ready."

So the question is why does Tom want the 6'6" Barden to jump and why is it obvious why they drafted this 6'6" person "to jump for the ball" and who else in the Giants recent past was about 6' 6" and jumped for the ball quite well. My guess is Tom doesn't want Barden to "jump for the ball" in the bench area or to come in after someone else scores as sort of a designated "dunk" the ball over the goalpost celebrator because it would surely draw a flag so I'm guessing that Tom wants Barden to jump for the ball in situations where Burris used to jump for the ball. As for replacing some of the other things Plax brought to the table like being a flawed human being or shooting himself in the leg I don't think Tom has any wish or expectation that Barden should emulate Plax in those areas.............So do you want Dalembert or no?.....act now and we'll throw in a book of Asante's greatest twitters.....absolutely free o charge.

[Mickalino]

It's easy to put the Giants on this list because of the loss of Plax. His loss starts to make them one dimensional.

No, they did quite well without him last year.

[sens11]

No, they did quite well without him last year.

For a 12-4 team I won't argue. As mentioned in my prior post, their defense immediately produces offensive opportunities.

Except he did play for them last year. Actually had 35 grabs and 4 tds.

For me it was rather evident that he was missed. Probably no more evident than the playoff game against the Eagles.