Which 0-2 team will make the playoffs?

[Tk3]

Since 1990, only 11.6% of 0-2 teams have made the playoffs. That number will probably go up in the future now that we have 2 extra playoff teams, but odds are that in a given season only 0 or 1 of these teams will accomplish it. Who is it this year

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Colts have the most winnable division. Titans/Jags/Texans are all either average or bad teams. Plenty of time for the Colts to turn it around.

[Tk3]

It's probably none of the above - but I chose the Vikings. They lost by 3 points and by 1 point, both on the road

Green Bay runs away with the division, but I think the Vikings can still get 3 or 4 wins out of the division. Might leave them a 2020 Bears-esque slot to sneak in the 7 seed

[iknowcool]

If the Cowboys don't play up to their potential, then the Giants probably have the best chance.  I wouldn't expect WFT or Philly to play consistent ball all year.

Colts probably have the best roster for making a run, if they can get competent QB play.  But who knows how likely that is if Wentz can't stay healthy.

Falcons look broken.  Lions just don't have the high-end talent.  Jags, nah.  Jets, nah.  Maybe the Vikings, but that defense has been bad for awhile now.

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by iknowcool

[SBLIII]

Vikings

[biggie.]

8 minutes ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

Colts have the most winnable division. Titans/Jags/Texans are all either average or bad teams. Plenty of time for the Colts to turn it around.

They have too big of a QB ? right now. TEN is winning that division.

Both of MIN's losses were heartbreakers, so I'll pick them.

Edited September 22, 2021 by biggie.

[Mr Raider]

I don't believe any of them do. 

But of the possible choices I would say the Colts I find most likely. By quite a large margin. 

And based off of my preseason predictions I had them as 9-8 I believe, and the first or second team outside the playoffs in the AFC. Although admittedly I had the Titans as a 13-4 or 12-5 team, and while they are 1-1, they easily could be 0-2 and haven't looked great. But I still think they win the division somewhat easily. They have the best QB currently, they the reigning OPOY and my pick to repeat in Henry that they run through, and one of the very best WR cores in the game. The defense was bad last year, and certainly hasn't looked good to start. But there's a lot of new pieces on that side of the ball, and I expect them to get better as the season goes on. The Colts OL has been nowhere near as good as years past, compound that with one of the most injury prone starting QBs in the league, in their first year together, and a defense that was really solid last season that has been absolutely carved up in their first two games letting wide receivers run wild, and it's hard to see them doing enough to actually end up in the playoffs. And that is the team I think has the best shot. I'd give them like a 25-30% chance of winning the division and making the playoffs currently, and that is the only way they are getting in IMO. 

Next likely would be the Vikings. They have looked both really good, and really poor through the first 2 games. They could easily be 2-0 if they make the 37 yard FG against the Cardinals, and they had opportunities to beat Cincy as well. I actually think it's worse for their team to lose in the fashion they have these two weeks. Had they been beat in a games they shouldn't have won at the end or werent super close it may have been easier to move forward. I listed Zimmer as one of my top candidates to be the first coach fired this year. Not because I think he's a bad coach. He's not. You could do a lot worse than him. But because he has been there a very long time and while they have had some high highs, they have also had some low lows. And they have been trending in the wrong direction in recent years. I worry the message has gotten stale. That he is in danger of losing the locker room. And to have another kicker cost you a game against a tough opponent like that it can be tough on morale. If they lost in a different way, they could chalk it up to the Cardinals being a hot team, and a very tough week 2 matchup for a team and defense coming off a down year trying to rebound. It's going to be up to Zimmer to turn 2 really close, heart breaking losses into motivation that the team is close and to keep fighting and things will start to break their way.

It may be a little different if Zimmer wasn't supposed to be a high end defensive coach because the offense has looked good. But the defense has been an issue he hasn't been able to rebuild for a couple years. The good news is they are not without things they can point to and feel good about as a team, and they are far from out of it. They can look to the things they have done well. And they can look at their division and see that the Packers who were expected to dominate the division are 1-1 with an absolutely terrible loss to a Saints team that didn't look great week 2, and were trailing a very poor Lions team at half. Ultimately I think they have a 10-15% chance. But I admit I could be way off on this and said before the season the Vikings were one of the teams I struggled most with to predict their season. I think they could be a 10-7 team or a 5-12 team. I think I landed at like 6-11 so that's likely a huge factor. 

After that I would likely have the order from most to least likely as the Giants (5-10% chance), Falcons (1-5% chance), Lions (3% chance), Jaguars (3% chance), Jets (1% chance). I thought the Giants would be an 8 or 9 win team before the season, but I think I completely missed on them. The OL is still terrible. Barkley doesn't look himself. And Judge hasn't inspired a ton of confidence so far. All three teams in their division look like they have their issues, but they all clearly look better than the Giants. Still their division not being murders row and having a little more talent than the other teams keep them above the other 3 teams. 

The rest I never thought they had any chance at all before the season started. The Falcons defense is just awful, they have no consistent running game, and they weren't going to take the division from the Bucs, I had the Saints as a 10 win wild card team, and the Panthers are improved. The Jets, Lions, and Jaguars were never making the playoffs this year, and this season isn't really about that. They should be trying to do everything to get the most out of Lawrence and Wilson and see progress over the course of the year. The Lions just don't have the talent to compete. But of the bottom tier teams in my eyes in the NFL in terms of talent I have been most impressed by the Lions and Texans. The Lions just aren't very good, but for a team lacking talent at basically every level I think they are playing hard, and are showing some real positives in areas you want to see when you are starting a total rebuild. They should be focusing on player development, putting in systems, and establishing a culture, and then build from there next season and beyond. And so far, I can see some of that through 2 games, but the real tell will be if that stuff is still visible in the second half of the season when they haven't won many or any games and the players just want the season to be over. 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Mr Raider

[Wyld Stallyns]

14 minutes ago, biggie. said:

They have too big of a QB ? right now. TEN is winning that division.

Technically the Texans are in first place because they are 1-0 in the division. 😂

It’s possible Wentz misses this next game but I think the Colts are overplaying the sprain to push the is he/isn’t he playing discussion while he rests it. And he was playing on the one sprain for half the game before spraining the other ankle so that one isn’t necessarily a problem. 
The only OL on the injury report was Braden Smith so 4/5 were full practice today, which hasn’t been common for the Colts lately. 

[biggie.]

7 minutes ago, Wyld Stallyns said:

Technically the Texans are in first place because they are 1-0 in the division. 😂

It’s possible Wentz misses this next game but I think the Colts are overplaying the sprain to push the is he/isn’t he playing discussion while he rests it. And he was playing on the one sprain for half the game before spraining the other ankle so that one isn’t necessarily a problem. 
The only OL on the injury report was Braden Smith so 4/5 were full practice today, which hasn’t been common for the Colts lately. 

Houston is done without Tyrod Taylor.

Idk how badly his ankles are sprained, but those take forever to heal completely.

[Blackstar12]

31 minutes ago, Mr Raider said:

 The Colts OL has been nowhere near as good as years past, compound that with one of the most injury prone starting QBs in the league, in their first year together,

Yep I don’t know if Kelly is still dealing with a Elbow injury but if he just would’ve blocked a tiny bit better that’s a TD. Wentz tbh has been better than I expected and not the reason they’re 0-2.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Blackstar12

[Mr Raider]

11 minutes ago, Blackstar12 said:

Yep I don’t know if Kelly is still dealing with a Elbow injury but if he just would’ve blocked a tiny bit better that’s a TD. Wentz tbh hasn’t been that bad and better than I expected and not the reason they’re 0-2.

 

 

Oh I agree. I live here in Indy, and I understood why the Colts made the move, they simply didn't have a lot of alternate routes to a potential franchise QB. Either through the draft or in free agency/trade. Obviously Wentz was no guarantee to be that either, but he at least at shown in the past to be that, is still young, and in terms of the money you were only going to be committed to him for a year, 2 maybe if you don't want to eat the 15 million or whatever it is dead cap wise next year. For a 3rd and a conditional second that could become a single first for that guy when you have a team that was in the playoffs the past year, with a potential all pro RB, good enough weapons, a top 5 OL, and a defense that was a top 10 unit last season that is a gamble you probably have to take. So I absolutely understood why the Colts made the move. It made sense. And if my job was potentially on the line and I had built up that type of team and really only needed to solve the QB problem to have a chance at a playoff run, it's hard to argue with the move because the avenues to finding a franchise guy with a late first round pick being pretty small, and the chances of finding one in free agency being non existent. 

However, I still was only 50/50 on it. I understood it, and thought it likely was the right moved based on what was possible/what you would have to give up vs the potential pay off for the Colts specifically. I have never been the biggest Carson Wentz believer. I liked him more than Goff that year, but I still thought he was a project. I don't love his accuracy, I don't love his awareness when it comes to protecting himself and his body and knowing when to live to fight another down, I would have significant worry trading for a guy that has had that extensive of an injury history. From the knee that forced him out long term, but even it seems like he was consistently banged up with something even when he did play. I have been of the belief that 2017 was a fantastic year, he was great, but everything suggests that 2017 is the exception and not the rule for the QB you get consistently. Maybe its been injuries, or a worse supporting case, coaching got worse, a mix, who knows, but outside of that year where he was exceptional his career suggests that he is going to be a low 60% completion guy, throw for 3500-4000 yards, 20-25 TDs, and 10-15 picks over the course of a 16 game season. 

That is ok production. You could certainly do a lot worse. But that is typically the type of production you are getting that leaves you constantly questioning whether you can realistically upgrade it. Now the thing is though, if you didn't have some or all of those questions about a QB that is still 28 years old when attempting to trade for him you are going to be hung up on or have to give up significantly more than a 2nd/1st and a third. In the end if I was making the call for the Colts, if Matt Stafford were a realistic option, if giving up exactly what the Rams gave up would have brought him to Indy instead of LA I would have made that move instead. I've always been a huge Stafford believer. But the cost would have been significantly more. Prior to last year there was some rumblings about the Colts looking into trying to trade for Derek Carr, and I told my buddy that if the Colts were able to make that move I would legitimately consider them a real threat to win the AFC. You won't find a bigger Derek Carr supporter lol. I thought he would be a fantastic fit in Indy with your guys OL, weapons, defense, and playing home games indoors. The cost for him would have been much closer to Stafford than Wentz IMO, but it would have been worth it in my eyes. But obviously neither of those happened, and it's hard to picture what other real options could have been out there for them that could provide the same potential benefit when weighed against the cost. 

ALL of that being said, I agree. Through 2 games Wentz hasn't been the problem. He wasn't great against the Rams, but he wasn't terrible. He seemed to have good command of the offense, he was accurate, he was finding a nice balance between short and down the field, and looked athletic and still has a strong arm. But yet most of the reasons I liked him going to the Colts more than any other destination that may have been possible are the things that have held the entire team back. The OL that has been so good in pass protection and opening up holes for Taylor last year has just been bad. Like really bad. Even when Wentz wasn't getting sacked he was getting hit regularly. And the defense that I thought would be good enough to maybe allow Carson to play within himself and not try to do too much to get the most out of him has been getting absolutely destroyed for large stretches. And unfortunately an OL that is getting the QB hit a ton, pressured, and sacked with such frequency is bad for any QB but it's almost worst for Wentz out of any QB in the league because of how easily he suffers injuries anymore. And now that has already begun, with 2 ankle injuries I'm not sure it's realistic to expect it to get better quickly.

How has Eason looked in the preseason? And what were the rumblings about him in camp this year? Are you hopeful at all that he may be able to come out and play lights out? If the OL and defense get it together he's coming into the same potential strong surroundings environment Carson was supposed to. Or have signs pointed to that being super unlikely to this point? 

[MWil23]

1 hour ago, Tk3 said:

It's probably none of the above - but I chose the Vikings. They lost by 3 points and by 1 point, both on the road

Green Bay runs away with the division, but I think the Vikings can still get 3 or 4 wins out of the division. Might leave them a 2020 Bears-esque slot to sneak in the 7 seed

They were my pick as well.

[Turnobili]

if i had to pick one it would be the Giants. worst division. Jones isn't playing all that poorly. Saquon is trending in the right direction.

[FrantikRam]

Colts for sure. Aside from probably being the best on this list, they also had to play the Seahawks and Rams first two weeks. Tough draw.

[NoFlyZone]

The Vikings are much better than their record indicates. Really should have beaten Arizona last Sunday. The Vikings might actually be the best team in their division.