The 2024 NFL regular season has come to the point where lots of folks are beginning to make “playoff projections”. The season is not quite half finished, and a few teams seem to be separating from the field and folks are quick to focus on them and their assets. Here in Curmudgeon Central, it is SOP to look at situations through the other side of the telescope and that is what I propose to do here.
As a rough cut, the 32 NFL teams fall into 3 categories this morning:
- Certified Playoff Contenders – – barring catastrophic injuries
- Not Quite Good Enough
- Les Miserables
Fourteen teams will make the playoffs this year; so, a couple of the “Not Quite Good Enough” teams will sneak in. None of Les Miserables are going to do that; the value of the teams in Les Miserables is that they allow the league to perpetuate the idea of “on any given Sunday…” whenever they rise up and win a surprising game. I want to subdivide the Les Miserables category today into 3 sub-categories:
- The Merely Bad
- The Incompetent
- The Disastrous
There are two teams in the Merely Bad sub-category:
- Raiders: When you have to sign Desmond Ridder off a rival’s practice squad because your two starting QBs weren’t getting it done, you are in deep yogurt.
- Jags: They do not have a QB problem; they have a defensive deficiency; they give up almost 28 points per game – – worst in the AFC.
There are three teams in the Incompetent sub-category:
- Browns: When your starting QB goes out for the year and many folks believe that is a positive occurrence for your team, that team is incompetent.
- Giants: They score an average of 14 points per game; the OL is awful; they only have one real offensive threat, and the defense is merely good not great.
- Titans: Their young QB has shown a propensity to give the ball away at the most inopportune moments. [Aside: I considered putting the Titans in the bottom rung here; if that is your assessment, I will not argue vociferously.]
There are two teams in the Disastrous sub-category:
- Pats: How the mighty have fallen … No offense, rookie head coach, defense gives up 25 points per game. Fans should be ecstatic if the season ends with a 4-13 record.
- Panthers: Ugly, ugly, ugly … The defense has given up almost 35 points per game and the offense is as sharp as a bowling ball. They cannot go winless for the season because they already won a game, but 2-15 appears to be the best outcome possible.
Fans of some of the teams above might wonder why teams like the Saints, the Dolphins and the Jets escape placement in Les Miserables.
- The Jets are not going to make the playoffs, but they are better and more talented than the teams listed here.
- The Dolphins may get Tua back to play QB for a half-dozen games and when he is the QB, the Dolphins are better than the teams listed here.
- The Saints are indeed 2-5 on the season, but their point differential is only minus-3; they have shown flashes of competency that seem to elude the teams listed here.
Switching gears … The NBA regular season began last night; it will draw almost no interest until Christmas when it gets some minor attention; then, in late February and March people will begin to follow various teams closely. Nevertheless, there were a couple of statistical happenings from last night worthy of passing attention:
- LeBron James and his son, Bronny, appeared in a game together. That is the first time that has happened in NBA history.
- LeBron James broke the NBA all-time record for missed field goals in a career. [Guess who held the record prior to last night. Answer below …]
- The Celtics tied an NBA record for three-point field goals made in a game with 29. In order to do that, the Celtics attempted 61 three-point shots…
- Aside: The Knicks attempted 30 three-point shots in the game with the Celtics meaning there were 91 long-range shots tried in 48 minutes of play. Do the math…]
Finally, I’ll close with this from LeBron James:
“You can’t be afraid to fail. It’s the only way you succeed – you’re not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
The answer from above is that LeBron James broke Kobe Bryant’s record for most field goals missed in an NBA career.