The namesake of this feature is pretty good, no? With the help of the future high draft pick, LSU’s national championship hopes ended. McFadden looks like he may be the kind of game-changing player one of the crappy teams on this list (except the 49ers, who apparently want the Patriots to get more Lombardi trophies than them) need to turn things around quickly. And help can’t come soon enough. Let’s get to it:
Miami Dolphins (0-11)
The good news: With the horrendous field conditions, the Miami Dolphins had a real chance to steal a win against the Steelers, still reeling from a loss at the hands of the Jets.
The bad news: They blew that chance and lost 3-0 in one of the most awesome bad games ever. Yeah, I’m a pretty sad individual.
Outlook: Well, barring more help down the line from incompetent groundskeepers and Mother Nature, their best shot to get a win comes next week with a home game against the not-quite-as-hopeless Jets. And by home game, I mean “in their building, even if 75 percent of the fans are transplanted Jets fans”. There may be more Jets fans at Dolphins Stadium than were at the Steelers game in the Meadowlands.
New York Jets (2-9)
The good news: There’s no shame in losing to the Cowboys.
The bad news: Unless it’s on Thanksgiving Day in front of the entire nation.
Outlook: Eric Mangini’s motivational speech: “Don’t be those guys, Jets. Don’t be the guys who lost to the Dolphins.”
St. Louis Rams (2-9)
The good news: Played division leader Seattle tough and had a chance to win the game after QB Marc Bulger got hurt.
The bad news: They blew their chance to win the game at the goal line when backup QB Gus Frerotte did his impersonation of an incompetent porn star and pulled out from center too early, dropping the snap and ending the play in rather depressing fashion.
Outlook: As long as Steven Jackson stays healthy, they have a chance not to be (totally)embarrassing down the stretch.
Atlanta Falcons (3-8)
The good news: The game was on NFL Network, so unless you have DirecTV or went to a bar on Thanksgiving night (and come on, how sad is that!), no one saw another Falcon loss.
The bad news: College football coaches are dropping like flies, meaning a new distraction for coach Bobby Petrino, who will be linked to half these job openings. One of them is up the street from the Georgia Dome, and that can’t help.
Outlook: No longer embarassingly bad, but not good, the next time you will hear from the Falcons is likely the inevitable “Michael Vick is spending Christmas in jail” stories.
(tie) Bay Area Badness (3-8)
The good news: VICTORY!!!!! Herman Edwards helped out the Raiders with a strange fourth-and-1 call en route to a 20-17 win, their first divisional win since Jay Schroeder was quarterback. The Niners somehow scored 31 points to get to overtime against the Cardinals, patiently waited for Kurt Warner to drop a ball in the end zone, landed on it, and were winners.
The bad news: The area college teams aren’t doing so hot either. Stanford lost to Notre Dame (at home!), embarrassing themselves and destroying USC’s claims on being the best 2-loss team in the country. Cal was once number two, now they just play like it.
Outlook: Um, the Warriors just had a pretty decent East Coast swing!
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