HO! HO! HUM!!
How could commissioner Goodell and his cohorts miss this opportunity of a lifetime? Today they could have shown a national television audience the winless Detroit Lions at Green Bay where the current temperature is 16 degrees and where they are under a winter storm advisory. Just think of how much it would warm the hearts of hapless Americans to watch what many are calling the worst team in NFL history. No matter what your personal situation you would have to think better of yourself after watching the toothless Lions set the all time record for NFL futility and suffer a case of frostbite to boot. Does anyone else remember which NFL team was the only one to go undefeated during the preseason this year and outscore their competition 80 to 32? Yes, you got it. These same Lions!! What better proof could there be to eliminate the NFL preseason?
The Lions are a minus 8 in turnovers which is only one of their many problems. Believe it or not the Rams are a minus 8 as well and there are three teams in double digit negative turnover situations: the Texans (-10), the Broncos (-15) and the 49ers (-17). If you don’t believe turnovers decide the majority of NFL games lets compare the win-loss records of these five squads with the five teams at the opposite end of the spectrum.
WINS LOSSES
St Louis 2 13
Detroit 0 15
Houston 7 8
Denver 8 7
San Francisco 6 9
23-52 (31%) now that is a whole lot of losing. It is hard to believe that the Broncos are still in the hunt for a playoff spot but if they turn the ball over this weekend like they have all season than the Chargers will make quick work of dashing their post season dreams.
Now let’s look at the top five turnover ratios in the NFL and their combined records:
Team Turnover Ratio Wins Losses
Titans +14 13 2
Dolphins +14 10 5
Colts + 9 11 4
Ravens + 9 10 5
Giants + 8 12 3
56-19 (75%) winners. So the proof is in the pudding (Christmas or otherwise) turn the ball over and you lose hang on to it and you win and probably go to the playoffs. Now if the Lions can do the latter on Sunday maybe just maybe they can avoid NFL infamy!! Thanks for listening and let’s chat next Friday.
Stat of the Day: Since 1980 of the 50 teams going undefeated during the preseason 30 (60%) made the Playoffs.