There are zombies in the NFL. With Week 5 of the 2013-14 NFL season in the books, there are four teams without a win and a nasty virus is rapidly starting to suck the life out of the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings. Among ‘The Walking Dead’ are the New York Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Which NFL Players/Teams Are Walking Dead this 2013/2014 Season?
New York Giants…
Big Blue is not only wearing blue, but feeling blue this year.
No team has been a bigger surprise – or disappointment – than the New York Giants, who have gone from potential Super Bowl contenders to playoff long shots in five weeks. The once-vaunted New York defense has allowed a league-high 10 passing touchdowns, is surrendering more than 120 rushing yards per game and has allowed the most points in the NFL with 36.3 opponent points-per-game.
Eli Manning
While big brother Peyton is setting the NFL ablaze with the Broncos, Eli Manning is perhaps most emblematic of an 0-5 Giants team that seems broken from front to back on both sides of the ball. It doesn’t help that he’s playing behind the NFL’s worst offensive line but the younger Manning’s numbers through five games are alarming — a league-leading 12 interceptions, 15 sacks and a 53.7 completion percentage. Eli has never been the best statistical quarterback — his strength has always been in his ability to get things done when the spotlights are brightest — but he won’t have too many important games this season if things keep on like this.
Houston Texans…
The Houston Texans have been offensively uneven since the start of the season, and they can blame quarterback Matt Schaub for much of that. Schaub has nine interceptions against eight touchdowns through the first five games. His latest outing against the 49ers wasn’t pretty. His awful game includes three interceptions, zero touchdowns and a shut down in the fourth quarter.
The Texans have lost three straight games after winning the first two, by the slimmest of margins. In fact, they could have easily go 0-5 if not for late-game collapses by San Diego and Tennessee. The heralded Texans defense has been maddeningly inconsistent. Wade Phillips’ squad is terrible in its pass defense, allowing 141.0 passing yards per game, the most in the NFL. It’s been the same way with the offense, as All-Pros Andre Johnson and Arian Foster have failed to do much damage through the five games.
The Houston Texans re-upped quarterback Matt Schaub with a five-year, $66.5 million extension in September 2012, but the veteran hasn’t lived up to those rich dollars. Everybody’s frustrated with Houston’s limited passing game, and in the 34-3 loss to the 49ers, he became a victim of a pick-six for the fourth straight game, an NFL record.
Schaub has nine interceptions against eight touchdowns through the first five games. Perhaps most distressingly, opposing defenses are quite open about how easy it is to decipher Houston’s route concepts. This isn’t all Schaub’s fault, but it’s a bad start for a team many expected to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
Atlanta Falcons…
We’ll say it simply: the Atlanta Falcons are a mess right now.
In a season where they have Super Bowl aspirations and expectations, they are not even playoff contenders at this point. Even though injuries have piled up against them, there should be no excuses for a team that has Matt Ryan, Roddy White, Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez, especially when together, they went 13-3 last season.
So far this year, the 1-4 Falcons still had trouble moving the ball in the red zone and in short-yardage situations, the offensive line offered little protection for Ryan, the defensive front seven got little to no pressure to their opponents.
With the availability of their running back still in question, an abysmal defense and the fact they are competing in a division with the 5-0 Saints, it would be next to impossible for the Falcons to even make the playoffs.
Minnesota Vikings…
Adrian Peterson can only do so much.
Defenses have now focused on the reigning NFL MVP whenever they go up against the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikes have struggled this year at 1-3 after making the playoffs last year off Peterson’s historic season. Their off-season provided more weapons around the best running back in the game.
Unfortunately, everything they had hoped for have not yet panned out due to inconsistencies from their quarterbacks and the porous secondary defense. They ranked 23rd in passing yards and 29th in opponent passing yards. The QB situation has become a drama between Christian Ponder and Matt Cassel and it became more complicated now that the Vikings signed former Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.
Let’s see how the QB situation will work out and how they can move away from a one-dimensional offense. But they have to do it soon if they want to compete in the deep NFC North.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers…
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a hot mess. Clearly, the organization has taken a hit with the Josh Freeman saga. The Bucs quickly became a train wreck under power-hungry head coach Greg Schiano, starting this season 0-4, and possibly losing his locker room in the process by benching a talented quarterback for a rookie.
However, Mike Glennon simply cannot provide high scoring for a slumping offense, which only has 44 points since Week 1
Plus, here’s a nice question: where’s Doug Martin? He had his 144 rushing yard game against New Orleans but only has 198 more in his other three games with a three game touchdown drought.
They have a bye to figure out their problems and then face one of the worse ranked defenses in Week 6 (vs. Eagles).
Still can’t see this team making a 10-2 run for a playoff spot though.
Josh Freeman
The ugly feud between Josh Freeman and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano ended in the quarterback’s release. Neither man will come out of this looking good — Freeman has missed meetings and played poorly, while Schiano comes off as a guy who burned the ground just to get his own quarterback (rookie Mike Glennon) on the field.
The 25-year-old signal-caller will get another chance with the Minnesota Vikings and a wide-open competition for the team’s starting job.
Washington Redskins…
The Washington Redskins are hoping they could continue their momentum after winning against the Raiders last week. Fortunately for them, the weak NFC East is still wide open despite being 1-3.
Other than that, they have been horrible. RG3 is still recovering from his knee injury, although he is doing fine. Alfred Morris, last year’s second leading rusher, has been inconsistent. The team’s running game has gone average after leading the league in that aspect last year. Worst of all, the defense has been putrid.
Here’s a rundown of their defense:
440.5 yards allowed – 31st in league
298.3 opponent passing yards – 25th
142.3 opponent rushing yards – 31st
28.0 points allowed – 25th
92 first-downs allowed – 27th
Here’s to wishing their nickname controversy ends.
Pittsburgh Steelers…
This is such a big surprise. A team so prestigious can’t possibly find themselves out of a playoff run so early – right?
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger recently declared his team the worst in the league. And while that distinction belongs firmly to Jacksonville, Big Ben isn’t far off. Pittsburgh has struggled throughout its four-game opening skid and are 0-4 for the first time in over four decades.
Pittsburgh has been gashed on the ground. Their running game has been slow and ineffective, rushing for the fourth-least rushing yards. It’s surrendering the fourth-most rushing yards in the NFL and its six touchdowns against are a league worst.
The offensive line is hurting with starting center Pouncey injured and their running game finally decided to show up. To make things worse, all of their AFC North rivals are 3-2 as they sat on their bye week watching the Ravens, Browns and Bengals win.
At least, the city of Pittsburgh can turn to their baseball team for comfort.
Jacksonville Jaguars…
The Jacksonville Jaguars are on a legendary course of terribleness that should be remembered and studied in colleges for years to come. Jacksonville has lost the first five weeks by a combined score of 163-51, with most of their own points coming in garbage time and the opponent running out the clock. That’s a minus-112 point differential, and as for other statistical categories, don’t even bother. They are practically worst at everything. Period!
Hopefully, they’ll do enough against the Broncos since nobody thinks they can. Also, please save Jaxson de Ville.
Can any of these teams revive themselves soon or will they continue to march haplessly towards the end of 2013?
You can bet on their chances of coming back with us on Top Bet and also, share this article to your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, or even to your Google+ circles in support of these teams that might need it.
