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NFL Bottom Of The Barrel – Week #4

After another exciting round of games from the NFL, it’s time to take a look at which teams are sitting ugly at the bottom of the barrel. If you want to know which three teams are this week’s cream of the crop, then take the time to read my colleague Lester Wiltfong’s column. Last week, […]

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After another exciting round of games from the NFL, it’s time to take a look at which teams are sitting ugly at the bottom of the barrel. If you want to know which three teams are this week’s cream of the crop, then take the time to read my colleague Lester Wiltfong’s column.

Last week, Lester had the bottom three teams ranked like this:

30. Miami Dolphins
31. Jacksonville Jaguars
32. Kansas City Chiefs

Let’s see which teams clawed their way out of the bottom, and which teams found themselves sliding right in.

30. New Orleans Saints

Look, I don’t care what anyone says, the Saints deserve to be in the bottom three. And I am not judging teams on how they look on paper, or what they have done in the past. After three weeks of the regular season, the Saints are winless.

This past week, they faced the 0-2 Chiefs and totally blew a 24-6 lead to eventually lose in overtime, at home.

Granted, Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles had a huge game, rushing for over 200 yards, but to give up a lead like that to a team who themselves have not been great, is inexcusable.

New Orleans have now lost games to Kansas City, Carolina and Washington. Yes, these games have all been pretty close, but they are games they would have been expected to win. Over those three games, they have allowed 77 points and have the worst defense in the league, giving up 477 yards per game. I don’t care how good your offense is, that’s just not going to cut it in the NFL.

Next week, there’s no let up as they travel to Green Bay. Nothing less than a win will do for the Saints as they look to turn their season around.

31. Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins are down a place this week and just can’t seem to get out of the bottom three. This week they lost a close game to the New York Jets, 23-20, following a win against Oakland the week before.

I think this will be the story of the Dolphins’ season. Inconsistency.

Rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill has looked awful at times, and then demonstrated why Miami have put their fortunes in his hands. The one shining light has been running back Reggie Bush, who continues to have a good season. In three weeks he has rushed for 302 yards, averaging six yards per carry.

Like the Saints, the Dolphins defense has been porous and next week they face an Arizona Cardinals team who just keep finding a way to win. It could be a tough game, and it’s one they’ll need to win if they don’t want to be near the bottom of this barrel next week.

32. Cleveland Browns

The Browns just haven’t shown enough to warrant them being moved out of this spot. Lester didn’t have them in his bottom three last week, even though they lost a close one to the Bengals, but I see no real reason why they shouldn’t be here this week.

They went behind early this week against the Buffalo Bills and were never really able to recover. After a great performance last week, rookie running back Trent Richardson reverted back to mediocrity, rushing for just 27 yards on 12 carries. The Browns are going to need consistent performances from their number one draft pick if their season is going to improve.

Their other rookie, quarterback Brandon Weeden was pretty average, throwing just 5.5 yards per completion and chucking in two interceptions while he was at it. Their defense has given up 391 yards a game, and week four sees them play the Baltimore Ravens team that is coming off a close victory against the Patriots.

The Browns have games on their schedule that they can win, but they need those wins to start coming soon or it could be a very long season indeed.

Well, that does it for another week. Don’t forget to check out Lester’s post to see his top three teams of the week, and let us know if you agree or disagree with our picks.