Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Battle of the 8-8s (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter FUBAR
- Start date
KnowledgeReignsSupreme
Footballguy
I don't think any playoff team would want to have to face the Panthers in round 1 right now.
Tennessee was 13-3 in 2008, expectations were high coming into '09 and they laid an egg to start the season. I voted the Titans as the worst season because they underachieved expectations the most of the 8-8 teams.San Francisco surprised me the most, so I voted them for the best season. As a Denver homer I thought about voting for them as the best season because they exceeded pre season expectations by the most, nobody on these boards had them winning more than 4 or 5 games before the season started. However, the Broncos sucked for the last 10 games, the most epic collapse in the history of the NFL, so based on that alone, I couldn't vote for them as the best. I understand why someone would vote for them as the worst, but based on them exceeding (record wise) preseason projections, I can't vote for them as the worst either. I agree with you about Tennessee and San Fran making the playoffs next year. I wouldn't be surprised to see either of the other 3 in the playoffs as well, but I don't think it is quite as likely.
KnowledgeReignsSupreme
Footballguy
I voted Panthers, Titans, Panthers/Giants.
silentcoach
Footballguy
Had the best seasons:
nyg
den
car
sf
ten
people think the giants had the worst season because of expectations--I think they still had a better season than the other teams listed. If we're taking expectations as part of the equation then DEN had the best season. Who thought they would be 8-8 after all the Cutler and Marshall drama?
SF is 4th on this list because their offense was pretty abysmal this year. The opposite is true for the titans. They need to fix their defense if they have hopes for the post season next year.
nyg
den
car
sf
ten
people think the giants had the worst season because of expectations--I think they still had a better season than the other teams listed. If we're taking expectations as part of the equation then DEN had the best season. Who thought they would be 8-8 after all the Cutler and Marshall drama?
SF is 4th on this list because their offense was pretty abysmal this year. The opposite is true for the titans. They need to fix their defense if they have hopes for the post season next year.
Last edited by a moderator:
thriftyrocker
Footballguy
Don't underestimate Haynesworth. Their defense could have fallen off the cliff without him. Except the 59-0 drubbing it largely didn't, and when Finnegan was healthy it was often very good. The Titans had a good season because they can at least think they figured it out on offense (QB/RB/OLine plus positives at WR and TE), and their defense can only get better with a couple more pieces.Panthers fans also probably had high hopes after last year, but still have reason to be optimistic after 8-8. Like the Titans, they now know the team can win games with just decent talent at QB. The rest of the pieces are there, assuming Peppers stays.The Niners are still looking for a QB. They are running out of time on Gore, but their receiving options are looking borderline great if they can just get consistent play from the QB. Their defense took the next step but either they have to solve their QB problem or hope Warner retires.The Broncos had the worst season. Two straight years of starting strong and falling hard. The rest of the talent on offense that Shannahan left will now walk out the door. What do they have left to hope for? A defense that might be mediocre built around a very old safety.The Giants had the 2nd worst season. They stunk it up the last month and don't have any scapegoats like Plax or injuries to Osi.
silentcoach
Footballguy
I don't understand how the Broncos had the worst season, if expectations are taken into consideration. Sure they started 6-0 and ended 8-8, but who really thought they'd be battling for a playoff spot amidst all the controversy they had before the season started?
Last edited by a moderator:
You answered your own question. Though I tend to agree with you that they did not have the worst season (I would say the Titans did based on their expectations heading in). In my eyes the Broncos probably had the best season, but it is all about perception and it would seem that in general the response to this poll would indicate perception as being what is the best season/worst season for these teams when looked at from midway through the season on. If the question had been phrased as "who had the best season, given their expectations coming into the season" I have to think you would see different results.
and to expound on that. What has happened more recently has a bigger impact on people's perceptions. The Broncos and Giants both had collapses at the end of the season, so it's not surprising that those 2 teams have the most votes for worst season. Conversely, the Titans came on strong at the end of the season, hence the best season votes. I happen to disagree with most people's perceptions that voted in this poll. I don't see how you can't consider expectations coming into the season when measuring success during the season. Therefore I stand by my vote that the Titans had the worst season, because they had the highest expectations heading into the season. Giants would be second worst, going from a division winner last year to an also ran this season. Denver if not for the late season collapse would have run away with the best season vote, the problem is that the expectations changed on them after the 6-0 start.MDSkinner said:
The Titans were poor early on (not 1st game, they played Supe champs very well) because of the GM not following the old 7 Ps. Proper prior planning prevents pee poor performance. They had a 3rd round rookie CB, 7th round rookie CB and an undrafted free agent as CB depth. Now they also had Fuller who is one of the better nickels being able to play S and CB well but he was hurt much of 2008. When they needed depth due to injury things got bleak fast.Was it the cap? They "can't" not pay Haynesworth and then be cheap with youthful depth. That's just being too tight.Was it poor scouting?The undrafted free agent looked best this summer, what's that say about the ones they did spend picks on?When it came down to it, they did sign a veteran DB. Why'd they wait til they got annihilated by the Pats? Does it take a genius to think Brady to Moss would destroy a bunch of rooks?There's a lot of errors there by the GM IMO. They are a team stacked with excellent young talent so Titans fans just gotta deal with a learning curve I guess.*****I don't understand being hypercritical when choosing the "best" of a .500 season. They seemed to be 1-40 and somehow got to .500 and even had a faint chance of the playoffs with a few games left. I think a lot of teams would have continued to fold there.Zoomanji said:
Last edited by a moderator:
Best - Titans
Found out that their future at QB may be VY after all. Have to wonder if VY would have started a little sooner if they wouldn't have made the playoffs.
Worst - Broncos
Don't care about preseason hype which in the current NFL parity is crap anyway. Once again they started out hot and folded like a cheap tent
Found out that their future at QB may be VY after all. Have to wonder if VY would have started a little sooner if they wouldn't have made the playoffs.
Worst - Broncos
Don't care about preseason hype which in the current NFL parity is crap anyway. Once again they started out hot and folded like a cheap tent
FUBAR
Footballguy
I phrased the poll the way I did to see what people would remember at the end - the collapse after a good start vs. expectations heading in. Honestly, I'll take the Titans season despite expectations over the others because we found out VY can be a good QB and they still have a good D when healthy, injuries were huge this year, CJ is a STUD, Britt looks good and they have a bright future IMO. Denver meanwhile may or may not have a starting caliber QB, they have personnel issues especially with their star WR, and their coach has gone from idiot to genius back to idiot.
Man In The Box
Footballguy
Nice idea for a poll. 
Best- 49ers.
Worst- Giants.
Playoffs next year- Went Titans. I think the 49ers will also make it next year.
Best- 49ers.
Worst- Giants.
Playoffs next year- Went Titans. I think the 49ers will also make it next year.
Good points. I'll stick to my guns about rating a season based on how the performance measured to the expectations, but as a Bronco fan I'd trade seasons with the Titans every day of the week, and twice on Sundays. You guys have a bright future with CJ, VY, etc, we have Little Bill. You win!
Utter Chaos
Footballguy
A little off topic but the question about which 8-8 team makes the playoffs next year intrigued me. I checked the 8-8 teams from 2008 to see how they did this year.
Houston (9-7)
Denver (8-8)
San Diego (13-3)
Washington (4-12)
New Orleans (13-3)
So two made the playoffs, two stayed roughly the same and one did worse. In addition the Bengals (4-11-1) and Packers (6-10) both improved enough to make the post season this year.
Will any of this years 8-8's improve 5 games like SD and NO did?
Houston (9-7)
Denver (8-8)
San Diego (13-3)
Washington (4-12)
New Orleans (13-3)
So two made the playoffs, two stayed roughly the same and one did worse. In addition the Bengals (4-11-1) and Packers (6-10) both improved enough to make the post season this year.
Will any of this years 8-8's improve 5 games like SD and NO did?
Neil Beaufort Zod
Footballguy
I think San Francisco is the candidate for the best season next year. I actually picked them to make the playoffs this year, but I think I just jumped the gun by a year. Singletary is building something in SF. The way they manhandled the Cardinals later in the year was impressive, and while they started slow in the finale, they ended up pummeling the Rams. I think that's what good teams do.
This is literally exactly how I voted, and the exact reasoning behind it, too. The only difference is that I had Carolina and San Fran making the playoffs instead of Tennessee and San Fran (I think Tenn will have a tougher road thanks to more quality teams in the AFC).
Recency bias.Zoomanji said:
