NFL Analysis: The NFL season has been unpredictable, which is just another way of saying that this has been a normal NFL season, as they’re all unpredictable. Here we list the three candidates to miss the playoffs after having made them last year.
1. Seattle Seahawks
Odds To Win Super Bowl XLIX: +970
This is the big surprise of the past few weeks to some degree, but if you peek under the surface, it might not be as surprising as you think. The Seahawks, if you look back a year ago, were not a team that was razor-sharp week in and week out. Seattle did not have crisp offensive performances in most of its road games. The Seahawks did struggle in St. Louis against the Rams last season. They did have a few bad home games they were lucky to win. Consider falling behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by three scores before rallying to win that game late. The Seahawks played a lot of games on the edge but managed to survive.
This season, that’s not happening. The games are still close, but the Seahawks aren’t making the extra two or three plays needed to seal the deal. The Seahawks weren’t as much of a target for the rest of the NFL last season. This year, they’re everyone’s target, the team everyone most wants to beat. Seattle is finding out what it’s like to be a defending Super Bowl champion. If this team doesn’t get much better in the next few weeks, it’s going to continue to suffer. Injuries to the defense, especially on the defensive line and in the secondary, have really taken their toll. Backup corners and safeties are not ready to play this many snaps each game.
2. New Orleans Saints
Odds To Win Super Bowl XLIX: +4233
The Saints are like the Seahawks in that they are coming out on the short side of very close games, but what’s a little bit different for New Orleans when compared to Seattle is that the Saints are blowing leads in the fourth quarter of their losses. The Seahawks were thoroughly beaten by San Diego and St. Louis and did not have the lead in the fourth quarter of either game. The Saints, on the other hand, lost late leads to the Atlanta Falcons, the Cleveland Browns, and just this past weekend against the Detroit Lions. It’s staggering to see such a veteran team let down its guard again and again. It’s so surprising to see New Orleans commit a turnover in overtime (against Atlanta) or fall apart on defense in the final minutes of a game (as it did against both Cleveland and Detroit). Yet, this is what’s happening, and when the defense struggles, Drew Brees and the offense haven’t been able to make up the difference.
3. Cincinnati Bengals
Odds To Win Super Bowl XLIX: +4199
The Bengals made the playoffs last season, but they backdoored into the playoffs to an extent. They suffered some decisive losses (to Pittsburgh, for example) when they could have gained a first-round bye in the playoffs. They played poorly in the regular season finale against the Baltimore Ravens but caught a break when Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was clearly impaired thanks to an injury that was aggravated the week before in a Monday night game against the Detroit Lions. The Bengals then lost their wild card playoff game to the San Diego Chargers.
This team seems to shrivel in the face of adversity, and even though it has made the playoffs in past years, that wave of adversity is sweeping over the Bengals, and they’re not handling it well. The lack of offense this past Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts was in part the product of the health issues being confronted by star receiver A.J. Green. Yet, the Bengals were supposed to have enough quality receivers and tight ends that no one receiver was supposed to have this much of an effect on the team as a whole. That’s something the Bengals have to absorb – they should be better than this.
