Before we celebrate the people who have a chance at the largest prize to date in this league, let's take a look back and honor the fallen. At the beginning of the year, nobody thought they'd be out of the playoffs, sitting at the bottom half of the standings. But 13 weeks later, the cold reality sets in and there can only be six teams competing while six teams try to wonder where their season went wrong. We'll examine on a team by team basis what exactly killed their chances.
12. Cry Me a Rivers (JY)
What killed him: Trade assault?, Stars of Yester-year
While there were many complaints about the trade when it happened, the trade between JY and Simon became rather even. TY Hilton found his groove, McCoy under-performed for a while, Steven Jackson and Torrey Smith were no-shows and both TEs missed some time with injuries. But as McCoy has started to heat up and Julius Thomas deals with nagging injuries, the trade seems worse in hindsight. JY gutted his thin RB corp which is now led by Lamar Miller and he didn't even get a WR1 in the process. The problem may have started earlier though. When we look at his draft, we see a bunch of big names: Doug Martin, Roddy White, Torrey Smith, Anquan Boldin. The problem is, their productive years are behind them and none of them could find even mediocre success this season.
11. Ben There Raped That (Paul)
What killed him: 5 RBs with no RB1, Bryant over Parkey
I believe I mentioned this in the draft review but Paul took so many RBs in the draft and took them often. The problem is, none of them turned in to a RB1. Ball now might not even have a job when he's healthy. Vereen is in the unknown Belichick system. Bell has been wildly inconsistent and injured. Jeremy Hill has been solid recently but is no longer on the team. Ingram dealt with injuries. 5 tries and nothing good came out of it. But the backfield wasn't the only problem. Paul and I actually had a discussion shortly after the draft about the last round. He was debating between Bryant and Parkey and he ended up taking the vet. This turned out to be a mistake as the Falcons offense was a mess all season and Parkey ended up being a top 5 kicker.
10. Rice Beaters (David K.)
What killed him: WRs became his weakness, Who's running the ball?
Unlike his brother, David decided to focus on the WR position. He had what looked to be a formidable corp in Dez, Marshall and Patterson. Patterson struggled with the Bridgewater transition and Marshall, like the entire Bears offense minus Forte, struggled to be consistent and meet expectations. The result was too much expenditure in the WR position with no results. This investment ended up killing his RB depth. He drafted Reggie Bush and Ben Tate, the latter of which was dropped by his original team this season. He now has the enviable Boobie Dixon, Jonathan Stewart combo. Ew.
9. Keenan & Kel (Biggie)
What killed him: Megatron actually being human, Go as the Lions go
After the first game of the season, it looked like Biggie's team would get started on a rampage through the league. The Stafford-Calvin connection was cooking up a storm on Monday night and everyone was afraid of the possibilities. Just a week later, we saw what the team was really made of. The duo never had another game as impressive as that first week, Calvin struggled with injuries, and the whole team struggled. The lions became a defensive team, allowing Stafford to be a smarter, less-risky QB. Although it led to wins for them, it led to less yards, less TDs, and less offensive stats for Stafford and Calvin.
8. Gotta Catch Jamaal (Jon)
What killed him: Irrational Hope, Assault
The belief that AP will come back. The audacity to draft Ray Rice before filling out his starters. The hope that Ryan would return to 2012 form. It's good to have hope. But at a certain point in the season, you need to become realistic. When you have to rely on Antonio Brown to carry your team every week, you know you need a change. And Jon never did. He kept holding on and ended up sinking as Brown couldn't carry them any further. He was one win away from making the playoffs but I'm sure all the playoff teams would have loved to play him in round 1. The most unfortunate thing about this season for Jon was that he happened to draft the two running backs that were involved in complicated legal situations.
7. taeyeon (Mike)
What killed him: Luck, QB play
The number of points that a team scores is based on drafting and picking up the right players, playing the right players, and managing the team properly. The number of points a team scores against you is based purely on dumb luck. And in that department, Mike was the unluckiest. With the most number of points scored against him, Mike had a tough climb to make the playoffs. He did his part by scoring the 4th most points in the league. But he just couldn't overcome plain-old bad luck. The one thing that may have been in his control was his QB play. Between Cam and Kaep, it looked like he could play the matchup and have a QB1 each and every week. Instead, both QBs failed to meet expectations and struggled as they saw Luck pull away from them and enter a higher tier of QB play. Whether or not either of these QBs will be QB1s next year will be up for debate.
Although it is unfortunate for these teams to not be competing for the grand prize, the winner of the consolation bracket will win a $15 gift card! Therefore, don't give up yet!
Good luck to all!
Simon Kim
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