The Football Diner Big Top 5
Biggest Disappointments of 2008
by Jody Jamieson
22/1/2008
 
We now know who will compete for the Super Bowl on February 3rd in Arizona, as the Patriots saw off the Chargers, and the Giants edged Green Bay in overtime. Next week we will look forward to that game, but for this week we will take a walk down memory lane, and reminisce about the past. Unfortunately, we will not be looking back at the great and the good of 2007, but more at the bad and the ugly side of the 07 season. In this week's edition of Top Fives we will look at the biggest disappointments of this past season.
 
5. The collapse of the Dallas Cowboys
 
This team looked irresistible through the first 13 games of the season. Only a defeat to the Patriots slowed down the NFC's most dominant juggernaut. The Monday Night game in Buffalo showed this team had great character, the Green Bay game showed they could handle the impressive Packers, and the Redskins home game showed if all else fails, they have one of the great playmakers in Terrell Owens who can win the game on his own. Then defeat at home to the Eagles in Romo's worst performance of his career statistically when Jessica Simpson became Public Enemy Numero Uno in Dallas. Simpson got a lot of the blame for the fact the Romo looked decidedly off the pace. An injury to TO in Carolina showed that without Owens, questions could be asked about the offense, and then although the Redskins game in Week 17 meant little to Dallas, the Cowboys were dominated by Washington before the backups came in.
 
Romo then took what many in the press saw as an ill-advised trip to Mexico with the singer dubbed "Yoko Romo" by some. There is a time and a place to get away from the game, and it's not before all is said and done. Whether or not the break with his new lady made a difference or not to their game against the Giants, Romo's decision to go gave Cowboy fans ammunition that didn't really need to be supplied if they slipped up. We all know by now that the Giants went in and took the victory 21-17 and advanced to the Championship game.
 
Some said Romo and the Cowboys peaked too soon. Some said that Romo was found out. Others blamed Jessica Simpson. Whatever the story, the demise of the Cowboys over the last couple of games was there for everyone to see. So much so that many predicted the Giants would go in and take the win. If only Romo had been patient, he could have been in Mexico with Jessica right now with no-one casting questions about it. And lets be honest, we'd all love to be in Mexico right now with Jessica Simpson...
 
4. Chicago Bears offense
 
After reaching the Super Bowl last season, the Bears promised to be a playoff contender again this time round. The team was based behind a feared defense and an offense that while it had its issues, was a competent enough offense to get the job done. However the Bears regressed on both sides of the ball this season, with special teams being their only positive. Devin Hester is still one of the most dangerous weapons in the league, Robbie Gould is an excellent kicker, and the Bears have done a great job blocking and covering punts. The defense looked better later on in the year, completely dominating Green Bay being a standout, but the offense was just awful. Kyle Orton showed flashes that he may be reliable, and Grossman looked better second time around when Griese went down, but the running game stank. Cedric Benson and the other Adrian Peterson really didn't open things up for whoever suited up under center.
 
Quite what has went wrong in Chicago is unclear. However almost every free agent or even possibly available offensive player will inevitably be linked with a move to Soldier Field. Donovan McNabb, Michael Turner and Julius Jones have been linked recently. Whatever happens though, they really need to upgrade big style on the offensive side of the ball, as they still have the playmakers on defense who will get it done. They will be hoping that a decent end to the season will be a prelude to a much better 2008.
 
3. Baltimore Ravens nine game losing streak
 
This was disappointing for me in that they were much better than a 5-11 team on paper, with the core of an excellent defense and a decent amount of talent on the offensive side of the ball. Unfortunately Todd Heap got injured, and Steve McNair looked terrible when he played, and the Ravens really struggled to hold onto the ball, never mind score some points. On defense they were exposed on a few occasions, none more so then when the Indianapolis Colts walked in and decimated them in the most one-sided first half I have seen in a long time.
 
If there is one thing that Brian Billick never produced in Baltimore it was an explosive offense. Defensively they were always sound, and sometimes superb, but even when they won the Superbowl, they never got it done offensively. The amount of fumbles this year by Steve McNair was unbelievable and he looks to be on his last legs. Kyle Boller doesn't look to be the answer, and Troy Smith who won the Heisman Trophy last year looks competent, but undersized. I have no idea what new Head Coach John Harbaugh plans for the future to improve the fortunes of this side, but he may start at quarterback. Perennial Pro-Bowl tackle Jonathan Ogden could retire in the off-season, which would be another headache for the new man in charge.
 
If one summed up the Ravens season it had to be their loss to Miami. Despite having the ball on the 1-foot line of Miami, they settled for a field goal to take the game into OT. Matt Stover then missed a 44 yarder, before Greg Camarillo hauled in a 64 yard TD pass from Cleo Lemon to win the game. If only they had shown a little more guts, they wouldn't have had to worry about OT, but the probability is that Billick didn't trust his team to score from just a foot out, and took the safe option. It summed up the whole season for the Ravens.
 
2. Miami Dolphins' Path to "Perfection"
 
So yeah, they didn't quite get the "perfect" season they would never have hoped for. The win over the hapless Ravens finally snapped an atrocious losing streak that some people thought may stretch to next season. Greg Camarillo's reception finally took the big fat lonely zero out of the wins column. Before that they had some unlucky losses in tight games, but even then they were almost always chasing and having to make onside kicks. As the season wore on some of the losses became painful. Getting decimated by the Jets 40-13 was ridiculous.
 
Cam Cameron was realistically never going to keep his job once Bill Parcells got the gig, but in fairness he did himself little favours throughout the year. He didn't have a lot of quality to work with, but some of the meltdowns were embarrassing. Being 42-7 down to the Patriots at the half is ridiculous, despite the fact they were murdering teams early on. We in the UK got a good look at them in the build up to Wembley, and by about Week 5, we couldn't wait to get them off our screens.
 
Tony Sparano will have a big job on his hands to get this team competitive. For the draft it's not a case of "What do we need?" rather than "Where do we start?" as there are a few candidates for the Dolphins to take number 1 in positions they really struggled in. Glen Dorsey or Jake Long may be the favourites.
 
1. Reggie Bush
 
Never has one guy promised so much, received so much for said promise, and delivered very little. Reggie Bush has made MILLIONS for being a guy who tore up the college scene without ever coming close to repeating the trick in the pros. I thought that Bush was going to have a standout season in New Orleans, but if anything he has regressed. I said this once before, but the biggest shock for me is that he still can't seem to produce despite the fact that the Saints have tweaked their offense to suit Bush, rather than Bush tweaking his game to suit the offense.
 
Bush didn't do a great job in 2006, despite the Saints marching all the way to the NFC Championship Game. We were all looking forward to him breaking out this year but it never looked like happening. Even former Claymore Aaron Stecker looked better running the ball. We all know the story of the Texans and their "ridiculous decision" to take Mario Williams over Bush and Vince Young, but the more time passes, the more that looks an excellent decision.
 
Interesting Facts
 
Tom Brady's red zone pick thrown to Antonio Cromartie was his first INT in the red zone for 2 years, since Champ Bailey picked him off in Denver. He had thrown 62 TD's inside the 20 since then. Laurence Maroney was the Patriots first back to back 100 yard rusher in the play-offs for over 20 years, since Craig James did it in 1985.
 
The Giants are the first NFC team to advance to the Super Bowl on the back of three road playoff wins. The temperature dropped below zero degrees Fahrenheit, and made kicking extremely difficult for Tynes, but in overtime he became the first road player to hit a field goal over 40 yards in the play-offs at Lambeau with his game winning 47 yarder.
 
And Finally...
 
As a Scotsman it was rather cringe worthy seeing Lawrence Tynes shank his kick wide left as regulation expired, but what a great moment for him to nail the game-winner in overtime to take the Giants to the Super Bowl. Tynes grew up in Greenock, Scotland and moved to the US at a young age and after doing a good job at Troy State University, he was picked up by the Chiefs who let him come home to play for the Claymores, before he moved into the Canadian Football League to play for Ottawa. A decent season replacing Morten Anderson in Kansas City seemed to set him up well, but struggled in 06 saw him traded to a Giants. The rest, as they say is history.
 
He has not been without his struggles this year, and his two field goals attempts in the 4th quarter showed he is anything but automatic. But he showed great courage to bounce back and nail a beauty in OT to send the Giants to Arizona.