Courtesy of USA Today Images
The quarter mark of the 2015 NFL season is here. There have been some ups and downs, which has left fans despairing over some sad situations and hapless players over the past four weeks.
Here are some of the NFL’s biggest disappointments thus far.
Where is the real Andrew Luck and where did he hide Andre Johnson?
Prior to injuring his shoulder, Luck had not been performing anywhere near the level he was last season.
In three games, he has completed only 56 percent of his passes for a total of 753 yards. If he was to continue averaging only 251 passing yards per game, he would finish the 2015 season with 3,765 yards, which is nearly 1,000 less than what he totaled last year.
Not only is he struggling to connect with his receivers, but he’s also turning the ball over too often. At this time, Luck has a disappointing eight turnovers compared to only five touchdowns.
And, speaking of disappointing, where has Andre Johnson been? He has been virtually non-existent in the Colts offense, seeing just 20 targets which he has turned into seven catches for 51 yards. Currently, Johnson ranks No. 105, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required) when it comes to the percent of his targets he has turned into receptions.
Last season with the Texans, Johnson was receiving an average of 9.7 targets per game, so he’s being targeted at about half the rate he was in 2014. This isn’t the dynamic duo we thought we’d be seeing in Indianapolis this year.
San Francisco 49ers’ inability to score is concerning
After four weeks, the San Francisco 49ers have scored only 48 points, which is the lowest of all NFL teams. Even worse is that 20 of those points came in Week 1, which was the team’s only win of he season. Since then, the 49ers offense has averaged a paltry 9.3 points per game.
Largely at fault is the team’s inept quarterback, Colin Kaepernick. The 49ers rank dead-last in receiving yards (727) and receiving touchdowns (two). Over the past two weeks, Kap has only completed 49.7 percent of his passes. He’s either been blatantly missing, ignoring wide open receivers or throwing interceptions. San Francisco ranks fifth in team rushing yards with 521 and has scored three rushing touchdowns. Although, 230 of those yards and two of the touchdowns were posted in Week 1. Since then, the offense has been terribly unbalanced.
The bottom line is the 49ers offense is a dirty mess and they must start scoring. The buck starts with Kaepernick who must attempt to improve on his horrible inaccuracies and predictable play-calling.
DeMarco Murray’s stint in Philadelphia is a bust (so far)
At this time, the $40 million dollar man ranks 51st among all running backs in the NFL. Murray’s 47 total rushing yards over three games has been accomplished at a snail’s pace of 1.62 yards per carry.
Just to point out how awfully Murray has performed this season, he already had a total of 534 rushing yards after Week 4 last year. We’ll give him a bit of a break because he did sit out in Week 3. That said, the Eagles have only given Murray a total of 29 carries in three weeks. Although it’s his 1.62 yards per attempt that terribly worrisome. Perhaps that is why the Eagles are limiting his carries.
Either way, fans are frustrated, and so is Murray, who wants more touches. The Eagles currently have totaled the third-least rushing yards (280) in the NFL.
The demise of Peyton Manning, Demaryius Thomas and C.J. Anderson
If you play fantasy football and own any part of this trio, the love has been lost.
Currently, Manning ranks 25th in overall quarterback production, and has averaged only 245 passing yards per game. He also carries a 6:5 touchdown/interception ratio. We’ve clearly seem him regressing since the end of last season.
In Manning’s 2013 prime season, he only had 10 interceptions all year and was averaging 342 yards per game. Along with Manning’s demise comes the inevitable slip in the rankings for wide receiver Demaryius Thomas as well, who ranks 41st among his fellow receivers with 33 receptions, 361 yards and one touchdown.
And, it’s no surprise that the Broncos offense ranks 23rd-worst in the NFL in receiving yards, averaging only 242 per week.
Denver’s ground game, which was supposed to have featured last year’s stud rusher C.J. Anderson, has gone completely south. The Broncos rank fourth-worst in total rushing yards (315) for the season. Anderson, who has been dinged up, is averaging a measly 2.7 yards per attempt and only has 117 rushing yards and zero scores to his name.
Shockingly, the Broncos sit at 4-0 at the quarter point of the season thanks to an outstanding showing by Denver’s defense.
Ryan Tannehill is feeling the heat in Miami
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill is really starting to feel the pressure in Miami after the team has lost the last three games in a row.
The team’s losing status has gotten so bad that reportedly, Tannehill lost it in practice on Saturday prior to the London game. When some of the practice squad players forced turnovers on him, he was heard making snarky comments such as this, according to nationalfootballpost.com: “Enjoy your practice squad paycheck, enjoy your practice squad trophy.”
That’s quite rude coming from what appears to be a massively overpaid quarterback at this point in the season. As a result of the Dolphins performing so poorly over the past few weeks, and losing by a large margin to the New York Jets this past Sunday, their head Joe Philbin got the ax on Monday.
A cranky Tannehill and the Dolphins get a much-needed bye week to regroup and hopefully cool off their fiery tempers.
When will the Detroit Lions ever get their first win?
The Detroit Lions roster looks pretty on paper, and there are some amazing playmakers on offense. Although, the team has yet to win a game, which leaves them the only team in the NFL with a woeful 0-4 record.
It was just last season that quarterback Matthew Stafford combined with Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate to the tune of 2,408 yards and 12 touchdowns. This year, Tate has been nearly invisible some weeks and has only 190 yards with zero touchdowns. Johnson doesn’t look much better with his total 255 yards and one touchdown.
As for the newbie to the team, rookie running back Ameer Abdullah, it’s been all downhill from his successful Week 1 performance when he totaled 94 yards, one rushing touchdown.
The Lions are simply not staying on the field long enough to extend drives and get within scoring range. On third downs, the Lions have only converted 33.3 percent, which is the seventh-worst in the league.
Next up in Week 5 will be another stiff contest against the 3-1 Arizona Cardinals. Perhaps the Lions will finally catch a break when they host a beatable Chicago Bears in Week 6.