2024 NFL Season: Too Many Teams on the Struggle Bus

 

AP Photo/Adam Hunger 

As Week 10 of the 2024 NFL season wraps up tonight with a Monday Night Football matchup between the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Rams, one glaring issue stands out: there are a shocking number of God-awful teams this year.

Typically, by about Week 10 of each season, you can point to three-four teams that have struggled immensely and are better off focusing their time and attention on the following season.

With one game left to play in Week 10, there are currently six teams with only two wins and five teams with only three wins. All these teams are very close to being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with eight weeks remaining on the schedule. In other words, to be more direct, 34% of the league consists of teams that suck.

Let’s take a brief look at the six teams that have only two wins and see what happened to cause this meltdown of a season.

New York Giants (2-8)

The Giants are currently tied for the worst record in football. The Giants have issues all over the place. You can point to the offensive line struggles or their spotty secondary, but the biggest issue is at quarterback. In year six, Daniel Jones has been a bottom-five quarterback in this league and will most likely never be a starting quarterback in the NFL again. Among all quarterbacks, Jones currently ranks 27th in completion percentage, 31st in yards per attempt, 23rd in yards per game, 26th in QBR, 21st in quarterback rating, and has been sacked the fourth most of any quarterback this season. You can’t win games when your leader is unreliable, simple as that.

Jacksonville Jaguars (2-8)

The Jaguars are tied with the Giants for the worst record in football. The more time passes, the more it seems like Trevor Lawrence is a bust. Although he missed Week 10 with an injury, Lawrence’s play has been underwhelming to say the least, especially considering he signed a five-year, $275 million contract this past offseason. However, Lawrence is not the Jags’ biggest problem; that belongs to their defense. No team allows more yards per game than the Jaguars (390.6). This high yardage contributes to their ranking of 30th in total points allowed this season (264) and 27th in points allowed per game (26.6).

Las Vegas Raiders (2-7)

Like the Giants, the major issue for the Raiders has been quarterback play, which was somewhat expected before the beginning of the season when they named journeyman Gardner Minshew as the starting quarterback. Among all quarterbacks in the league, Minshew ranks 24th in yards per attempt (6.6), 30th in yards per game (187.6), and 29th in both QBR (37.7) and quarterback rating (80.2). In Minshew’s defense, he has very little talent to work with on offense. The running back duo of Alexander Mattison and Zamir White has been a failure. Mattison has managed just 301 rushing yards in nine games, placing him 40th in the league, with only three rushing touchdowns, ranking 32nd. White has contributed only 174 rushing yards (69th in the league) and a single touchdown. After trading away their best receiver, Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers is now their top WR option, highlighting the overall lack of offensive talent.

Tennessee Titans (2-7)

The Will Levis experiment in Tennessee looks close to being over. The second-year player out of the University of Kentucky has struggled immensely since joining the NFL and has not been able to figure it out in year two. Levis ranks 36th among quarterbacks with an average of 145.7 passing yards per game, has an equal number of touchdown passes and interceptions (seven each), and holds a QBR of 31.8, placing him 30th in the league. Like the Raiders, the Titans lack offensive firepower. Running back Tony Pollard has been an exception. Pollard has rushed for 666 yards this season, which currently ranks 11th in the league. The addition of Calvin Ridley has been a mild success at best. Ridley has 32 receptions for 483 yards this season. The rest of the offensive roster has been forgettable. The Titans are ranked 27th in total yards per game and total points scored per game.

Cleveland Browns (2-7)

Signing Deshaun Watson to a five-year, $230 million contract is going to go down as one of the worst signings in professional sports history. Once considered a top-five quarterback in this league, Watson’s skill and talent have diminished immensely. Watson is out for the remainder of the season after he snapped his Achilles in Week 7, but the damage to the team has already been done. The offense has struggled, averaging just 274 yards per game (31st in the league) and 16.4 points per game (29th). The Browns entered the season with expectations of a top-three defense, and while they have the talent, the offense’s lack of production keeps the defense on the field, lowering their effectiveness from elite to average. They currently rank 12th in total yards allowed per game (205.7) and 21st in points allowed per game (23.7).

Miami Dolphins (2-6) (Play Vs. Los Angeles Rams Tonight @ 8:15pm ET)

If you told me that the Dolphins would be 2-6 entering their Week 10 Monday night matchup in Los Angeles, I would have asked you what drugs you were on. The Dolphins were an offensive powerhouse last season, finishing with the most points in the league behind an absolutely stacked offensive roster. That all came to a crashing halt in Week 2 of this season when Tua Tagovailoa suffered the fourth concussion of his career and was placed on the injury reserve list. Tua was sidelined for five weeks and made his return on 10/27 in a one-point loss to the Arizona Cardinals. The biggest issue for the Dolphins during Tua’s absence was quarterback depth. The Miami quarterback room consists of Tua, Tyler Huntley, Skylar Thompson, and Tim Boyle; with the exception of Tua, these guys all had a completion percentage under 70 and a quarterback rating under 80. Without a competent quarterback under center, the Dolphins’ offensive weapons become useless.

Bottom Line

As we wrap up Week 10, it's hard to ignore just how many teams are already out of the playoff picture. With 11 teams sitting at two or three wins, almost a third of the league seems like it’s in rebuild mode. It really shows how much strong QB play and solid depth can make or break a season.

Why do you think there are an abnoraml amount of bad teams this year? Comment below.