Worst Year Ever in the NFL for Overall Quality of Play?

[jethro_tull]

Not sure why but it seem as if there is an overall lack of quality play and quality teams this season, probably the worst I can remember.  Watching other teams last Sunday was dreadful. 

Basically the only really good teams are the Bills, Chiefs and Eagles.  The Eagles have the benefit of playing a .500 schedule so they are likely a distant third best. 

There are some rising teams but they have flaws and are winning because everyone else is so bad. 

No hard evidence of course just my impressions.   

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

There is a lot of season left for some of those bad teams to turn around. But I agree it has been a pretty lackluster season up to this point. But I do expect as I said, some of those bad teams to get better.

[HOUSE]

I been watching Gunsmoke. Last night Miss Kitty was cheating at cards

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by HOUSE

[Neo]

21 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

I been watching Gunsmoke. Last night Miss Kitty was cheating at cards

 

 

 

 

The thought of Miss Kitty cheating …

[Brueggs]

It might be because as Bills fans we are actually getting used to watching a great team on a regular basis, making other teams not look so good.    

[Florida Bills Fanatic]

I believe bad o-line play is the root cause of many bad performances.  Teams like to overdraft those flashy skill position guys and give little thought to keeping their QB's upright.

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

Just now, Florida Bills Fanatic said:

I believe bad o-line play is the root cause of many bad performances.  Teams like to overdraft those flashy skill position guys and give little thought to keeping their QB's upright.

 

 OL play is definitely one of the biggest reasons, but lack of practice time is one of the driving forces for that. That coupled with kids wanting to be at "star" positions.....QBs, WRs, CBs & DEs.

 

 

[freddyjj]

1972 was a bad year too.  26 teams and only 7 won 10 or more games playing a 14 game schedule.  

 

15 teams at .500 or worse.   Bills were one of them as 4-9-1..

 

Same year the Dolphins went undefeated and won SB.  

[StHustle]

11 minutes ago, Brueggs said:

It might be because as Bills fans we are actually getting used to watching a great team on a regular basis, making other teams not look so good.    

While this is definitely a factor and a great point, their’s also been worse than usual overall play. Points scored is way down and a pair of legends have been playing backup QB quality ball. Hopefully the law of averages takes hold soon and this changes. I would love a super bowl regardless but would rather not have it come in a record worse year for overall competition. 

[John from Riverside]

I’m not sure if this is coming from the fact that the bills are Playing so well that they’re above the standard

[BullBuchanan]

It hasn't been good so far, and part of that is the traditionally good teams looking poor. In second half look out for the Titans, Vikings, Niners, and Raiders to outperform. The Browns are a darkhorse as well.

1994 was a terrible year for football. I remember 95 being bad too.

[Allen2D̶i̶g̶g̶s̶TBD]

The quality of the Primetime games has been pretty bad so I think that can lower our perception of the league as a whole.

 

The Thursday night games have been unwatchable at times.

 

[LyndonvilleBill]

Well, they wanted parity🤪. Although I don't think they wanted this as the outcome.😁

[Aussie Joe]

1943 was worse…

 

The Steelers and Eagles had to merge and still they only went 5-4-1

[freddyjj]

3 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

1943 was worse…

 

The Steelers and Eagles had to merge and still they only went 5-4-1

So the merged team’s new name was the Main Line Pennsyltuckians?

[The Wiz]

24 minutes ago, Allen2Diggs said:

The quality of the Primetime games has been pretty bad so I think that can lower our perception of the league as a whole.

 

The Thursday night games have been unwatchable at times.

 

Luckily the Bills play on Thursday 2 weeks in a row at the end of November.

Edited October 26, 2022 by The Wiz

[Big Turk]

Not even close. You clearly weren't around for the lockout year in 1987 I think where they had scrub players cross the picket line to play and you had teams made up of construction workers, forklift drivers, beer delivery guys and every other random job you could think of with only a few weeks to get ready and play.

 

Now THAT was some terrible quality football.

 

Imagine the new QB of the Bills being some guy that was just at your house last week snaking out your sewer line with Roto Rooter.

 

Teams literally had open tryouts like you would see for walk-ons in college.

Edited October 26, 2022 by Big Turk

[billybrew1]

2 hours ago, jethro_tull said:

Not sure why but it seem as if there is an overall lack of quality play and quality teams this season, probably the worst I can remember.  Watching other teams last Sunday was dreadful. 

Basically the only really good teams are the Bills, Chiefs and Eagles.  The Eagles have the benefit of playing a .500 schedule so they are likely a distant third best. 

There are some rising teams but they have flaws and are winning because everyone else is so bad. 

No hard evidence of course just my impressions.   

I don’t know? Didn’t it used to be just the colts and pats? And the winner, usually the pats unfortunately, played the best nfc team… usually the giants?

Didn’t it?

[Kaenon]

Hmm, I feel like the Bills are playing pretty good.

 

This is the Bills section and not Around the NFL, right?

[HappyDays]

1 hour ago, Florida Bills Fanatic said:

I believe bad o-line play is the root cause of many bad performances.  Teams like to overdraft those flashy skill position guys and give little thought to keeping their QB's upright.

 

I don't think teams are undervaluing OL in the draft. I think what's happening is there is less quality OL talent entering the draft than ever before, while on the other side of the ball there are more freakishly talented DL than ever before. Plus it feels like o-linemen are more injury prone than other positions, and it only takes one starter going down to injury to kill the entire unit. You'd have to devote a ridiculous amount of draft capital to build a consistently top tier OL because you need 5 good ones and at least a couple good depth players behind them. That's a lot harder than finding one stud pass rusher or one stud WR who singlehandedly can change a game. A stud LT can't change a game if the 4 guys next to him aren't up to par.

 

Because of poor OL play across the league teams have had to rely on the quick passing game and slowly work their way down the field more than we've seen in the last few years. This type of offense is more prone to mistakes and if you don't have a mobile QB capable of escaping trouble you're dead on arrival against any defense that can create a decent amount of pressure.

 

I also think fans have gotten a little too accustomed to explosive offenses over the past decade. Football with great defensive play is still fun to watch and I would say the drop in the quality of offenses has coincided with a rise in the quality of defenses. When fans talk about a drop in the quality of games what they really mean is less scoring.