It feels so good to be back! I hope
you guys enjoyed the basketball opinions, because there’s a lot more where that
came from! Well, except for the fact that we probably won’t be talking about
basketball around here for a while. Why? BECAUSE IT’S FOOTBALL SEASON, PEOPLE!
That’s right, the Greatest Sport in the World (patent pending) has returned to
provide us with 20 more weeks of drama, suspense, bone-crushing hits, circus
catches, ridiculous penalties, borderline illegally unhealthy stadium food, and
of course the Patriots’ fourth Super Bowl Ring.
With every new season usually come
the same conversations. Is Peyton Manning too frail? Is the Steelers defense
too old? Will Blaine Gabbert ever complete a pass? So this year we’re going to
shake it up and try to find exciting, new things about the NFL to discuss. Our
subject today: belief. We all know about fan bases like the Raiders and Browns
that are so downtrodden they just support their teams 100x more than anyone
else. But what I want to know is which teams really need their fans to believe
in them right now? Whether it be a new quarterback or a pattern of failure,
some franchises are on the brink of losing the faith of their fans. Some of the
teams on our list may surprise you!
The Bengals’ habit of exiting the
playoffs in the 1st round was bound to land them on this list, but
they shot right up to the top of the list by making Andy Dalton a 115 million dollar man. While the Red Rifle has led Cincinnati to the playoffs in the past
three years, he has yet to actually win a playoff game. Bengals fans are
visibly frustrated with Dalton’s inability to come up big when it counts, and
many believe that he will never be more than a facilitator for the team’s other
offensive stars. If the fourth year quarterback can’t get over the hump with
his fat new contract in tow, I expect to see some resentment from the fans. The
Bengals are either about to prove themselves among the league’s big dogs or
fall right back into the consistent mediocrity they had with Carson Palmer at
the helm.
Similarly, the 49ers have been stuck
in a playoffs rut. While they aren’t having problems with the first or even
second round, they just can’t seem to break through the NFC Championship. San
Francisco has reached the conference championship three straight times and,
besides their subsequent loss to Baltimore in the Super Bowl, hasn’t been able
to emerge victorious. With their most recent loss to Seattle signaling a power
shift in the NFC West, Niners fans could be sensing their team slipping behind
the talented defenses of Seattle and Arizona. With key departures from their
own secondary, San Francisco will need to find rejuvenation this season or risk
fighting St. Louis for third place in their division.
You guys still with me? Let’s take a
quick intermission. The other day I was pondering life’s mysteries, as I often
do, and I developed a theory on something I call the Available Friendship
Radius (AFR). Now, everybody has a Possible Available Friendship Radius (PAFR)
and True Available Friendship Radius (TAFR). Your AFR is affected by many
different factors such as whether or not you own a car, if you live by
yourself, and of course if you actually have any friends. For instance, if you
own a car, have a few roommates with a good amount of friends, and have the
consistent income to pay for gas, your PAFR is cruising somewhere around 15
(out of 25). However, if your car isn’t fit to take trips longer than 20 miles
and all of your roommates hate you and would never invite you to hang out with
their friends, your TAFR is probably around a 6. How does your AFR affect your
life? Well, if you know that your TAFR is a 10, you should probably focus on
making your friendships really strong because it’s unlikely that you’re going
to find new ones. You’re welcome. Aaaand back to your regularly scheduled sports
journalism.
Coming in with possibly the most
positive context on this list is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After their ugly
affair with former head coach Greg Schiano, the Bucs need to convince their
fans that the franchise isn’t spiraling into oblivion. Fortunately, Tampa is in
a great position to do exactly that. With the newly acquired wisdom and
leadership of Lovie Smith (who took REX GROSSMAN to the Super Bowl, mind you)
and promising young players like Mark Barron, Gerald McCoy, Lavonte David, and
Doug Martin, the Bucs are on the path to restoring their glory. All they need
is for their fans to buy into the vision long enough to let the plan run its
course without pressure from all sides.
Back in the AFC West, the fans of the
Raiders, Chargers, and Broncos are pretty much set in their ways. Denver
die-hards know they’ll go deep into the playoffs, San Diego supporters know
that next year is “their year”, and the Oakland…fans are largely resigned to
the team’s losing ways, though no less hopeful for the future. Oakland kind of stumped
me on the alliteration I had going there. However, the folks in Kansas City have
been tossed and turned in the last few seasons. Matt Cassel took the Chiefs to
the playoffs before getting stomped out by the Ravens, had a terrible year, and
was then replaced by Alex Smith. Smith led KC to a season full of exciting
plays and, more importantly, wins, but the team fell apart in the playoffs and
gave up a 35-point lead to lose to the Colts. With key players like Brandon
Flowers leaving in free agency, fans must be wondering if even the team is
buying what Andy Reid is selling. If Reid and Smith can’t come up with a
playoff win this season, the good people of Kansas City will cry “game manager”
and demand that Alex Smith be replaced by some hot-shot quarterback coming up
in the draft. Your move, Alex Smith.
The moral of today’s story is the
truth that playing for fans that don’t believe in you makes a difficult sport
just that much harder. I can tell you from experience that disproving the
non-believers is a whole lot more taxing when that group starts in your own
stadium. If you see your favorite team on this list, cut them some slack. Coaches
and players are human too, and every once in a while it’s just nice to know
that someone believes in you. Not the Giants though, they don’t deserve for
anyone to believe in them.
If you disagree with me (disclaimer:
you’re probably wrong) or know a team that should be added to this list, tell
me about it in the comments section! Keep up with all the exciting preseason
action and be on the lookout for our next season preview article, it’s going to
be unlike anything we’ve ever done! Until next time!
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