Quarterback of the Never

Austen's Goal Line Stand

The Cardinals really dropped the ball when
they gave an arm and a leg for Kevin Kolb.

Can we all finally agree that Kevin Kolb is at best a mediocre quarterback? Through seven games, he has tossed as many interceptions as touchdowns and has completed just 56% of his passes for a quarterback rating of 77.8. You can blame the offensive line and the lack of offensive playmakers, but you can only make so many excuses for a quarterback who was supposed to bring this team back to the playoffs. They also gave him a hefty $60 million contract before he ever played a down for their team, which anyone could have told them was a mistake.

Not only has his play been mediocre at best, but also one of the biggest knocks on him was that he was injury prone. Kolb missed last week with turf toe and he looks like he will miss at least another week with his injury. As a Jets fan, I know all too well that an injured quarterback is no good to your team.

Week 9: Madden Curse Hits Hard

The Madden Curse has struck again and
without bruising running back Peyton Hillis,
the Browns don't have much of a chance.

In past years, I have been a strong defender of the reality of the Madden Curse. Last season, Drew Brees was on the cover and while he did not have an awful season, he threw a career high 22 interceptions and lost his Wild Card matchup against the worst team to ever make the playoffs, a 7-9 Seattle Seahawks team.

For whatever reason this year, I jumped off the bandwagon and thought that Peyton Hillis would be able to break through the curse since he was conditioning hard than anyone else I saw in the NFL. I mean the guy was pulling trucks in Arkansas during the offseason. How could you not love a guy who does that?

However, he has been entirely irrelevant and ineffective for his team so far this season, and even more useless on my fantasy rosters. He is clearly struggling physically and mentally, and the fact that the Browns organization already came out saying they will not resign him for the 2012 season, things can only get worse. I had the Browns winning 8 games this season, but without a motivated and productive Hillis, they have no chance of getting anywhere near that number.

 Austen (Seven-Point Pick) - @Houston over Cleveland

Austen: Clearly I am not high on the Browns right now, but there are more problems than just Hillis with this team. Cleveland has one healthy running back left on their roster, and its Chris Ogbonnaya. Considering he has never ran the ball more than 11 times in an entire season before, I think the Texans are going to blitz the heck out of the Browns and there is no way they can keep up with the Texans potent offense.

Stally: With all our talk about who's the best in the AFC, it could well end up being the Texans once Andre Johnson gets healthy.  I think the Browns are more competent than some teams, but not much argument here.

Bad Decisions Lead to Bad Quarterbacking

Stally's Goal Line Stand

The Colts' picture doesn't look good
with Curtis doing the painting. (Getty)

Ok, so Austen was interested in talking about Tim Tebow again and why he shouldn't start at quarterback in the NFL.  Look, his team just lost 45-10 at home and he posted a 56.8 QB rating.  We can all agree at this point that Denver's off on its own planet trying to make him into a star.  Let's move already and take a look at other teams that have made bad quarterback decisions and thus flat-out stink this season!

We'll take a little tour across the country for this one and start in the northwest of Seattle.

Pete Carroll, I love you, man, and I think you did great things at USC!  Heck, one of the great things you did was build some fantastic quarterbacks.  Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart both won Heisman Trophies under your tutelage, Mark Sanchez likely would have won it had he returned for his final year of eligibility and even John David Booty looked like a stud in the cardinal-and-gold.  So, what the heck's going on with the Seahawks, Coach!?

Week 9 Coin Toss: CJ's F and the AFC's Average

Chris Johnson has always looked questionable,
but now his play is questionable. (AP)

Stally: Let's try to make some sense of the AFC East.

So far, the Ravens have mangled the Steelers, grounded the Jets, but lost to Jacksonville and almost Arizona.  Pittsburgh soundly drubbed the Patriots, but lost to the Texans and the Ravens.  The Texans have lost three games.  The Patriots have been good for the most part but didn't really belong on the same field as the Steelers this past weekend.  The AFC West has three teams tied for the division at 4-3, and the Jets and the Titans have shown clear weaknesses, even though they might contend for the playoffs all season.  That's easy, that leaves us with a debate between the 5-2 Bills and 5-2 Bengals...Wait.  What!?

It's way to early and too much of a cluster to start trying to figure out who's going to the playoffs, but please, Austen, can you at least tell me who is the best team in the AFC?  Are they the second best team in the NFL (behind Green Bay) or do we need to go to the NFC for that?  And, when it's all said and done, who's taking home the Lamar Hunt Trophy and heading to the Super Bowl out of this conference?

Austen: If I knew who the best team in the AFC is/who will make it to the Super Bowl, I would be running to Vegas to throw down some bets. However, I am just a man and I can only take a swing at it.

Week 8 Final Score

How did the Saints get
 battered by the Rams!? (AP)

Just when we thought the NFL couldn't get any weirder, NFC-power New Orleans got flattened by winless St. Louis.  Not Sam Bradford's St. Louis Rams mind you, A.J. Feeley's St. Louis Rams as starting QB Bradford is still out with an ankle injury.

That gave Stally the dubious distinction of being the first OX in the eight weeks of the blog to bust on the week's first pick.  Yet, despite taking the seven-point bath, Austen's picks weren't any better and Stally still took the Weekly Draft, as he swept out the week in ugly fashion.  Both guys botched the Pick 'Em and the Season Draft was the most lopsided it's been all season (although, Austen did get the Rams win, even if not much else).

Week 8