Top NFL Disappointments Of 2014: Paging Mr. Clowney
By Erik Lambert
For every great story in the NFL this 2014 season, there have been a number of disappointments. Who tops that list?
Jadeveon Clowney
He was the #1 overall pick and was supposed to help J.J. Watt form the most devastating pass rush in the league. Jadeveon Clowney had every physical tool a football play can dream of and what did the Houston Texans get in return. Four games played, zero sacks and a trip to injured reserve with knee problems. Let the bust debate begin.
The Chicago Bears
This team came a couple bad breaks away from winning their division last year despite having the worst defense in football. After a productive off-season everybody expected the Chicago Bears to not only compete for the playoffs but were closet favorites to take a shot at the Super Bowl. Instead they have stumbled to a 5-7 record, been blown out by every decent team they’ve faced and have the look of a group too easily dispirited by adversity. Definitely not a spitting image of Bears teams past.
Cordarrelle Patterson and Justin Hunter
Does anybody remember at the beginning of the year when fantasy experts were drooling over the amazing years that Cordarrelle Patterson and Justin Hunter were going to have? How could they not? Both are big and fast targets with worlds of talent who can’t possibly be stopped. Safe to say those predictions were grossly over exaggerated. Hunter is done for the season with a lacerated spleen and Patterson was benched.
Pass Defense
Let this sink in for a moment. Four quarterbacks are currently on pace to possibly throw for 5,000 yards in a season in 2014. Four. That’s also the same number of times a team has scored 50 points in a game this season. How many quarterbacks have thrown six touchdowns in a game? Ryan Fitzpatrick did it. Aaron Rodgers did it in one half. Ben Roethlisberger did it twice in two weeks. It’s safe to say that pass defense in the NFL has fallen on hard times.
Robert Griffin III
Blame is being thrown all over the place from the Washington Redskins to Jay Gruden but at the end of the day Robert Griffin III had his chances to win the quarterback job and didn’t. He had plenty of weapons to use, a good enough offensive line and a steady ground game. The stats say he couldn’t get it done. It’s no use to go blaming somebody else. After just three seasons his promising start in Washington has crashed and burned, and he deserves the bulk of the blame for it.