6 teams enter week 4 staring at a zero in the wins column. For some this was expected, for others it’s been nightmare after nightmare. Let’s examine what has gone right for each of these teams so far. More importantly, let’s look into what has gone wrong.
Houston Texans
The Texans have lost 3 games by a total of only 13 points. They lost 14-9 to the Rams, 20-19 to the Buccaneers, and 17-10 to the division rival Jaguars. The Texans are tied for 5th in the league allowing just 17 points per game so far. The defense has done their job. The star edge rush duo of Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter have combined for 5 sacks. They also have 7 TFLs through just 3 games. The offense is where the struggles have came from and it’s not hard to see why. Tank Dell hasn’t played this season, and isn’t expected to after a significant injury sustained last season. Starting RB Joe Mixon also hasn’t seen the field due to injury and remains without a timetable to return. They also have 4 new offensive linemen this season, saying goodbye to Laremy Tunsil and Shaq Mason in the process. Behind a struggling OLine, C.J. Stroud is also struggling with only 64% completion, averaging 200 yards per game, with more interceptions thrown than touchdowns. He’s also been sacked 8 times. In the air, no one other than Nico Collins has over 100 receiving yards or a touchdown. Even Nico Collins is well short of his 83.8 yards per game from 2022, coming in at just 60 yards per game. The run game without Joe Mixon hasn’t been any better. Nick Chubb has 141 total yards. He is beginning to lose the battle with father time. Backups Woody Marks and Dare Ogunbowale have barely been involved. Together, they average a combined yards per carry even lower than Chubb’s 4.1. In total, the Houston Texans have 3 fewer first downs than any other team in the league. They were once the consensus favorite to win this division and return to the playoffs. If they keep following that trend, wins will be hard to come by. The defense is a legitimate strength and is the best single unit that any of these winless teams have. The possibility is there to add Joe Mixon to this group. I think the Texans have potential to bounce back in an easier division. This is especially true if the young offensive line can take a step forward. With as good as the Colts have looked and the head to head loss to Jacksonville, I think playoffs are a far to lofty goal at this point. Texans fans should hope for them to claw out a winning record. Anything above that is icing on the cake.
Miami Dolphins
While the Dolphins offense has been disappointing and unspectacular, the defense has allowed more points than any other team. Only 3 CBs have played in multiple games for them this year, but let’s go over a few that haven’t. Jalen Ramsey, who was traded away this offseason; Kader Kohou, who has started 38 games and played in 47 games over the past 3 seasons but is on the season-ending IR; Cam Smith, the 2023 2nd round pick who has yet to play this season while on the Non-Football Injury list; Artie Burns, the 8 year NFL veteran who was signed this offseason before going down with a season ending injury during camp; Jason Maitre, an undrafted free agent from last season who was expected to get into the mix on special teams and as slot corner depth before also experiencing a season ending injury; and Storm Duck, projected starting CB who has been limited to just 1 game thus far after leaving the Week 1 game against the Colts in the first half with an ankle injury. While that’s not the most impressive list of names for a full CB room, this was essentially their entire cornerback room at the beginning of camp. This excludes 5th round pick Jason Marshall who has played for them this year. The other starting CBs have been Jack Jones and Rasul Douglas who were signed this July and August, respectively. Unsurprisingly, they have 0 interceptions through 3 games and create a clear and obvious weakness for other teams to exploit. On offense, Tua has been decent at quarterback. However, he has been sacked 8 times. He has also thrown more than 1 interception per game. They are getting almost no production outside of their main 3 weapons Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and Devon Achane. Their 2nd leading rusher is actually a receiver. Their next receiver after the main 2 and Achane has just 34 receiving yards. Their entire TE position has 4 receptions for 37 yards. From the outside the culture looks broken, Jalen Ramsey wanted out and got it, Tyreek Hill wanted out and wasn’t so lucky. Coach Mike McDaniel, once highly thought of around the league, is now on the hot seat. They have been competitive in most of their first three games. However, they ended up losing to the Bills by 10 by the end of that game. Plenty of Dolphins fans have turned on the team, wanting to see Tua gone and McDaniel fired with a rebuild on the horizon. For those with hopes of turning the season around, the best I see is a 2nd place finish in the division. This would come a few games short of wild card contention at 8-9 or 7-10. Achieving this still requires some players to step up. Others need to get healthy in time to make an impact.
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints season had gone wrong before it even started. After drafting Tyler Shough, all signs pointed to him winning the job in a wide open QB room. He not only failed to secure the job, but lost it decisively to Spencer Rattler. On paper, Rattler is likely the worst starting QB in the NFL. To his credit, Rattler has not been the league’s worst QB this season. He’s 16th in the league in passing yards and has only thrown 1 interception. The rushing attack is cause for some concern. Kamara and Kendre Miller each have under 4 yards per carry. Rookie Devin Neal has only had 2 carries. Juwan Johnson has had a bit of a breakout with Foster Moreau and Taysom Hill injured. Olave and Shaheed are putting together solid if unremarkable seasons as the team’s top wideouts. While the yardage looks solid on offense, they just haven’t been able to convert yards into points with just 15.7 points per game. That is nowhere near enough when the defense has allowed, 20, 26, and 44 points. They were competitive in the first 2 weeks despite losses. However, week 3 was a disaster. It firmly planted this team at the bottom of the league. It’s no secret the Saints likely don’t have a franchise QB in their building. They have a clear path to the number 1 pick, and that’s what I expect them to shoot for. They have tradable veterans like Alvin Kamara, Justin Reid, Cam Jordan, and Demario Davis. Additionally, they have many unproven options to consider that would probably negatively impact team performance this season. Players like Tyler Shough, Devin Neal, and Danny Stutsman are examples.
New York Giants
The Giants have what I believe to be the hardest schedule in the country. Even so, it is a bit of a surprise they are 0-3 after blowing a game at Dallas. It’s been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde season for the Giants Offense that looked anemic in weeks 1 and 3 but appeared to break out in week 2. Washington and Kansas City shut down most of the Giants offense in their games. This led to the eventual benching of Russell Wilson. Rookie Jaxson Dart took over as quarterback. The Giants showed their offensive potential in week 2. Wilson, Nabers, and Skattebo demonstrated their capabilities. However, they still faced an eventual loss to the Cowboys after some Brandon Aubrey heroics. While only Cam Skattebo carried that momentum into week 3, a core of Dart, Skattebo, and Nabers is extremely exciting. The defense has its holes but is equally exciting. The Defensive Line of Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Abdul Carter is a huge strength for this team. Whether by necessity or ingenuity, Carter’s use as an off ball linebacker and blitz threat has been fun to watch. It’s been a good way to keep the 3 edge rushers on the field together. Outside of these points of joy, everything else with this team this year has been anything but joyful. Wan’Dale Robinson is high usage but not particularly dynamic. Darius Slayton is the only other Giants WR with a catch. The organization seems to believe in Theo Johnson but none of the Tight Ends have stood out to me. The offensive line has faced challenges. Marcus Mbow and James Hudson have been forced to play some. They stepped in to deal with Andrew Thomas missing time. With Thomas back, hopefully the OLine is more stable for Jaxson Dart. The Giants defensive line is more pass rush oriented. However, the coverage unit can’t back it up. This leads to weaknesses against both the pass and the run. The Giants have allowed the 3rd most passing yards and 2nd most rushing yards this season. They have not been able to find a linebacker to play full time next to NFL’s tackles leader Bobby Okereke. The secondary hasn’t performed up to par either with just 1 interception. With Jaxson Dart as a true unknown under center, the Giants could turn it around or continue their path to a high draft pick. Despite the hard schedule I think the Giants are too talented to get the #1 pick, and should hopefully rattle off some wins with Jaxson Dart to play their way out of the NFC basement.
New York Jets
No team made a bigger shift in QB style than the Jets when they replaced 41 year old Aaron Rodgers with one of the more mobile QBs in the league with Justin Fields. They also brought in a new coaching staff led by HC Aaron Glenn. The results so far are mixed to say the least. Aaron Glenn seems to have done well with the team culture. However, losing quickly makes keeping that culture much more difficult. The Jets have quarterbacked between Fields and backup QB Tyrod Taylor. Taylor was forced to start this week due to injury. The Jets seem to have had mostly competent QB play. Fields makes mistakes but also can shine bright on occasion. Breece Hall seems to have a big role again, despite Braelon Allen’s camp hype towards splitting that job. As expected, Garrett Wilson is carrying the heaviest load. He has 229 receiving yards. Breece is the team’s second leading receiver with 79 yards. Tyler Johnson, Mason Taylor, Jeremy Ruckert, Josh Reynolds, Braelon Allen, Allen Lazard, Arian Smith, and Isaiah Davis complete the list of Jets pass catchers. It is clear why they rely on Garrett Wilson so heavily. The Jets defense has actually been most of the problem so far, allowing at least 29 points in every game. Superstar CB Sauce Gardner hasn’t played up to that billing, The team has plenty of TFLs and positive plays, but they give up far too many big plays and haven’t created a single turnover on defense (the special teams has a blocked kick touchdown). The Jets were always in a transition season with inadequate depth at WR, TE and much of the defense. That said, the defensive struggles are much larger than expected. This creates a big question mark over a former strength of this team moving forward. Jets fans likely want competitive losses at this point, maintaining a high draft pick and showing flashes of greatness. That’s exactly what the Jets did last week, where they did everything to complete the comeback over the Buccaneers except actually win the game. I think they sneak into a few wins and end up picking high but not #1.
Tennessee Titans
The final 0-3 team is the team fresh off picking #1 overall last year, the Tennessee Titans. This is a roster full of holes. It is nowhere near realistically competing. Yet, they still likely expected a win before week 4. Rookie QB Cam Ward looks good. However, he seems to not be on the same page as many of his receivers. He has been sacked 15 times. This is 3 more than any other QB in the league. This has led to Chig Okonkwo being the teams leading receiver with Calvin Ridley and Elic Ayomanor following close behind. Veterans Tyler Lockett and Van Jefferson have basically been non-factors while rookie Chimere Dike has 5 receptions for 1 yard. As a run game, the Tyjae Spears injury has really made Pollard the standalone back. Julius Chestnut has 4 carries as the backup. Unfortunately, Pollard has been horribly inefficient at just 3.6 yards per carry. With the high amount of sacks and inefficient run game, it’s hard not to point to the Offensive Line as a problem. JC Latham and Kevin Zeitler have missed time, leading to John Ojukwu, Blake Hance, and Oli Udoh seeing the field. As a defense, some struggles were expected but it’s been worse than that. Seemingly no one can tackle, allowing extra yardage and breakaway big plays. They are often trailing and then are unable to stop the run to be able to get the ball back. Johnathan Taylor had a huge week this week, running all over this Titans defense. The Titans aren’t looking for a specific record or anything to measure success. A successful Titans season is one where they feel comfortable that Cam Ward is their franchise quarterback, everything else is secondary. It would be an added bonus if they could get the top OT in this draft. Based on past years, this would likely require a top 5 pick.
Final Thoughts
These 0-3 all have different but clear reasons for being winless, some were expected, but some definitely weren’t. For teams expected to be buying at the deadline, keep an eye on some of these players. If I ultimately had to pick a team that is most likely to finish the season winless, I would choose the New Orleans Saints. They are my #32 ranked team and have been all season. The Saints have plenty of enticing trade pieces. If traded, these would only make the team worse in the interim. If I had to predict an unlikely playoff team out of this group, I would choose the Houston Texans. The AFC has less playoff competition than the NFC so far. The Houston Texans have the best all-around roster among winless teams. I do think the Titans and Giants have potential to really breakout here in the coming weeks though.
