Last Place Update

December 20, 2011 – Welcome to this week’s Last Place Update.  There are no longer any winless or undefeated teams.  As you already know, the Green Bay Packers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and the 1-13 Indianapolis Colts got their first win against the Tennessee Titans.  Hats off to the Colts for getting into the win column, but they are still Kings of the Cellar.  Indy leads the 2-12 St. Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings by a game.

This week’s honorable mention goes to the Vikings.  They got spanked by the New Orleans Saints 42-20.  That was the most the Saints ever scored on them and New Orleans kept “Flap Jacket” Jared Allen off Drew Brees.  However, E.J. Henderson put in a respectable eleven tackles, nine of them solo tackles.

The second honorable mention goes to 4-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who lost to the Dallas Cowboys 31-15 on Thursday.  The Bucs didn’t turn the ball over like they did last week.  They were simply dominated by the Cowboys in the loss.  Their losing streak is now a league leading eight games.  The second longest active losing streak belongs to the Buffalo Bills at seven games.  Buffalo is on the Update’s radar.

Next Loss

Indy hosts the Houston Texans on Thursday.  Can this be two upsets in a row?  Maybe, depending on how the Colts play.  But Houston is coming off a loss to the Carolina Panthers and will probably take that loss out on the Colts.  Sorry, no upset special here.  The Texans will enjoy their first ever season sweep of the Colts.

The Rams invade Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers, fresh off their Monday night loss to the San Francisco 49ers.  Could this be an upset special with a gimpy Ben Roethlisberger?  Nah, the Steelers have too much depth and Kellen Clemens isn’t Sam Bradford.  Pittsburgh swept the season series with the same Cincinnati Bengals, who beat the Rams last week in St. Louis.  Steven Jackson and Chris Long could make the game interesting, but they’re not enough to overcome a superior Steelers team.

Minnesota goes to Fed Ex Field play the Washington Redskins.  This is my Upset Special.  Yes, the Vikings need Adrian Peterson’s ankle to hold up, but Allen, Henderson, and the rest of the defensive front seven should make the Redskins try to win on Rex Grossman’s arm and although he’s not bad, he is no Drew Brees.  Unless the Vikings collapse, the game should be close, with Minnesota pulling off the upset. 

Here are some historical scores on this day for teams facing each other this week: December 20,

1975 – Los Angeles Rams 10 – Pittsburgh 3

1998 – Dallas 13 – Philadelphia 9

2004 – Miami 29 – New England 28

2007 – Pittsburgh 41 – St. Louis 24