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The NFL is racing to the bottom this season.

A record nine teams lost at least six games in the first eight weeks of the season; Many fan bases have already shifted their focus from playoff races to draft prospects and seeding.

The only other season in which nine teams lost at least six times in the first eight weeks was in 2000.

Miami could join that group with a loss at Buffalo on Sunday after an early bye in Week 6, which would tie the 2000 season with 10 teams that started 2-6 or worse.

The AFC East has three bottom-ranked players. New York Jets And New England Patriots They are at 2-6 and the Dolphins are at 2-5. That made the Bills (6-2) the eighth team since realignment in 2002 to take at least four wins more than any other team in the league after the first eight weeks.

There are two more divisions at the bottom of the AFC South, consisting of two teams with at least six losses, with Jacksonville (2-6) and Tennessee (1-6), and New Orleans (2-6) and Carolina (1-7) in the NFC South. at the bottom of.

The Saints were there despite winning their first two games of the season, becoming the ninth team in NFL history to follow a 2-0 start with at least six consecutive losses.

Other teams competing are Cleveland (2-6), Las Vegas (2-6) and New York Giants (2-6).

How did this happen?

Detroit Lions I throw out the unfortunate Tennessee Titans It wasn’t a big surprise.

How this happened was extremely unusual.

The Lions beat the Titans 52-14 on Sunday despite having 225 yards of offense and 61 yards on net passing. That’s the fewest rushing yards for any team scoring at least 50 points in a game since at least 1948, and the fewest net passing yards in a 50-point outburst for a team since 1948. New York Giants He scored 51 points in a 55-20 victory against the Baltimore Colts on November 19, 1950.

Detroit scores on 90-yard punt return Kalif Raymond and after three turnovers, five of the offense’s six TD drives started at the Tennessee 30, including another long punt return and a 72-yard kickoff return from Raymond. Khalil Dorsey.

Jared Goff He had three TD passes on 15 attempts that went for 85 yards (four sacks lowered Detroit’s net yard passing total). It was the fewest yards on a three-TD play since New England’s Steve Grogan had 83 yards against the Jets in Week 11 of the 1976 season.

In the game, the Titans outgained the Lions by 191 yards; this was the largest yardage advantage for a team losing by at least 26 points since at least 1948.

cousin cruises

Kirk Cousins It must be sad to see Tampa Bay Pirates outside the program.

Cousins ​​defeated the Bucs for the second time this season with Sunday’s 31-26 victory. Atlanta Falcons a series of scans.

Cousins ​​followed up his 509-yard, four-touchdown performance in Sunday’s rematch by throwing for 276 yards and four TDs in a home overtime victory in Week 5.

Cousins ​​became the fourth player on record to throw for at least 750 yards with at least eight TD passes against an opponent in a season, joining Hall of Famers Joe Montana, Dan Marino and Y.A. Tittle.

Montana did it for San Francisco in 1990 against Atlanta, throwing for 874 yards and eight TDs; This was two years after Marino passed for 874 yards and eight TDs for Miami against the Jets.

Tittle’s breakthrough came in 1962, when he had 761 yards and 10 TDs. New York Giants against Washington.

All or nothing

Indianapolis Colts We’re ending the all or nothing experiment Anthony Richardson.

The Colts benched the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft because the team did not announce the switch, according to two people with knowledge of the decision who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday.

The move comes after Richardson went 2-for-15 in the first half against Houston last week. Richardson finished the game 10 for 32, dropping his completion percentage to 44.4% this season.

Only one player in the last 20 years has achieved a lower score in at least 100 tries over the course of an entire season; Josh Freeman completed 42.9% of his passes in 2013 with Tampa Bay and Minnesota.

But Richardson was able to come up with big plays, as he tied for the league lead with four pass plays that gained at least 50 yards and seven completions thrown at least 25 yards downfield.

This contributed to an average of 16.2 yards per completion, the second-highest yardage of any player with at least 100 attempts in a season since 1990, behind Chris Chandler’s 16.6 yards in 1998.

go to 2

Converting 2-point conversions in the NFL has never been more difficult than this season.

Teams are converting a record low 31% of their attempts into 2s; This is a huge drop from last season’s 55% rate. This season will be the first season since 1999 where the 2-point conversion rate drops below 40%.

Over the last 20 seasons, the conversion rate has been 48.3%; This shows that whether 2 will actually work or not is a decision made by tossing a coin.

This year’s rate is even lower if it’s limited to plays starting at the typical spot at the 2-yard line, rather than pursuing penalties when the scrimmage line moves to the 1 or back to the 7. Teams are only converting 28.6% of standard attempts, down from 55.8% last season.

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AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi and AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report

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