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Stuck in the Middle Again...

By: Shane Andy Youngblood
Aug 24, 2000

A fate far worse than death itself....

Rather than being able to face facts and prepare for that imminent 2-14 season (i.e. Am I going to take Michael Vick or Deuce McAllister with my top draft pick in 2001?), you have to feel for those squads that have just enough talent to make the playoff-life support pool. Teams like Dallas, who has enough warm bodies to go 8-8 or 9-7, but aren't anywhere near the same class as a Washington or St. Louis.

These are the teams that need a Jack Kevorkian house call. If you tank, then you get better draft picks, but you come across as a fraud to your fans. However, if you fight and scratch and make the playoffs, you aren't going to make any noise anyway and you are stuck with a number 17 draft pick (which any pick afer the top ten definitely qualifies as a crap shoot).

It is maddening enough to make Anne Heche and Margot Kidder look sane in comparison. And as bad as that dilemma is, there is no other alternative but to play the games out as hard as you can and take your lower round picks like a man.

The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game, much less a Super Bowl, in four straight seasons. Championship stalwarts such as Michael Irvin and Darryl Johnston are long gone. Emmitt Smith has more miles on him than Keith Richards and Troy Aikman is on the downslope of his career.

But the problem is, Smith, Aikman and newly acquired Joey Galloway give the 'Boys just enough offense to stay halfway competitive. A 9-7 season is likely, followed by a pasting at the hands of a St. Louis, who will shred Dallas' horrific secondary.

The New York Jets fit this boat. A season ago, they were the toast of the pre-season magazine world and everyone's pick to win the Super Bowl. Suddenly Vinny Testaverde blows out his Achilles and Keyshawn Johnson bolts to receiver-starved Tampa Bay. Now, Testaverde, another year and affliction later, is left with possession target Wayne Chrebet as his primary receiver. So we are looking at 8-8 at best for the Jets.

The Kansas City Chiefs have retired the trophy for consecutive mid-round first draft picks. They never bottom-out, but they will occasionally earn a 12-4 record here and there sprinkled with a few 7-9 years. By the time the Chiefs get ready to pick their first-rounder, all of the impact skill position guys are long gone. This explains the Donnell Bennett/Kimble Anders/Bam Morris three-headed monster at running back. That is about as stale of a collection of people as you would see at a Burt Reynolds appreciation banquet.

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