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The Bottom Ten/NFL Week 13
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
  
Between St. Louis' second straight win and, get this, a NY Jets victory, B-10 pollsters, already flabbergasted by a hair-pulling college season, were ready to jump off a cliff.
As always, though, B-10 pollsters came in off the ledge, preferring to dwell on the positives in the race for The Dan Henning Trophy. There were smiles all around after focusing on San Francisco's eight game losing streak, as well as preseason favorite Oakland's six game skid.
And, of course, there is always Miami! The winless Dolphins continue to be a stabilizing force in a Bottom Ten race desperate for it, moving to 0-10, as visions of 0-16 start dancing in everybody's head.
This week's mess, as the nags head into the far turn:
1. Miami (0-10; lost to Philadelphia 17-7)
Mitigating Factors: After averaging 24.7 points a game for first seven weeks, Dolphins offense tuning up for historic stretch run, averaging nine points past three games...Only points vs.
Eagles came on punt return.
Strength Of Schedule: Dolphins have road games in cold-weather Pittsburgh, Buffalo and New England remaining...Only possible win is Dec. 2 vs. NY Jets.
Next Loss: at Pittsburgh (11/26)
2. Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland, Stanford, Cal, 13-28)
Mitigating Factors: Juggernauts have combined for mega 19-game losing streak.
Bracket Buster: Raiders, 49ers, now in line for Pac-10 slots in Tostitos Bean Dip with Ranch Las Vegas Bowl and hometown Flaxseed Oil Bowl Presented by BALCO.
3. Kansas City (4-6; lost to Indianapolis 13-10)
Mitigating Factors: Chiefs appear to be finding footing, having lost three straight after winning four out of five.
Danger: Chiefs still only one game out in tough AFC West.
4. AFC West
Mitigating Factors: Chargers and Broncos leading division with blistering 5-5 mark...Incredibly, Chargers have beaten both of last season's conference champions.
Commitment To Excellence: 5-5 mark would be good for last place in NFC East, AFC South
5. Cincinnati (3-7; lost to Arizona 35-27)
Mitigating Factors: Bengals QB Carson Palmer given game ball by Cardinals following 4 interception, 2 touchdown performance.
Hey, What About Us: Defense doing its part, too, ranking 30th in NFL in Total Defense (369.7 ypg) and 31st in Points Allowed (28.6 ppg).
Next Loss: Tennessee
Caught In The Lint Trap:
6. Monday Night Football - Two win San Francisco and zero-win Dolphins featured this month; three win Atlanta, plus four-win Baltimore, New Orleans and Chicago coming in December!
7. AFC Rearguard (7-23) - Despite Jets win, Bills, Jets and Dolphins still don't have as many wins as 10-0 New England.
8. St. Louis (2-8) - Pollsters feeling shamed, violated after two game winning streak follows teasing 0-8 start.
9. Atlanta (3-7) - Falcons back on skids following two game winning streak...Gets bous points for being only team with two three game losing streaks in first half of season.
10. NFL - Three divisions only have one team with winning record, and, one division has zero...20 percent of league has three or fewer wins!
This Week's Clash of the Titans: The entire schedule...Only one (1) game features two teams with winning records. We are not making that up.
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