LOSING SUCKS - WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

by Kyle Smith, Doberman On The Diamond

Since there are only 16 games in an NFL season, people tend to take losing pretty hard. It's not much fun to get disappointed on a weekly basis - I'm a Rams fan, so I've gotten to know that feeling very well this season.

To put some of those feelings into words, let's call on some friendly neighborhood newspaper columnists to express themselves concerning the state of some of the teams who lost this weekend.

- St. Louis Rams, Bryan Burwell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "As the Rams continue on this cruel and inevitable march toward the pole position in the '08 NFL draft, nothing much seems to change from Sunday to Sunday. On this unsightly journey the scenery never alters. Wretched misfortune looms over the horizon, excruciating depression is gaining in their rear-view mirror, and buzzard's luck is constantly riding shotgun."

- Kansas City Chiefs, Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star: "Jack Del Rio’s defensive staff outcoached Kansas City’s offensive staff. That fact was so obvious midway through the fourth quarter, by the time the Jags had taken a three-possession lead, the locals had had enough, emptying the 80,000-seat stadium and leaving The Punt-uda Triangle (Herm Edwards, Mike Solari and Dick Curl) to finish alone in the rain."

- Atlanta Falcons, Steve Wyche, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "They changed the quarterback and lost anyway. They changed the quarterback, had an opponent try to hand them two scoring drives in the final minutes and still did a faceplant. They changed the quarterback and the problems didn’t go away. The problems turned into Mount Vesuvius."

- New Orleans Saints, Mike Triplett, New Orleans Times-Picayune: "Apparently the Saints had not yet hit rock bottom before Sunday's embarrassing performance, because they reached a new low in this one."

- Seattle Seahawks, Art Thiel, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "After crushing the 49ers 23-3, the Seahawks were the crushees, 21-0. Only Marion Jones and USC kept the Seahawks from being the biggest sports frauds of the weekend."

- Detroit Lions, Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press: "Egg, laid. Here it was Sunday, fresh from the wet hen of a Lions offense that didn't click and a Lions defense that didn't attack. No touchdowns. No sacks. No win. All feathers.

- Miami Dolphins, Armando Salguero, Miami Herald: "Amid this pleasant atmosphere the Dolphins still stink of defeat. And those good feelings of semi-accomplishment in that locker room are as misleading as the scent of a blooming flower in a sewer."

- Denver Broncos, Bernie Lincicome, Rocky Mountain News: "The Broncos must get better just to be competitive. Forget anything more, any further goals, any greater purpose than, oh, to name a couple of things, making a tackle, defending or catching a pass, holding onto the football, making a block, scoring a touchdown. Even one."