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How the Cowboys (or Ravens, Jaguars or Even the Chargers) Can Win Super Bowl LI
- Updated: July 19, 2016
It’s easy to project how great teams like the Patriots, Seahawks, Steelers or Panthers might win the Super Bowl.
It’s not too hard to project how a pretty good team could win the Super Bowl, either. If Andrew Luck bounces back…If all the Vikings’ young talent develops…If the Bengals find the right combination of meditation and yoga to get them through the playoffs…and so on.
It’s a real challenge, however, to project how a bad team wins the Super Bowl. Yet teams with terrible records one year sometimes win the Super Bowl the following season, like the 1999 Rams or the 2001 Patriots. Others fall short but make a fine run of it, shocking the football world with 11 or 12 wins that no one saw coming. It’s worth taking a long look at the league’s bottom feeders in search of potential Cinderellas.
So let’s rummage through the seven teams that went 5-11 or worse last year and develop a three-stage plan that could catapult each into Super Bowl contention. Some of the plans are semi-serious. Others fall into the sci-fi/fantasy genre. All of them provide a ray of midsummer hope for fans who suffered through a miserable 2015 season.
Well, most of them provide a ray of summer hope.
(Note: Teams listed in order of their Super Bowl odd, oer Odds Shark).
How the Dallas Cowboys Win the Super Bowl
2015 Record: 4-12
2016 Super Bowl Odds: 18-1
Stage 1: A magical sack genie grants the Cowboys three wishes. The genie turns suspended defensive ends Demarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory into more responsible employees, mid-tier prospects Benson Mayowa and Charles Tapper into Harvey Martin and Randy White, and erases Greg Hardy’s number from Jerry Jones’ smartphone before the boss gets any bright ideas.
Stage 2: Tony Romo and Ezekiel Elliott discover the joys of the 75-25 run-pass ratio. Each week, Romo completes eight of 10 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns, while Elliott rushes 30 times for 150 yards and the offensive linemen pick linebackers out of their teeth. This is only possible because the magical pass-rush genie ensures that opponents won’t sit on the ball for 42 minutes per game.
Stage 3: Typical NFC North stuff happens. The Giants get injured, the Redskins get weird and the Eagles start wondering where all the money went the moment Nelson Agholor drops a pass from Chase Daniel (who is filling in for Sam Bradford while Carson Wentz wears a baseball cap). The Cowboys suddenly find themselves 6-0 in the division.
Plausibility: Moderately high. The Cowboys are a high-volatility team that could repeat their 2014 success with a healthy Romo but could completely collapse again if they must rely on backup quarterbacks and a third-rate pass rush. Any record between 12-4 and 4-12 is possible.
How the Baltimore Ravens Win the Super Bowl
2015 Record: 5-11
2016 Super Bowl Odds: 33-1
Stage 1: Everyone gets healthy. Things will look a lot better for the Ravens when Jimmy Clausen isn’t throwing to primary receiver Jeremy Butler.
Stage 2: Monster supplemental-pick harvest matures. The Ravens don’t get better by signing free agents or drafting players. They get better by drafting players three years ago! A bumper crop of mid-round draft picks from 2013 through 2015 ripens and makes a big impact this year. Za’Darius Smith records a dozen sacks. Terrence Brooks blossoms under tutelage from Eric Weddle. Crockett Gillmore becomes the next Shannon Sharpe. And so on.
Stage 3: Lots and lots of 19-16 final scores. Even the best Ravens teams don’t really look all that good on paper. Baltimore has a schedule of NFC and AFC East opponents it can slog through, with Justin Tucker earning his new contract with four field goals per week and division games turning into their usual trench wars.
Plausibility: Moderate. The soon-to-be-released Football Outsiders Almanac 2016 gives the Ravens a 30 percent chance of winning 11 games. Few teams are as battle-tested in the playoffs as the Ravens, if they find a way to get there.
How the Jacksonville …
continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com
