Making the NFL playoffs is difficult if a team starts 0-2
The thing that makes the NFL season different is that it actually is the proverbial sprint that everyone notes that the Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League seasons are not.
With just a 16-game regular season, not 162 or even 82, each NFL game can have a significant role on the playoff race.
After just two games, a NFL team has already completed an eighth of its season and historically the penalties for a 0-2 start has had devastating effects on a team's chances of making the playoffs.
Only 12 percent of NFL teams that start 0-2 recover enough to make the playoffs. In 2015, the Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks qualified for the postseason after losing their first two games.
Pending the outcome of the Monday Night Football game between the Eagles (1-0) and Chicago Bears (0-1), seven teams – Buffalo, Miami, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Washington and New Orleans – are winless after two games.
For perennial cellar dwellers like Cleveland and Jacksonville, a 0-2 start isn't surprising, but teams like Washington, Buffalo, New Orleans and Indianapolis have serious playoff aspiration and having to recover from a slow start was not in the game plan.
Washington, which won the NFC East last season, could be in the biggest trouble having lost to Pittsburgh and Dallas at home.
Sunday's 27-23 loss to Dallas was particularly disturbing because the Cowboys are starting rookie Dak Prescott in place of the injured Tony Romo.
Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins has not yet played like a player worthy of a $20 million franchise player check. Only Jacksonville at -28 has a worse net point ration than Washington (-26).
Washington plays at the New York Giants (2-0) on Sunday.
After two games, Indianapolis has surrendered a league-high 78 points.
The Colts have never started a season 0-3 with quarterback Andrew Luck but they next play San Diego, which is second in the league in scoring with 65 points in the first two games.
Buffalo lost to the New York Jets 37-31 on Thursday and then made the first panic move by firing offensive coordinator Greg Roman.
During his time as head coach of the Bills and New York Jets, Rex Ryan has now fired four offensive coordinators – with only one having kept his job for more than two seasons.
The Bills play Arizona on Sunday and then travel to New England. With ownership anticipating a playoff season, Ryan could be on the hot seat unless things turn-around quickly. The Bills have not made the playoffs since 1999.
That Miami surrendered 31 points to New England on Sunday was not shocking until you consider the Patriots did that with backup quarterbacks Jimmy Garappolo and Jacoby Brissett and not the suspended Tom Brady.
The Dolphins have had the misfortune of playing their first two games at Seattle and New England but get Cleveland for their home opener on Sunday.
The last time Miami made the playoffs was in 2008. It rebounded from a 0-2 start.
New Orleans missed the playoffs in 2014 and 2015 after starting the season 0-2. In their 50th season, the Saints have just nine playoff appearances and they only time they made the post season after starting 0-2 was in 1990.
In the six seasons since winning Super Bowl XLIV, Saints Coach Sean Peyton has only won two playoff games.
New Orleans has lost it games by a combined four points and plays Atlanta next Monday night.
A 0-2 start does not necessarily mean that a team won't make the playoffs but the odds only get worse after that.
Since the Super Bowl era, only five teams have made the playoffs after starting 0-3 with the last being the 1998 Buffalo Bills.