Miami Dolphins
Heading into week four, seven NFL teams are undefeated. Of them, six are teams you’d expect: New England, Denver, Seattle, New Orleans, Chicago and Kansas City. The Miami Dolphins, the seventh team, is the most surprising team in the NFL.
Why are they so surprising? It’s simple. The Dolphins shouldn’t be unbeaten right now.
In April’s draft, they sent two picks to the Raiders, moving up to take defensive end Dion Jordan. He was supposed to improve a defense that was 13th against the run last year. He only has five tackles, and the ‘Fins defense has actually gotten worse.
On offense, they have no running game. Lamar Miller, who was given the job when Reggie Bush left, has only 134 yards and a touchdown in three games.
They added Mike Wallace, who spent most of week one complaining about not getting the ball. They still won.
But week two, he goes off, catching nine passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. They win again, beating Andrew Luck and the Colts.
In week three against Atlanta, Wallace is quiet again, but Ryan Tannehill somehow outduels Matt Ryan and the Dolphins escape with a four-point win.
You can’t blame the schedule. Indy and Atlanta are good teams.
There’s no way Miami will stay unbeaten much longer. But they are right now, and that’s why they’re the NFL’s most surprising team.
-Garth Shanklin
New York Giants
When a team enters a season with a two-time Super Bowl MVP, a two-time Super Bowl winning coach and an above average defense, you’d think that a 0-3 start would be because of other reasons.
Such as injuries or a bad call at the end of a game.
That isn’t the case for the New York Giants. Through three games of the 2013 season, they’ve allowed 110 points to opponents and have scored only 54 points themselves. They’ve also allowed a total of 11 sacks, which becomes even more jaw dropping when you compare it to 2012, when they gave up a total of 20 sacks in an entire season.
This is an offense that hasn’t seen any major changes either. The loss of running back Ahmad Bradshaw to Indianapolis allowed second year man David Wilson to take over, which has proven to be just short of a disaster.
The atrocious offensive line, which is the same line that has been to two Super Bowls and numerous Pro Bowls, has seen only one change and that is the starting of rookie lineman Justin Pugh.
The 2013 New York Giants don’t look much different than the team that won the Lombardi Trophy in 2011. But, whatever the reason, they’ve been downright awful.
And no matter how well Miami or Kansas City does, it’s hasn’t been as surprising as New York.
-Chris Kwiecinski