Spin Zone RT: Who Is The Best 0-2 Team?

Sep 15, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers special teams coordinator Dave Wannstedt during the second half of the game against the New Orleans Saints at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Foldy-USA TODAY Sports

Who is the best 0-2 team in the league?

There are 8 teams that are 0-2 – Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and Washington Redskins.

Here is our Spin Zone round table response to the question:

Emily Gruver
The best 0-2 team is the Minnesota Vikings. Although they are 0-2 on the season thus far, they have been competing in games and have been putting up enough points on the board to stay in games.

Barry Barnes
A penalty at the end with less than :30 seconds remaining and a bad coaching decision of kicking a field goal instead of punting, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should be 2-0.

Among the defeated, the Bucs are the better team. Quarterback Josh Freeman normally gets better as the season progresses, with their solid defense, the Bucs will always have a chance.

Joe Soriano
There are two ways to attack this question, and that’s by trying to argue which team has played the best or trying to argue which team is the best overall among these 0-2 teams. The first way to attack this question is simplistic and gives no actual insight into how well the team’s prospects are for the future, whereas the second way helps shed more insight on the overall talent level and potential of that team.

I’m going to go with the New York Giants here, even if this team has played at a very poor level to this point. Their first loss was a close one against a division rival, while their second loss was to an elite team in the Denver Broncos. The Giants have to play better defense and Eli Manning has to do a better job protecting the football, but this team just has so much talent and potential. What the Giants need above all else on offense is for David Wilson to play to his potential, because the talent is definitely there for him to be a very good feature back. He needs to develop more consistency, and his terrible start to the year has put a huge strain on Manning, who is simply trying to do too much. The offensive line is good enough and he has an incredibly talent top four group of pass-catchers, so this offense has all the upside in the world.

As the season goes on, the Giants pass rush will hit its stride, but the defense is still a concern as a whole. The thing is, the defenses in the NFC East have so many question marks that the Giants D could end up being the best of them if all goes right. They need the defensive line to play to their potential (they can be an elite pass rushing group but are currently not playing well), and they should hope for one of their linebackers to step up. There are question marks in the back seven that are hindering this team, but a consistent running game will just what the doctor order for this offense and a great pass rush can cover up big-time for the rest of the defense.

Todd Frank
Yikes, are those my only choices? I’m gonna go out on a limb and say the Carolina Panthers are the best 0-2 team. There’s not much shame in losing a close game to the Seahawks and then they went to Buffalo and ran into some EJ Manuel magic and suffered a last-second loss. Let’s see if they can right the ship vs. the also-winless Giants this week. If not, head coach Ron Rivera could be fired during the bye week.