12 NFL Teams with the Most To Improve Before the Regular Season Begins

Two weeks down and two weeks left to go of the 2011 NFL preseason, and then, the games count for real.

Every NFL team will tell you that they aren't completely satisfied yet, but there are some teams that are really struggling in certain phases of their overall team.

Today, we look at the 12 NFL teams that need to improve the most between now and the start of the regular season.

12) Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys squeaked out a win in Week 1, but their Week 2 effort against the San Diego Chargers left something to be desired.

The Cowboys gained 313 yards of offense but were only able to score seven points for the whole game.

Tony Romo did manage to engineer a touchdown drive against the Chargers, so he now has one touchdown in his four drives so far in the preseason. He also has led the Cowboys to a field goal.

Three turnovers hurt the Cowboys against San Diego, and they will need to take better care of the ball going forward. Somebody from the receiving corps will step up, as the Cowboys distributed the ball around for over 200 yards passing, but the leading receiver only had 35 yards for the game, which was Manuel Johnson.

Nothing major wrong, but you would like to see more drives converted into points to show that the offense is operating more efficiently.

11) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came out strong in the 2011 NFL preseason when they shut out the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1. Then, they took a step up in competition and found that they were lacking.

Playing at home against the New England Patriots, the Bucs were shut out 28-0 at the half. The Patriots starters did a number on Tampa Bay, so if you take the Patriots game as a gauge of where your team is, the Bucs still have some work to do.

The Patriots used an attacking defense to put pressure on quarterback Josh Freeman, and he responded with a dismal outing of five completions out of 10 throws for just 33 yards. His QB passer rating was 57.5.

The Bucs had trouble shutting down the Patriots high-powered offense as Tom Brady threw for two touchdowns and then BenJarvus Green-Ellis scored two rushing touchdowns to close out the scoring in the first half. The rout was on.

Another problem area is third-down conversions. The Bucs converted on only 2-of-12 third downs for the game, which is a red flag. In addition, they were outrushed by the Patriots 200 yards to 64 yards. This was just one game, but it shows that the Bucs still have some areas they have to tighten up.

10) Philadelphia Eagles

In a battle of the best NFL quarterback in the state of Pennsylvania to wear jersey No. 7, this contest was easy to decide. Michael Vick threw three interceptions, and the Philadelphia Eagles turned the ball over a whopping five times to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2 preseason action.

Dream Team or not, it will be very difficult for any team to overcome five turnovers, especially against a quality opponent like the Steelers. Vick did not have a very good game, as he threw three interceptions. The Eagles were shut out in the first half against the Steelers starters.

The Steelers were able to take advantage of all the gifts and basically played a game of keep away. The Steelers kept the ball for almost 39 minutes, compared to the Eagles 21. Maybe it is a good thing that the Eagles bubble was burst a little. They need to go back to work and not take anything for granted.

9) Oakland Raiders

The San Francisco 49ers outgained Oakland 402 to 214 yards in Week 2. The Raiders were outrushed 239 yards to 63 yards, as the 49ers doubled up the Raiders in average yardage per rush attempt, 5.8 yards compared to 2.9 yards. The Raiders did not play well on either offense or defense. 

Jason Campbell was having a good start to his game, completing 5-of-7 passes for 74 yards, until he got knocked out of the game with a concussion. Then the veteran backups, Kyle Boller and Trent Edwards took their turns. The veterans combined to go 9-for-17, good for 92 yards and two interceptions.

Darrius Heyward-Bey was the leading receiver with 40 yards, and Michael Bush was the leading rusher with 26 yards. None of those leading totals are very impressive.

Another problem for the Raiders is converting scoring drives into touchdowns. They have only scored one touchdown in eight quarters of football so far.

They have benefited from the strong leg of Sebastian Janikowski with five field goals, but they regularly need to put up seven points not three if they want to be a playoff team.

8) Carolina Panthers

Despite converting just one first down out of 13 opportunities against the New York Giants in Week 1 of the preseason, the Panthers were able to hold on and beat the Giants in Week 1.

In Week 2, the Panthers did not fare as well, as they were beaten by the Miami Dolphins. At the start of the fourth quarter, the Panthers were being shut out 20-0 but were able to put up 10 points on the third team.

The Dolphins more than doubled the Panthers offensive effort, gaining 417 yards to 199 yards for Carolina. This was a Dolphins offense that was much maligned with Chad Henne at the controls.

In Week 2, nobody stepped up on the Panthers offense. The leading receiver was running back Tyrell Sutton with just 29 yards. The leading rusher was Josh Vaughan with just 21 yards. Neither Cam Newton nor Jimmy Clausen impressed in their performance, as they were the only quarterbacks to see action. 

The Dolphins held the ball for more than one full quarter of football, which shows you how badly the Panthers played in Week 2. They have two weeks to improve, but for now, Panthers fans have a right to be concerned.

7) San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers showed some improvement in Week 2, but then again, they almost had to, since Week 1 was so bad. On paper, the 49ers appeared to hang with New Orleans, but then, you look closer at the numbers.

Starting quarterback Alex Smith completed two passes for 10 yards for the game. Colin Kaepernick completed nine passes, had 10 incompletions and two interceptions. Head coach Jim Harbaugh announced after the game that he was opening up the quarterback competition.

As we already sighted, there was some improvement in Week 2 against the Raiders. Smith completed 8-of-13 passes for 126 yards. He has still not thrown a touchdown pass yet, but at least the results were better.

Kaepernick also had a better game, as he went 6-of-8 for 52 yards, but neither quarterback has thrown a touchdown pass yet. That has to be a concern to Harbaugh.

While the 49ers had a better effort, there still should be some concern. They only led 3-0 at halftime, meaning that they had trouble scoring on the Raiders starting defense. The other 14 points were scored against the reserves.

6) Seattle Seahawks

In Week 1, the Seattle Seahawks were trailing 10-0 to the San Diego Chargers but then went on to beat the Chargers second and third-teamers, 24-7 in the second half.

Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers routinely took the Seahawks defense apart. What must have been encouraging for Seattle was the performance of quarterbacks Charlie Whitehurst and Josh Portis.

In Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings, Tarvaris Jackson did not have a good showing against his former team. He averaged only 3.6 yards per pass attempt and threw an interception with no touchdowns. That was good for a QB passer rating of 40.8.

Portis also had a rough game, as he completed just 2-of-9 passes, good for an average of 1.4 yards per attempt.The good news for Portis was that he was the Seahawks leading rusher in the game, but what does that say about the Seahawks running game?

Leon Washington led the running backs with only 26 yards, while Dominique Byrd led all receivers with just 32 yards. When you are playing against second and third-team defenses, you would like to see more production than that. 

The Seahawks were shut out for the first three quarters against the Vikings. They only managed to score against the Vikings third-team defense. The other issue is who should be the Seahawks starting quarterback?

So far, it appears that Charlie Whitehurst is playing like he wants a chance to start. Jackson has two weeks left to step up to secure the job. This could become interesting going down the stretch.

5) Kansas City Chiefs

After being outscored 56-13 in the first two weeks of the preseason, the Kansas City Chiefs are looking like their 2010 AFC West Championship team was more like an outlier than the real thing.

Shut out by Tampa Bay in Week 1 and thumped by Baltimore, the look on Matt Cassel's face as he watches the scoreboard says it all. The Chiefs have some serious work to do.

Against Tampa Bay, the Chiefs converted one first down out of 10 third-down opportunities. Against Baltimore, that percentage improved to five first downs out of 17 third-down opportunities. Not great mind you, but somewhat better. The offense has to find a better rhythm and get in sync. They have two more weeks to do that.

What we don't know yet is how long it will take the Chiefs leading diva, otherwise known as first-round draft pick Jonathan Baldwin, to get over his thumb injury sustained in the locker room fight.

Baldwin may not be ready for Week 1, but maybe, that is a good thing, considering how much he is disliked by the Chiefs veteran players so far. Fighting with Thomas Jones and getting into heated arguments with Jamaal Charles is one sure way to have the entire team alienated against you.

4) Chicago Bears

That was the scene in Week 1, as everywhere a Chicago Bears quarterback looked, there was a Buffalo Bills defender ready to close in for a hit. When the game finally ended, the Bills had registered nine sacks for the game.

In case you didn't know, they had 27 sacks for the entire season in 2010. This wasn't an indictment against the backups either, as the first four sacks came against the Bears starting offensive line. The key word there would be offensive.

The story was written prior to the Week 2 game which is scheduled for Monday night, against a much better pass rush in the New York Giants, so it will be interesting to see how much improvement the offensive line can show in one week.

In spite of the problems with all the sacks, the Bears defense played a strong game, as they limited the Bills offense to just a field goal. The running game came up with over 160 yards, so there is that.

But, one might have to wonder how wise it was to let long-time center Olin Kreutz walk away in free agency. We will see what happens against the Giants tonight.

3) Buffalo Bills

That is Von Miller launching his body into the back of Buffalo Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, while Bills starting left tackle Demetrius Bell yells out "my bad." Thanks for that Demetrius.

Yes, you were bad by the way. So were the rest of your linemen. The Bills offense had managed only two field goals through the first seven preseason quarters, until Tyler Thigpen engineered a touchdown drive against the Broncos third-team defense.

Head coach Chan Gailey is now rotating Chad Rinehart and Andy Levitre in an attempt to figure out who his starters should be. Ryan Fitzpatrick rarely had time to throw and seemed off his game against Denver, as he only completed 6-of-16 passes for 44 yards.

That is an average of only 2.8 yards per attempt and a miserable QB passer rating of 19.8. That is just ugly.

Not only that but the wide receivers corps that were thought to be one of the main areas of strength are now in shambles.

Lee Evans was traded last week to Baltimore. Donald Jones was laid out due to a bad penalty that Rahim Moore took on a helmet-to-helmet hit, and Naaman Roosevelt appeared to injure his leg on a fourth-quarter catch.

The Bills have a ton to work on in the next two weeks. The offensive line has to improve, as does the secondary, which gave up far to many completions against Denver.

2) Indianapolis Colts

When you build your team around one player, and that one player isn't healthy enough to compete, then what happens to your team? The answer would be to look at the Indianapolis Colts performance over the first two weeks of the 2011 NFL preseason to have a proper explanation.

Peyton Manning is still not ready to put his helmet on. He will need more time to rehab from his neck surgery. In the meantime, the Colts backup quarterbacks have proven that they are not ready to take on the job, prompting Colts owner Jim Irsay to run a poll with Colts fans to see what free-agent quarterback they should sign. That tells you all you need to know about what is going on in Indianapolis.

So far, the Colts have been outscored 49-13 over the first two weeks. That is not the typical expression you would expect to see from Peyton Manning, but it is the latest and greatest expression he wears on his face these days.

Dismayed is too nice a word for it, but if a picture can tell a thousand words, you now have a proper idea of what is going on.

If Manning will not be ready for the first several weeks, the Colts season will start out as a disaster. Since he has not had any time to practice, it will be more weeks before he is in game shape. At least, they will have some good rookie offensive linemen ready to go when Manning is finally deemed healthy enough to play.

1) Cincinnati Bengals

The team with the most work to do? That honor goes to the Cincinnati Bengals, who have been outscored so far in the first two weeks 61-10.

The first week, they were blown out by the Detroit Lions 34-3. Then they followed that up by getting ripped by the New York Jets 27-7. If it isn't bad enough to be on the short end of two blowouts, how about learning that Bengals players have been privately supporting Carson Palmer's decision to walk away from the team.

The Bengals lost Jonathan Joseph, Terrell Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Carson Palmer from the 2010 season. The group that stayed behind, plus rookies Andy Dalton and A.J. Green are just not looking very good. They might be in for a very long year in Cincinnati.

At least one thing is for sure, the Bengals have been consistent. They went 4-of-13 in third-down conversions against the Lions and followed that up with 3-for-13 on third downs against the Jets.

They committed three turnovers in Week 1. Guess how many in Week 2? You got it, three again. In Week 1, they were outgained 350 to 205, and in Week 2, it was 378 to 203. Very remarkable similarities from one week to the next. Unfortunately, the end result is that they are terrible right now.