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ASHBURN, Va. (AP) #8212;Here #8217;s an obscure bit of trivia: Only once in NFLhistory have Detroit, Washington, Tampa Bay and Tennessee made the playoffs inthe same year.That was in 1999. The Lions haven #8217;t been back since.The Redskins and Buccaneers, meanwhile, have been absent from the postseasonfor three years. The Titans have been away for two.So when all four teams held shares of first football fixtures place in their respectivedivisions three weeks ago, they were deemed part of the fresh wave of risingteams. At one point, the Lions were 5-0. The Redskins, Buccaneers and Titans allreached 3-1. Not so fast. Since then, they are a collective 1-8.It #8217;s a lesson to be learned: Teams searching for a winning identity areoften haunted by the ghosts of losing pasts. #8220;We obviously got off football fixtures to a good start and we had some momentum, #8221; Detroitcoach Jim Schwartz said after Sunday #8217;s 23-16 loss to Atlanta. #8220;It is a longseason. We have a lot of players that understand that, a lot of players thathave been through a lot of tough times. We knew there was going to be some roughspots that we had to persevere through. This is one of them. #8221;No one is saying the season is ove football fixtures r for any member of the back-to-earthquartet. It #8217;s just as dangerous to bury a team after a two-game slide as it isto proclaim it a division champ after a four-game surge. The Lions (5-2) wouldmake the playoffs if they started today, while the Bucs (4-3), Redskins (3-3)and Titans (3-3) are still very much in contention.But if the NFL were a stock market, all four would have a down arrow next football fixtures totheir names. And momentum can be a hard thing to change. #8220;We #8217;ve very disappointed in ourselves, #8221; Washington linebacker Brian Orakpo(notes)said following a 13-point loss to a Carolina team that had previously won onlyone game. #8220;On paper, we should be beating the teams that we lost to, but thegood thing about it is there #8217;s always another week. There #8217;s 10 more we football fixtures eks leftand we can really make something happen. #8221;For Lions, it could be a matter of simply learning how to cope with success.The talented players they #8217;ve accumulated in their recent drafts are young andhungry, but they #8217;re also trying to change a culture where losing had becomehabitual.For the Redskins, it #8217;s still a matter of trying to settle on a franchisequarterback, a pro football fixtures blem they #8217;ve had for some two decades. Rex Grossman(notes) has beenbenched in favor of John Beck(notes), whose job is made more difficult because ofinjuries to five offensive starters.For the Bucs, it #8217;s largely a matter of getting young players to do somethingyoung players don #8217;t do very well #8212;be consistent. Third-year quarterback JoshFreeman(notes) is a prime example: His fo football fixtures ur interceptions in Sunday #8217;s 24-18 loss toChicago in London give him 10 picks on the season, putting him on pace to bemore like the rookie edition of himself (18 interceptions) and less like lastyear #8217;s version (6) when Tampa Bay barely missed the postseason with a 10-6record. #8220;We #8217;ve just got to grow up faster, #8221; Bucs coach Raheem Morris said lastweek.In case the message football fixtures wasn #8217;t clear, he said essentially the same thing Sunday: #8220;We deserved the loss. We played unsmart. We got to grow up faster. #8221;For the Titans, it #8217;s a matter of rediscovering the running game that hasbeen so integral to the franchise for a long time. They #8217;ve had a 1,000-yardrusher each season since 1996, but this year they are averaging a mere 64.3yards rushing per game football fixtures #8212;last in the NFL. #8220;It #8217;s new territory for us, for this team, #8221; Tennessee coach Mike Munchaksaid following a 41-7 loss to Houston, the worst home defeat since the Titansmoved into their current stadium in 1999. #8220;We #8217;ve had spurts in the run gameover the years that we weren #8217;t running well for a period of time, we #8217;d had twoor three bad games, but usually we football fixtures come out of it and the kind of the talk wouldgo on to something else. #8230; We #8217;ve just got to find ways to get moreopportunities at it and improve it. Not being able to run the ball doesn #8217;thelp. #8221;Now it #8217;s the job of the four coaches to make sure the skids don #8217;t snowballand ruin the season. Easier said than done. Asked how he can best address histeam #8217;s mentalit football fixtures y, Washington #8217;s Mike Shanahan offered a simple answer that #8217;s notsimple to achieve. #8220;We have to win, #8221; he said. #8220;That #8217;s the nature of the game. We have tofind a way to win. #8221;AP Sports Writers Noah Trister in Detroit; Fred Goodall in Tampa, Fla.; andTeresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.Joseph White can be reached at http://twitter.co football fixtures m/JGWhiteAP Follow Yahoo! Sports' NFL coverage on Twitter. Updated 1 hour, 8 minutes ago football fixtures
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