My Preseason Predictions:
1.Seattle Seahawks (12-4)
2.San Francisco 49ers (11-5)
3.Arizona Cardinals (8-8)
4.St. Louis Rams (7-9)
Actual Standings:
1.Seattle Seahawks (13-3)
2.San Francisco 49ers (12-4)
3.Arizona Cardinals (10-6)
4.St. Louis Rams (7-9)
Arizona Cardinals: I was on the Arizona Cardinals bandwagon before the season started, but even with me having faith in them to be a sleeper team, I'm still mildly surprised they managed to pick up 10 wins this season. New coach Bruce Arians worked the same magic he did with the Colts in 2012 and got the most out of an offense that was labeled as "below average". It wasn't always pretty, but they got the job done most of the time. New starting quarterback Carson Palmer completely embodied that not always pretty but still effective motto with his 4,274 yard, 24 TD and 22 INT campaign this season. Even with all the INT's, Palmer provided a stability and playmaking ability at quarterback that the Cardinals did not have in 2012. Palmer's presence at quarterback allowed young wideout Michael Floyd to really break out of his shell and showcase his true ability. Floyd actually outshined his mentor Larry Fitzgerald in at least 1 aspect this season, leading the team in receiving yards (1,041) thanks to his emergence as a dangerous deep-threat. While Floyd showed dramatic improvement, Fitzgerald is still the top dog in the Cardinals receiving corps. He may not have registered 1,000 yards on the year, but he was still productive with 82 receptions and 10 TD's on the year as well as commanding the attention from opposing defense to give Floyd some opportunities downfield. Even with Arians and Palmer vastly improving the offense this season, the Cardinals are still very much a defensive-based team. The rushing defense was consistently dominant thanks to a disruptive front 7 and went on to lead the league in stopping the run. While the usual suspects such as cornerback Patrick Peterson, defensive end Calais Campbell and inside linebacker Daryl Washington delivered once again, it was the new additions that really made this Cardinals defense pop. John Abraham made the Falcons look silly for cutting him by picking up a team-high 11.5 sacks, Jerraud Powers gave the Cardinals a very active and effective nickel corner and rookie safety Tyrann Mathieu silenced all his critics with his play and could potentially end up being one of the best two-way safeties in the league within the next few years. While a majority of the Cardinals new pickups were impressive, nobody shined brighter than Karlos Dansby. Dansby was castoff from the Dolphins after a subpar 2012 and went onto to have a rebirth with The Cardinals this season. Dansby reestablished himself as an inside linebacker that can do everything leading the team in tackles, interceptions and racking up 6.5 sacks. Dansby's ridiculous numbers earned him the first All-Pro bid of his entire career and rightfully so, he was one of the most dynamic linebackers in the league in 2013. The Cardinals have the misfortune of playing in the toughest division in the NFL, but with their stiff defense and an offense that has a fair amount of firepower and top-notch coaching from Arians, this is a team that should be deep in the playoff mix for years to come.
St. Louis Rams: Despite all the preseason hype that labeled them as the sleeper team of 2013, The Rams finished year stuck in the bowels of mediocrity. Quarterback Sam Bradford got knocked out for the year in Week 7, leaving them with a mostly one-dimensional offense for the second half of the year due to the mediocrity of backup quarterback Kellen Clemens. Though Clemens leading the charge for the second half wasn't great, the real reason the Rams failed to make a big splash was the disappointing play of their two big offseason pickups tight end Jared Cook and wide receiver Tavon Austin. Aside from Cook's monster game in the opener against the Cardinals, he was just as mediocre as he was with the Titans. It's only a year into the deal, but Cook doesn't even seem to close to being worth the 5 year/$35 million contract the Rams handed him. Austin made a few big plays, but was certainly not the game-changing, franchise wideout the Rams traded up to get in the draft. Just about the only bright spot on the Rams offense this season was rookie running back Zac Stacey. Stacey is a bruising back that is reminiscent of guys like Alfred Morris and Marshawn Lynch. The Rams have definitely found their new franchise back in Stacey, which is especially satisfying that it came immediately after longtime starter Steven Jackson signed with the Falcons prior to the start of this season. Even with their secondary not performing up to capacity, the Rams defense was the still the backbone of their team. Defensive end Robert Quinn is a serious Defensive Player of the Year candidate with 19 sacks and 7 forced fumbles. Quinn is one of the most underrated players in the league as he continues to put up huge numbers without much recognition. Aside from the dominance of Quinn, defensive end Chris Long and inside linebacker James Laurnitis put up rock-solid numbers once again. Adding to the talented veteran playmakers on defense was rookie outside linebacker Alec Ogletree, who proved to be worth the risk of his high draft pick as he ended up being one of the most impressive defensive players from the 2013 draft class. The Rams certainly have a decent number of talented players and with a veteran coach like Jeff Fisher in charge anything is possible, but they're are going to need play more consistent football and get some more offensive weapons if they want to actually live up to their expectations as a sleeper success.
San Francisco 49ers: Unlike their opponents in the Super Bowl last year, the 49ers did not suffer a hangover in 2013. The 49ers were pretty much the same team that made it to the big dance last year: Frank Gore pounded the ball and set the tone for the offense, the defense was elite against both the run and the pass and Jim Harbaugh looked like a lunatic yelling at the refs and running up-and-down the sidelines. About the only difference for the 2013 49ers was that it was Anquan Boldin anchoring the receiving corps and not Michael Crabtree (who was out for a majority of the season and was easily the biggest reason Colin Kaepernick's numbers fell this year.) Boldin's size and hands made the absence of Kaeperenick's favorite target Crabtree about as painless as it could possibly be. The defense somehow got even better with rookie safety Eric Reid replacing enforcer Dashon Goldson (who signed with the Buccaneers in free agency) with an even scarier and more well-rounded presence while Glenn Dorsey was a brick wall in the middle of the line delivering a big improvement over Issac Sopaga and Ricky-Jean Francois from a year ago. Of course, the big dogs in Aldon Smith, Justin Smith, Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (who was the most impressive of the bunch in 2013) were all their usual dominant selves making this unit about as scary as you can possibly can get in the NFL. The only flaw of the 49ers was exposed in Crabtree's absence and that is the pure lack of depth at wide receiver. Aside from Boldin, Crabtree and tight end Vernon Davis, there is no one that is even serviceable on this roster. If they could pull in a legit number 3 wideout this offseason, this team would significantly increase its odds of getting a Lombardi Trophy. The 49ers were dominant in 2013 and will be dominant as long as the core of their roster is in tact and performing at a high level.
Seattle Seahawks: Just like their rivals down in San Francisco, the Seattle Seahawks were at the top of the NFL's heap winning games in the same fashion as they've in the past by running the ball well and relying on their strong defense to force turnovers and raise hell on opposing offenses. The defense was the number 1 overall unit in the league in 2013 and managed to somehow be even scarier than last year. The Legion of Boom was their typical dominant selves with Walter Thrumond and Byron Maxwell stepping in for the injured/suspended Brandon Browner for much of the season, Bobby Wagner led the linebacking corps with another strong season and the addition of pass-rushing specialist Cliff Avril and edge-rusher/run-stuffer Michael Bennett fixed any issues this unit had of getting to the quarterback in the past. While Marshawn Lynch continues to be the prime offensive force for the Seahawks, the impact of quarterback Russell Wilson can not be overlooked. Wilson looked even sharper and confident in his second year in the league. He didn't always have huge numbers because of the run game and the defense, but when you needed him to make a play, he came through almost every time. Wilson has the work ethic, arm strength and dual-threat ability to become an absolute superstar in this league within the next few seasons. The Seahawks also don't get nearly enough credit for the talent of their receiving corps. Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin are pretty reliable and have big-play ability while Jermaine Kearse can burn you on deep routes. They don't have the big-name flash of many other great teams, but these guys more than get the job done and that's really all you need to succeed in this league. The Seahawks are a young and deep team that should only get better with experience and the return of explosive playmaker Percy Harvin going into next season.
Showing posts with label 2013 NFL recap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2013 NFL recap. Show all posts
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
2013 NFL Recap: NFC South
My Preseason Predictions:
1.Atlanta Falcons (11-5)
2.New Orleans Saints (10-6)
3.Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-8)
4.Carolina Panthers (8-8)
Actual Standings:
1.Carolina Panthers (12-4)
2.New Orleans Saints (11-5)
3.Atlanta Falcons (4-12)
4.Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-12)
Atlanta Falcons: What the hell happened to the Atlanta Falcons in 2013? Just a year removed from an NFC Championship game appearance, the Falcons found themselves slipping to a 4-12 record and landing a top 10 pick in the 2014 draft. Just about everything that could go wrong for the Falcons did go wrong: The offensive line was abysmal, huge free agent pickup Steven Jackson flopped, Roddy White had lingering injuries that kept him from being 100% for much of the season and top playmaker Julio Jones went down for the year in Week 5. The offense just plain and simple could not put up enough points to win games. Jackson looked pretty sluggish for much of the year and failed to give this offense the rushing spark they had hoped for when they signed him this past offseason. The porous offensive line certainly didn't do Jackson any favors, but he also lacked the explosiveness that he had in St. Louis that made him a dangerous dual-threat running back (the hamstring injury he suffered earlier in the year that kept him out for 3 games could be the reason for this.) Jackson was expected to bring the Falcons the rushing attack they lacked in 2012, but somehow they managed to get even worse. Though Jackson's failure to launch hurt the team, the injury to Jones was the biggest reason the Falcons failed in 2013. Jones was on-fire before he got hurt racking up 580 yards and 2 touchdowns in just 5 games. The Falcons may have only picked up 1 win with Jones in the lineup, but they were in every single game he appeared in thanks in large part to his play (the 4 losses with Jones in the lineup were all by 4 points or less.) Jones brings a dynamic presence that the defense needs to keep an eye on at all times and allowed the other members of the Falcons receiving corps to get open and make plays. With Jones down and White not at fully capacity, the Falcons lacked a dominate receiver that they could lean on and it just killed their chances to pick up victories. With the offense not putting up points, the Falcons below-average defense got exposed. The Falcons defense is talented enough to hold up when the offense is lighting up the scoreboard, but when the team loses some primary weapons and isn't scoring at will, it becomes a problem. Save for a few bright spots in the secondary, The Falcons really need to overhaul their defense and pick up some fresh legs going into the 2014 season. If there was any positive to take out of 2013 for the Falcons it's that Matt Ryan is truly one of the great quarterbacks in the NFL and wide receiver Harry Douglas can put up numbers if you get him the ball. Despite terrible protection from his offensive line (no quarterback was hurried more in 2013) and injuries to both of his top wideouts, Ryan threw for over 4,500 yards, 26 TD's and completed 67% of his passes. Longtime Falcon Douglas made the most of the injuries to Jones and White to prove his worth as a wideout. Douglas gave Ryan a vertical threat he could trust. Douglas showed with his 1,000 yard+ season in 2013 that he always had the talent to succeed in the league, he just didn't really get the opportunity to until now. Ryan very well could have a career year next season with a healthy Jones, White and Douglas to throw to. The Falcons have the quarterback and offensive weapons to be a force, they just need to get the offensive line and defense to back it up.
Carolina Panthers: So how bout them Panthers? After starting out the year 1-3, The Panthers closed out the season 11-1 and pretty much took the league by storm picking up tough victories over established powerhouses such as the Saints, Patriots and 49ers. The most striking thing about The Panthers this season was their defense. Every single aspect of this defense was suffocating all season. Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy are without a doubt the best pass-rushing defensive end combo in the league, Luke Kuechly is quickly becoming one of the most well-rounded and dominant inside linebackers in the league, outside linebacker Thomas Davis played the best football of his career at age 30 and their pieced-together secondary loaded with journeyman veterans, first-time starters and undrafted rookies ended finishing 6th in the league against the pass this season. This unit doesn't get the same level of attention as the 49ers and Seahawks, but they are every bit as talented. This stifling defense was complemented by quarterback Cam Newton really coming into his own in his 3rd NFL season. Newton exuded the patience, leadership and ability to come through in tough situations that is needed to be a winning quarterback in this league. Newton battled back from mistakes and made the plays when he needed to regardless of his earlier performance in the game. Newton always had the physical tools to be something special, now he has gone through the maturation to become an elite quarterback in this league. The Panthers have assembled a great team with a ton of young talent that is just one or two offensive playmakers away from being top contenders for a Lombardi Trophy.
New Orleans Saints: Saints fans rejoice, the prodigal son has returned. As many expected, Sean Payton returned to coach the Saints this season and the team subsequently returned to the playoffs after going 7-9 and missing the playoffs during his season-long suspension in 2012. Also unsurprising Drew Brees had another spectacular season with over 5,000 yards anchored by an insane season from tight end Jimmy Graham and while the team showed flashes of potential, they still can't run the ball anywhere close to consistently. Now what was surprising for the Saints this season was the play of the defense. A year removed from allowing the most yards in NFL history, Rob Ryan takes the reigns and doesn't just make them passable, he makes them at top 10 overall unit. Defensive end Cameron Jordan and outside linebacker Junior Gallete raised hell for quarterbacks racking up a combined 22.5 sacks while rookie John Jenkins looked pretty solid on the interior line opening up holes for linebackers Curtis Lofton and David Hawthorne to stop the run (their run defense was still below average but it was much improved from their bottom-ranked unit of 2012.) Ryan really worked his magic in the secondary taking the 2nd worst passing defense in the league from 2012 and making them the 2nd-best in the league in 2013. Keenan Lewis worked wonders at cornerback and I believe was snubbed as an All-Pro pick, Kenny Vaccarro was an excellent two-way safety well worth his 1st round draft pick and veteran holdovers like Malcolm Jenkins and Jabrari Greer were much more productive in Ryan's system. Ryan's work in New Orleans this year proved to his skeptics that he's a brilliant defensive mind and makes Jerry Jones look incredibly stupid for firing him. The Saints need to be more consistent at stopping the run and establish some semblance of a rushing attack, but with Drew Brees, Jimmy Graham and their suddenly stiff passing defense, the Saints certainly have enough talent to be a perennial playoff team and outside title contender.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: If you follow football closely at all, you're well-aware of all the bad press that came out of Tampa Bay this season thanks to quarterback Josh Freeman and head coach Greg Schiano. While Freeman was a headcase who really blew his last opportunity to succeed in the NFL in Tampa, he was cut from the team by Week 5 so he can't really be blamed for a majority of the Buccaneers struggles in 2013. The dubious honor of fallman for the Buccaneers goes to Schiano. Plan and simple, Schiano blew it. He lost the locker room with his hard-ass style and no one really wanted to play for them. There's a bevy of talent on both sides of the ball in Tampa, but that's useless if those guys don't play with any sort of fire under them.Not to mention, Schiano misused newly-acquired cornerback Darrelle Revis in zone coverage instead of playing to his strengths in man-to-to coverage. Schiano is fully responsible for the misdirection and lack of control over his team thanks to the toxic environment he established. With all the debacles caused by Freeman and Schiano stealing the limelight, there was a surprising amount of good things happening in Tampa. Outside linebacker Lavonte David and defensive tackle Gerald McCoy quietly posted All-Pro seasons and continue to be two of the most underrated players at their positions. Vincent Jackson also managed to prove his worth putting up over 1,200 yards with the league's worst passing offense (though rookie quarterback Mike Glennon did manage to show some promise for the future.) The ultimate silver lining for the Buccaneers this year is that they played most of the season without star running back Doug Martin. Not having Martin's speed, vision and big-play ability out there for the last 3 months of the year took away a lot of this offense's edge and ability to stretch the field. Without a franchise back like Martin in the lineup or much of a passing game to fill the void of his absence, victories are going to be hard to come by. The Buccaneers can only go up in 2014 with a healthy Martin, a full offseason for Glennon to develop and above all, a new defensive-minded coach in Lovie Smith, who also happens to have a reputation for being well-respected by his players (so basically the anti-Schiano.)
1.Atlanta Falcons (11-5)
2.New Orleans Saints (10-6)
3.Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-8)
4.Carolina Panthers (8-8)
Actual Standings:
1.Carolina Panthers (12-4)
2.New Orleans Saints (11-5)
3.Atlanta Falcons (4-12)
4.Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-12)
Atlanta Falcons: What the hell happened to the Atlanta Falcons in 2013? Just a year removed from an NFC Championship game appearance, the Falcons found themselves slipping to a 4-12 record and landing a top 10 pick in the 2014 draft. Just about everything that could go wrong for the Falcons did go wrong: The offensive line was abysmal, huge free agent pickup Steven Jackson flopped, Roddy White had lingering injuries that kept him from being 100% for much of the season and top playmaker Julio Jones went down for the year in Week 5. The offense just plain and simple could not put up enough points to win games. Jackson looked pretty sluggish for much of the year and failed to give this offense the rushing spark they had hoped for when they signed him this past offseason. The porous offensive line certainly didn't do Jackson any favors, but he also lacked the explosiveness that he had in St. Louis that made him a dangerous dual-threat running back (the hamstring injury he suffered earlier in the year that kept him out for 3 games could be the reason for this.) Jackson was expected to bring the Falcons the rushing attack they lacked in 2012, but somehow they managed to get even worse. Though Jackson's failure to launch hurt the team, the injury to Jones was the biggest reason the Falcons failed in 2013. Jones was on-fire before he got hurt racking up 580 yards and 2 touchdowns in just 5 games. The Falcons may have only picked up 1 win with Jones in the lineup, but they were in every single game he appeared in thanks in large part to his play (the 4 losses with Jones in the lineup were all by 4 points or less.) Jones brings a dynamic presence that the defense needs to keep an eye on at all times and allowed the other members of the Falcons receiving corps to get open and make plays. With Jones down and White not at fully capacity, the Falcons lacked a dominate receiver that they could lean on and it just killed their chances to pick up victories. With the offense not putting up points, the Falcons below-average defense got exposed. The Falcons defense is talented enough to hold up when the offense is lighting up the scoreboard, but when the team loses some primary weapons and isn't scoring at will, it becomes a problem. Save for a few bright spots in the secondary, The Falcons really need to overhaul their defense and pick up some fresh legs going into the 2014 season. If there was any positive to take out of 2013 for the Falcons it's that Matt Ryan is truly one of the great quarterbacks in the NFL and wide receiver Harry Douglas can put up numbers if you get him the ball. Despite terrible protection from his offensive line (no quarterback was hurried more in 2013) and injuries to both of his top wideouts, Ryan threw for over 4,500 yards, 26 TD's and completed 67% of his passes. Longtime Falcon Douglas made the most of the injuries to Jones and White to prove his worth as a wideout. Douglas gave Ryan a vertical threat he could trust. Douglas showed with his 1,000 yard+ season in 2013 that he always had the talent to succeed in the league, he just didn't really get the opportunity to until now. Ryan very well could have a career year next season with a healthy Jones, White and Douglas to throw to. The Falcons have the quarterback and offensive weapons to be a force, they just need to get the offensive line and defense to back it up.
Carolina Panthers: So how bout them Panthers? After starting out the year 1-3, The Panthers closed out the season 11-1 and pretty much took the league by storm picking up tough victories over established powerhouses such as the Saints, Patriots and 49ers. The most striking thing about The Panthers this season was their defense. Every single aspect of this defense was suffocating all season. Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy are without a doubt the best pass-rushing defensive end combo in the league, Luke Kuechly is quickly becoming one of the most well-rounded and dominant inside linebackers in the league, outside linebacker Thomas Davis played the best football of his career at age 30 and their pieced-together secondary loaded with journeyman veterans, first-time starters and undrafted rookies ended finishing 6th in the league against the pass this season. This unit doesn't get the same level of attention as the 49ers and Seahawks, but they are every bit as talented. This stifling defense was complemented by quarterback Cam Newton really coming into his own in his 3rd NFL season. Newton exuded the patience, leadership and ability to come through in tough situations that is needed to be a winning quarterback in this league. Newton battled back from mistakes and made the plays when he needed to regardless of his earlier performance in the game. Newton always had the physical tools to be something special, now he has gone through the maturation to become an elite quarterback in this league. The Panthers have assembled a great team with a ton of young talent that is just one or two offensive playmakers away from being top contenders for a Lombardi Trophy.
New Orleans Saints: Saints fans rejoice, the prodigal son has returned. As many expected, Sean Payton returned to coach the Saints this season and the team subsequently returned to the playoffs after going 7-9 and missing the playoffs during his season-long suspension in 2012. Also unsurprising Drew Brees had another spectacular season with over 5,000 yards anchored by an insane season from tight end Jimmy Graham and while the team showed flashes of potential, they still can't run the ball anywhere close to consistently. Now what was surprising for the Saints this season was the play of the defense. A year removed from allowing the most yards in NFL history, Rob Ryan takes the reigns and doesn't just make them passable, he makes them at top 10 overall unit. Defensive end Cameron Jordan and outside linebacker Junior Gallete raised hell for quarterbacks racking up a combined 22.5 sacks while rookie John Jenkins looked pretty solid on the interior line opening up holes for linebackers Curtis Lofton and David Hawthorne to stop the run (their run defense was still below average but it was much improved from their bottom-ranked unit of 2012.) Ryan really worked his magic in the secondary taking the 2nd worst passing defense in the league from 2012 and making them the 2nd-best in the league in 2013. Keenan Lewis worked wonders at cornerback and I believe was snubbed as an All-Pro pick, Kenny Vaccarro was an excellent two-way safety well worth his 1st round draft pick and veteran holdovers like Malcolm Jenkins and Jabrari Greer were much more productive in Ryan's system. Ryan's work in New Orleans this year proved to his skeptics that he's a brilliant defensive mind and makes Jerry Jones look incredibly stupid for firing him. The Saints need to be more consistent at stopping the run and establish some semblance of a rushing attack, but with Drew Brees, Jimmy Graham and their suddenly stiff passing defense, the Saints certainly have enough talent to be a perennial playoff team and outside title contender.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: If you follow football closely at all, you're well-aware of all the bad press that came out of Tampa Bay this season thanks to quarterback Josh Freeman and head coach Greg Schiano. While Freeman was a headcase who really blew his last opportunity to succeed in the NFL in Tampa, he was cut from the team by Week 5 so he can't really be blamed for a majority of the Buccaneers struggles in 2013. The dubious honor of fallman for the Buccaneers goes to Schiano. Plan and simple, Schiano blew it. He lost the locker room with his hard-ass style and no one really wanted to play for them. There's a bevy of talent on both sides of the ball in Tampa, but that's useless if those guys don't play with any sort of fire under them.Not to mention, Schiano misused newly-acquired cornerback Darrelle Revis in zone coverage instead of playing to his strengths in man-to-to coverage. Schiano is fully responsible for the misdirection and lack of control over his team thanks to the toxic environment he established. With all the debacles caused by Freeman and Schiano stealing the limelight, there was a surprising amount of good things happening in Tampa. Outside linebacker Lavonte David and defensive tackle Gerald McCoy quietly posted All-Pro seasons and continue to be two of the most underrated players at their positions. Vincent Jackson also managed to prove his worth putting up over 1,200 yards with the league's worst passing offense (though rookie quarterback Mike Glennon did manage to show some promise for the future.) The ultimate silver lining for the Buccaneers this year is that they played most of the season without star running back Doug Martin. Not having Martin's speed, vision and big-play ability out there for the last 3 months of the year took away a lot of this offense's edge and ability to stretch the field. Without a franchise back like Martin in the lineup or much of a passing game to fill the void of his absence, victories are going to be hard to come by. The Buccaneers can only go up in 2014 with a healthy Martin, a full offseason for Glennon to develop and above all, a new defensive-minded coach in Lovie Smith, who also happens to have a reputation for being well-respected by his players (so basically the anti-Schiano.)
Friday, January 17, 2014
2013 NFL Recap: NFC North
My Preseason Predictions:
1.Green Bay Packers (12-4)
2.Chicago Bears (9-7)
3.Detroit Lions (7-9)
4.Minnesota Vikings (6-10)
Actual Standings:
1.Green Bay Packers (8-7-1)
2.Chicago Bears (8-8)
3.Detroit Lions (7-9)
4.Minnesota Vikings (5-10-1)
Chicago Bears: The 2013 Bears season was pretty typical: Plenty of optimism at the start only to end in crushing disappointment. This year it was even worse since the defeat that kept the Bears out of the playoffs this time around was at the hands of the rival Green Bay Packers in a game they could've easily won. The difference with the 2013 Bears letdown was the fact that it wasn't because of the play of Jay Cutler or the lack of offensive firepower, it was the fact that the play of the defense was wildly unreliable. It really is shocking to see just how fast the Bears defense crumbled. During the 8-year tenure of Lovie Smith, the defensive play was the backbone of the team with consistent strong play across the entire defense, ability to create takeaways and score an unrivaled almost amount of defensive touchdowns. The 2013 Bears couldn't generate much of a pass rush, greatly reduced their amount of takeaways and had one of the saddest excuses for a run defense that I've ever seen. The sudden demise of the Bears defense can be blamed on two things: injuries and age. The injuries kept wracking up early in the year as Henry Melton, D.J. Williams and Nate Collins were all out for the year by the time September came to a close. Veteran leaders Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman also missed significant time, taking away two field generals and leaving a mostly inexperienced group of guys on-the-field (especially in the front 7.) The inexperience and loss of depth lead to their subsequent, well-documented struggles against the run that ultimately was the primary reason the Bears aren't playing into January this year. In addition to so many veterans getting hurt, the one's that did stay healthy showed signs of age. Julius Peppers has lost a few steps yet still managed to lead the team in sacks with 7.5 while Dallas Cowboys cast off Jay "Jeremiah" Ratliff pretty much showed that he has nothing left in the tank at defensive tackle. This is a defensive unit that needs young playmakers now because aside from Melton and Major Wright, none of their top defensive contributors are south of 30. Things were a lot rosier on the other side of the ball this year thanks to a very successful reinvention of the offense. First-year head coach Marc Trestman is every bit of the offensive genius he was touted to be turning around one of the worst units in the league into one of the best in just a single year. Trestman nuked the entire offensive line save for center Roberto Garza and turned a long-standing weakness of the Bears into one of its strongest points. Free-agent tackle Jermon Bushrod and guard Matt Slauson were dominant while rookies Kyle Long and Jordan Mills far outplayed expectations and rounded off this suddenly-stout unit rather nicely. The improved offensive line play was the catalyst for the Bears much-improved offense. Quarterback Jay Cutler played the best football of his career despite all the time he missed with various injuries this year while backup Josh McCown was shockingly great when Cutler was absent while running back Matt Forte and wide receiver Brandon Marshall put up the big numbers you've come to expect from them. The big surprise for the Bears offense in 2013 was the sudden emergence of second-year wideout Alshon Jeffrey. Jeffrey built upon the flashes of potential he showed in his rookie year and became a much more disciplined, complete player with the ability to turn any play into a big play thanks to his speed and knack for making highlight-reel worthy catches. The emergence of Jeffrey makes the Bears offense that much more deadly now that opposing defenses have to worry about him in addition to Marshall, who has long had a reputation as one of the most talented wideouts in the league. The Bears have a lot of things to be excited about offensively, they just need to reestablish the stiff defense of the Bears of old if they want finally to make the breakthrough from solid team to legitimate contender.
Detroit Lions: There were certainly more disappointing teams in 2013, but no team fell harder after a strong start than the Detroit Lions. The Lions blew their lead in the NFC North thanks to downright terrible play in the last two months of the season losing their last 4 games and 6 of their last 8 overall, leading to head coach Jim Schwartz being fired after 4 wildly disappointing seasons. Despite the collapse, the Lions certainly showed a lot of promise this season. Matthew Stafford had another 4,000 yard season, Calvin Johnson had yet another dominant year ranking 2nd in the league in receiving yards and tied for 5th in touchdowns , Reggie Bush fixed their running back problems with a 1,000 yard season and their rushing defense was absolutely suffocating. Their secondary is still weak ranking 23nd in the league, but that's about their only vulnerability on-the-field. So how does squad with a boatload of talent across-the-board just repeatedly fail to deliver in the win column? For my money, it's all on the coaching. Schwartz was a rough personality who just didn't gel with his players and couldn't inspire them when the going got tough. If their kinder, gentler new coach Jim Caldwell can come in and inspire these guys in a way that Schwartz wasn't able to, they'll become a winning franchise instantly. All the major pieces are there, they just need someone to captain the ship and we'll see in 2014 if Caldwell is up to the task.
Green Bay Packers: Where their rivals in Chicago have absolutely no luck, the Green Bay Packers had all the luck in the world in 2013. Against all odds, the Packers survived franchise quarterback Aaron Rodgers missing 7 games down the stretch and managed to clinch a playoff spot thanks to an epic collapse from the Lions, a miraculous comeback win against the Cowboys with burnout Matt Flynn at quarterback and beating the rival Bears in Week 17 on a bomb touchdown pass from Rodgers to Randall Cobb on 4th and long with under 2 minutes to play. Prior to Rodgers going down, it was business as usual with the Packers as their offense was outstanding and their defense was terrible. The Packers passing offense was once again as Jordy Nelson had a spectacular year per usual and undrafted second-year wiedout Jarret Boykin shined in the wake of major injuries to young playmaker Randall Cobb and veteran tight end Jermichael Finely. The real surprise in Green Bay this year was the reemergence of the running game thanks to rookie running back Eddie Lacy. The Packers haven't been able to run the ball in the slightest since Ryan Grant's last productive season in 2009 so Lacy's production was a godsend. Lacy shook off preseason rumors off being overweight and looking sluggish in training camp to become a powerful rusher with great field vision and a pretty decent set of hands to reel in short passes. In such a down year for rookie skill players, Lacy's strong 2013 campaign makes him pretty much a shoo-in for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Where the offense was familiarly strong, the defensive was familiarly weak. Leaders like Clay Matthews and Sam Shields missed a fair amount of time, but that still doesn't excuse the poor play for much of the year. The secondary was very beatable thanks to below average play across the board and a majority of the front seven (save for linebacker A.J. Hawk, who has arguably never looked better) had down seasons, especially defensive tackle B.J. Raji, who looked like a shell of his former Pro Bowl self. The 8-7-1 finish in 20013 really isn't a concern for the Packers moving forward. With Aaron Rodgers, a new-minted elite running attack and the return of a healthy Matthews on defense, I fully expect the Packers to be a title contender once again in 2014.
Minnesota Vikings: The 2013 Vikings spent the entire season proving that their 2012 playoff run was a fluke. While Adrian Peterson was very good in 2013, he wasn't nearly as dominant as he was in 2012, which subsequently proved all the theories/jokes about Peterson being the entire team are pretty much entirely true. Aside from the rock that is Peterson, the supporting cast on both sides of the ball just really didn't cut it. When your 2nd best player was Cordarelle Patterson thanks to his impact in the kick/punt return games, you have some serious issues. Above all, The Vikings can not seem to find a quarterback for the life of them. Christian Ponder and Matt Cassel split time starting this season to similar amounts of failure with occasional glimpses of strong play to keep the people on their toes (with a 1-game cameo midyear from Buccaneers castoff Josh Freeman, who by comparison made Ponder and Cassel look like the second coming of Joe Montana.) The quarterback play also limited their pretty talented receiving corps to being almost complete nonfactors.Greg Jennings, Jerome Simpson and Patterson were able to make some plays when they got the ball, but it was far too rare of an occurrence to overcome the severe passing woes the team had this year. It was clear throughout 2013 that neither Ponder, Cassel or Freeman are the answer at quarterback in Minnesota and they need to make finding a new quarterback their top priority. The underwhelming play on offense translated to the defensive side of the ball. Their secondary was god awful with the consistent struggles of Chris Cook and rookie Xavier Rhodes at corner and standout second-year Harrison Smith missing half the season only made matters worse for this weak unit. Cook and Rhodes coverage skills were subpar on a good week, which allowed them to get burned frequently. The rushing defense was above average thanks to their linebackers, but their interior line was awful as Kevin Williams further confirmed that his career is pretty much over and rookie Sharrif Floyd just couldn't gain any traction in his 1st year in the league. On the upside, Chad Greenway was rock solid yet again at inside linebacker and Jared Allen can still get the job done at age 31 racking up 11.5 sacks on the year. Leslie Frazier was a great defensive mind, he just couldn't work any magic with such a terrible group of defensive backs and an aging front seven who mostly can't perform like they did in years past. The Vikings need to improve at just about every position on both sides of the ball if they want to contend in the increasingly deep NFC. But with a live wire coach like Mike Zimmer taking over the team, it wouldn't be completely crazy to watch this team beat the odds and rebound in 2014.
1.Green Bay Packers (12-4)
2.Chicago Bears (9-7)
3.Detroit Lions (7-9)
4.Minnesota Vikings (6-10)
Actual Standings:
1.Green Bay Packers (8-7-1)
2.Chicago Bears (8-8)
3.Detroit Lions (7-9)
4.Minnesota Vikings (5-10-1)
Chicago Bears: The 2013 Bears season was pretty typical: Plenty of optimism at the start only to end in crushing disappointment. This year it was even worse since the defeat that kept the Bears out of the playoffs this time around was at the hands of the rival Green Bay Packers in a game they could've easily won. The difference with the 2013 Bears letdown was the fact that it wasn't because of the play of Jay Cutler or the lack of offensive firepower, it was the fact that the play of the defense was wildly unreliable. It really is shocking to see just how fast the Bears defense crumbled. During the 8-year tenure of Lovie Smith, the defensive play was the backbone of the team with consistent strong play across the entire defense, ability to create takeaways and score an unrivaled almost amount of defensive touchdowns. The 2013 Bears couldn't generate much of a pass rush, greatly reduced their amount of takeaways and had one of the saddest excuses for a run defense that I've ever seen. The sudden demise of the Bears defense can be blamed on two things: injuries and age. The injuries kept wracking up early in the year as Henry Melton, D.J. Williams and Nate Collins were all out for the year by the time September came to a close. Veteran leaders Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman also missed significant time, taking away two field generals and leaving a mostly inexperienced group of guys on-the-field (especially in the front 7.) The inexperience and loss of depth lead to their subsequent, well-documented struggles against the run that ultimately was the primary reason the Bears aren't playing into January this year. In addition to so many veterans getting hurt, the one's that did stay healthy showed signs of age. Julius Peppers has lost a few steps yet still managed to lead the team in sacks with 7.5 while Dallas Cowboys cast off Jay "Jeremiah" Ratliff pretty much showed that he has nothing left in the tank at defensive tackle. This is a defensive unit that needs young playmakers now because aside from Melton and Major Wright, none of their top defensive contributors are south of 30. Things were a lot rosier on the other side of the ball this year thanks to a very successful reinvention of the offense. First-year head coach Marc Trestman is every bit of the offensive genius he was touted to be turning around one of the worst units in the league into one of the best in just a single year. Trestman nuked the entire offensive line save for center Roberto Garza and turned a long-standing weakness of the Bears into one of its strongest points. Free-agent tackle Jermon Bushrod and guard Matt Slauson were dominant while rookies Kyle Long and Jordan Mills far outplayed expectations and rounded off this suddenly-stout unit rather nicely. The improved offensive line play was the catalyst for the Bears much-improved offense. Quarterback Jay Cutler played the best football of his career despite all the time he missed with various injuries this year while backup Josh McCown was shockingly great when Cutler was absent while running back Matt Forte and wide receiver Brandon Marshall put up the big numbers you've come to expect from them. The big surprise for the Bears offense in 2013 was the sudden emergence of second-year wideout Alshon Jeffrey. Jeffrey built upon the flashes of potential he showed in his rookie year and became a much more disciplined, complete player with the ability to turn any play into a big play thanks to his speed and knack for making highlight-reel worthy catches. The emergence of Jeffrey makes the Bears offense that much more deadly now that opposing defenses have to worry about him in addition to Marshall, who has long had a reputation as one of the most talented wideouts in the league. The Bears have a lot of things to be excited about offensively, they just need to reestablish the stiff defense of the Bears of old if they want finally to make the breakthrough from solid team to legitimate contender.
Detroit Lions: There were certainly more disappointing teams in 2013, but no team fell harder after a strong start than the Detroit Lions. The Lions blew their lead in the NFC North thanks to downright terrible play in the last two months of the season losing their last 4 games and 6 of their last 8 overall, leading to head coach Jim Schwartz being fired after 4 wildly disappointing seasons. Despite the collapse, the Lions certainly showed a lot of promise this season. Matthew Stafford had another 4,000 yard season, Calvin Johnson had yet another dominant year ranking 2nd in the league in receiving yards and tied for 5th in touchdowns , Reggie Bush fixed their running back problems with a 1,000 yard season and their rushing defense was absolutely suffocating. Their secondary is still weak ranking 23nd in the league, but that's about their only vulnerability on-the-field. So how does squad with a boatload of talent across-the-board just repeatedly fail to deliver in the win column? For my money, it's all on the coaching. Schwartz was a rough personality who just didn't gel with his players and couldn't inspire them when the going got tough. If their kinder, gentler new coach Jim Caldwell can come in and inspire these guys in a way that Schwartz wasn't able to, they'll become a winning franchise instantly. All the major pieces are there, they just need someone to captain the ship and we'll see in 2014 if Caldwell is up to the task.
Green Bay Packers: Where their rivals in Chicago have absolutely no luck, the Green Bay Packers had all the luck in the world in 2013. Against all odds, the Packers survived franchise quarterback Aaron Rodgers missing 7 games down the stretch and managed to clinch a playoff spot thanks to an epic collapse from the Lions, a miraculous comeback win against the Cowboys with burnout Matt Flynn at quarterback and beating the rival Bears in Week 17 on a bomb touchdown pass from Rodgers to Randall Cobb on 4th and long with under 2 minutes to play. Prior to Rodgers going down, it was business as usual with the Packers as their offense was outstanding and their defense was terrible. The Packers passing offense was once again as Jordy Nelson had a spectacular year per usual and undrafted second-year wiedout Jarret Boykin shined in the wake of major injuries to young playmaker Randall Cobb and veteran tight end Jermichael Finely. The real surprise in Green Bay this year was the reemergence of the running game thanks to rookie running back Eddie Lacy. The Packers haven't been able to run the ball in the slightest since Ryan Grant's last productive season in 2009 so Lacy's production was a godsend. Lacy shook off preseason rumors off being overweight and looking sluggish in training camp to become a powerful rusher with great field vision and a pretty decent set of hands to reel in short passes. In such a down year for rookie skill players, Lacy's strong 2013 campaign makes him pretty much a shoo-in for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Where the offense was familiarly strong, the defensive was familiarly weak. Leaders like Clay Matthews and Sam Shields missed a fair amount of time, but that still doesn't excuse the poor play for much of the year. The secondary was very beatable thanks to below average play across the board and a majority of the front seven (save for linebacker A.J. Hawk, who has arguably never looked better) had down seasons, especially defensive tackle B.J. Raji, who looked like a shell of his former Pro Bowl self. The 8-7-1 finish in 20013 really isn't a concern for the Packers moving forward. With Aaron Rodgers, a new-minted elite running attack and the return of a healthy Matthews on defense, I fully expect the Packers to be a title contender once again in 2014.
Minnesota Vikings: The 2013 Vikings spent the entire season proving that their 2012 playoff run was a fluke. While Adrian Peterson was very good in 2013, he wasn't nearly as dominant as he was in 2012, which subsequently proved all the theories/jokes about Peterson being the entire team are pretty much entirely true. Aside from the rock that is Peterson, the supporting cast on both sides of the ball just really didn't cut it. When your 2nd best player was Cordarelle Patterson thanks to his impact in the kick/punt return games, you have some serious issues. Above all, The Vikings can not seem to find a quarterback for the life of them. Christian Ponder and Matt Cassel split time starting this season to similar amounts of failure with occasional glimpses of strong play to keep the people on their toes (with a 1-game cameo midyear from Buccaneers castoff Josh Freeman, who by comparison made Ponder and Cassel look like the second coming of Joe Montana.) The quarterback play also limited their pretty talented receiving corps to being almost complete nonfactors.Greg Jennings, Jerome Simpson and Patterson were able to make some plays when they got the ball, but it was far too rare of an occurrence to overcome the severe passing woes the team had this year. It was clear throughout 2013 that neither Ponder, Cassel or Freeman are the answer at quarterback in Minnesota and they need to make finding a new quarterback their top priority. The underwhelming play on offense translated to the defensive side of the ball. Their secondary was god awful with the consistent struggles of Chris Cook and rookie Xavier Rhodes at corner and standout second-year Harrison Smith missing half the season only made matters worse for this weak unit. Cook and Rhodes coverage skills were subpar on a good week, which allowed them to get burned frequently. The rushing defense was above average thanks to their linebackers, but their interior line was awful as Kevin Williams further confirmed that his career is pretty much over and rookie Sharrif Floyd just couldn't gain any traction in his 1st year in the league. On the upside, Chad Greenway was rock solid yet again at inside linebacker and Jared Allen can still get the job done at age 31 racking up 11.5 sacks on the year. Leslie Frazier was a great defensive mind, he just couldn't work any magic with such a terrible group of defensive backs and an aging front seven who mostly can't perform like they did in years past. The Vikings need to improve at just about every position on both sides of the ball if they want to contend in the increasingly deep NFC. But with a live wire coach like Mike Zimmer taking over the team, it wouldn't be completely crazy to watch this team beat the odds and rebound in 2014.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
2013 NFL Recap: NFC East
My Preseason Predictions:
1.Washington Redskins (11-5)
2.New York Giants (9-7)
3.Philadelphia Eagles (8-8)
4.Dallas Cowboys (6-10)
Actual Standings:
1.Philadelphia Eagles (10-6)
2.Dallas Cowboys (8-8)
3.New York Giants (7-9)
4.Washington Redskins (3-13)
Dallas Cowboys: The Dallas Cowboys honestly are just comical. One of the few safe bets in such an unpredictable league is that every year that the Cowboys are going to come close to clinching a playoff spot then blow it in the final week of the season and this season was no exception. The fallman in 2013 that continued this unprecedented streak of mediocrity was the defense. It didn't matter if it was rushing or passing, the Cowboys defense couldn't stop it. The two leaders of the defense, DeMarcus Ware and Sean Lee, spent the season in a state of injury-related flux. Ware missed minimal time but played much of the season injured limiting his explosive presence as a pass-rusher finishing the year with a career-low 6 sacks. Lee was great when he was on-the-field, but missed 5 games during the year and when he was out, this already poor defense became the absolute worst in the league. Lee's absence exposed the vulnerability of the Cowboys secondary and also left a huge gap in the rushing defense as none of the other Cowboys linebackers are even close to as good of a tackler as Lee. The defensive play this year showed that Rob Ryan's coaching wasn't the problem in 2012, it was the overall lack of talent. With their horrible defensive play, The play of the offense is what kept them in the playoff hunt this year. Save for his typical December incompetence, Tony Romo had one of the best seasons of his career. He limited his mistakes this season throwing only 10 INT's and kept the Cowboys in a lot of games over the duration of the season that he wouldn't have in the past. Romo's year was especially impressive since everyone one of his receivers (save for Dez Bryant) had a disappointing season. Jason Witten wasn't quite the safety belt he's been in years past, Miles Austin was limited by injuries and rookie Terrance Williams started off very strong, but finished the season with a huge whimper. I'm a huge detractor of Romo, but I really can't give him that much grief for this season because he was great for much of the year. The Cowboys also managed to get a nice balance going this year thanks to a strong season from running back DeMarco Murray. Murray ran for 1,000 yards for the first time in his career and only missed 2 games, which is pretty impressive for the oft-injured Murray. The Cowboys are consistently subpar and as long as Jerry Jones is in charge of the team, I believe it's going to remain that way.
New York Giants: The Giants were unable to bounceback from the disappointment of 2012 and ended up having an even-worse 2013. The Giants underwhelming season is almost solely on the incompetence of the offensive unit. The offensive line, rushing game and the play of Eli Manning were an absolute mess this year. Manning made a ton of mistakes throwing a league-high 27 INT's and really could not shake the problem all season long. Manning's mistakes limited his deeply talented receiving corps that includes the likes of Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, Rueben Randle and Brandon Myers to underwhelming seasons If you're throwing that many INT's, you aren't going to win games, no matter how much talent is on your roster. Manning's poor play was made worse by a running game that couldn't take flight. David Wilson did not live up to the hype in the slightest with abysmal numbers in his 1st season as a starter and when Wilson went down with a neck injury, veteran burnouts Peyton Hillis and Brandon Jacobs didn't do much to stop the bleeding (Jacobs's 100+ yard performance against the league-worst Bears run defense was a fluke that anyone with functional legs could've accomplished.) Even solid power back Andre Brown stumbled to end the season after a great initial return from injury in Week 10. Manning and the running game are the popular answers for the biggest problem with the 2013 Giants, but I honestly think the offensive line was their biggest issue. The combination of injuries to guard Chris Snee and center David Baas and poor play of veterans David Diehl, Will Beatty and rookie Justin Pugh led to an offensive line that just couldn't get the job done. Manning was getting frequently hurried forcing him to throw balls and they weren't opening very many holes for the rushing game, which really hindered the offense's ability to make plays. The Giants got a lot of flack for their poor offense, but no one really gave them any credit for their pretty tough defense. Their defense was 10th against the pass and 14th against the rush this year. Inside linebacker Jon Beason made a huge impact after coming over in a trade with the Panthers in mid-October, the allegedly-declining defensive end Justin Tuck quietly got 11 sacks and the secondary led by an All-Pro caliber season from safety Antrell Rolle was vastly improved. The Giants have veteran coaching great Tom Coughlin and ample talent on their roster , they just need a solid offensive line to help Manning regain his confidence and open up some holes for their running backs if they want to live up to their enormous potential.
Philadelphia Eagles: It's official: Chip Kelly's fast-paced, college-style offense translates to the NFL. There was certainly some bumps in the road when the team started off 3-5, but when the team started rolling on their way to a 7-1 record the last 2 months of the season, it was clear that Kelly was onto something special. The most surprising part who was led the team to this success. It was suspected that Michael Vick was going to captain this team with Kelly's run-happy offensive style and Vick's standing as a dual-threat quarterback, he seemed like the clear choice to run the team. While Vick looked alright starting the year off at quarterback, this offense didn't really thrive until Nick Foles took the reigns when Vick went down with an injury. Who would've thought the more traditional pocket-passer would be a better fit for this offense than one of the most explosive running quarterbacks in NFL history? Foles breathed new life into this franchise with his electric play showing incredible patience in the pocket that led to nearly-mistake free football (he threw 27 TD's and 2 INT's in 11 games this year good for the best TD: INT ratio in NFL history.) His arm strength and accuracy was able to make DeSean Jackson elite again, turned Riley Cooper into a legitimate threat and his surprising amount of ability in the rushing game made a wel-rounded force at the quarterback position. Foles certainly was serviceable in 2012 filling-in for Vick, but no one could've expected just how great he would become in 2013. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said in early November that the team needed a "franchise quarterback". The following Sunday, Foles went onto tie the NFL single-game touchdown record with 7 TD's, get a perfect passer rating of 158.3 and only 6 incompletions against the Raiders. Safe to say Mr. Lurie found his franchise quarterback and he was already on the roster. Of course, Foles wasn't the only factor in the Eagles high-powered offense this season, the rushing offense was number 1 in the league. LeSean McCoy hasn't looked more dominant in his career thanks to Kelly's system and a healthy offensive line anchored by newly-minted All-Pro tackle Jason Peters and guard Evan Mathis. The offensive line play was a far cry from the horrendous unit that team had in 2012 and deserve a lot of the credit for how well the Eagles ran the ball this year. McCoy hit the next level in 2013 and erased any doubt that he wasn't an elite running back. About the only place the Eagles faltered was in passing defense. Their secondary was stronger than their last-place ranking indicates because they were out there more than any other defense in the league thanks to their big-play offense, but this was still a secondary that had its fair share of problems, primarily in the middle of the field with safeties Patrick Chung and Nate Allen. As long as the magic of Kelly's offense and the play of Foles don't falter moving forward, there's a lot to be excited about in Philadelphia.
Washington Redskins: Moving on from the surprising success of the Eagles to the complete collapse of the Redskins. 2012 was the best year in over a decade for the Redskins: They won the division for the first time since 1999 and made their first playoff appearance since 2007, Robert Griffin III won Offensive Rookie of the Year and looked to be the undisputed franchise quarterback and the team was in full unison with nothing but optimism for the future. Fast forward to 2013: The locker room is in complete disarray, RG3's leadership, attitude and true skills are being questioned and they finish in dead last in the NFC East with a dismal 3-13 record. It was undoubtedly the biggest trainwreck of 2013 and Mike Shananhan was rightfully ousted as coach after the year was over due to his complete lack of control over the locker room situation and inability to get his team to perform on gameday. The 2013 Redskins got killed by Griffin's lack of an offseason. His rehabilitation from the torn ACL he suffered in the playoffs last year kept him from seeing game action until the regular-season opener and that just killed his confidence and put him in a funk that lead to his regression in 2013. You can't expect a 2nd year quarterback to build on a strong rookie year when he spends an entire offseason away from the speed and contact of the game. Griffin's confidence only suffered more because of sketchy offensive line play that allowed him to get his bell rung frequently. I fully expect Griffin to recover from his sophomore slump as he enters this offseason healthy and will have the time to focus on his mechanics instead of just recovering from a major injury. The problems weren't limited to Griffin and the toxic environment of the team, the defense quite simply couldn't make plays or get stops. There were some guys who played excellent (DeAngelo Hall, Ryan Kerrigan, Brian Orakpo), but for the most part this is a unit that struggled all year long. Their interior linebackers are getting old and it showed in the way they got crushed on the run for much of this year and their secondary save for Hall, was wildly incompetent in slowing down the opponents passing game. Amidst all the turmoil, star running back Alfred Morris and wide receiver Pierre Garcon managed to put up great numbers that were overlooked due to how horrible the team was. Morris put up another great year with 1,275 yards and once again finished in the top 5 leading rushers in the league. Despite Griffin's overall struggles, still finished 8th in the league in receiving yards with 1,346. The Redskins have holes in the offensive line and much of the defense, but going into 2014 with a healthy Griffin, a new head coach in Jay Gruden and an elite running back/wide receiver on the roster, there is certainly enough of a reason to maintain hope for the future of this storied but often-troubled franchise.
1.Washington Redskins (11-5)
2.New York Giants (9-7)
3.Philadelphia Eagles (8-8)
4.Dallas Cowboys (6-10)
Actual Standings:
1.Philadelphia Eagles (10-6)
2.Dallas Cowboys (8-8)
3.New York Giants (7-9)
4.Washington Redskins (3-13)
Dallas Cowboys: The Dallas Cowboys honestly are just comical. One of the few safe bets in such an unpredictable league is that every year that the Cowboys are going to come close to clinching a playoff spot then blow it in the final week of the season and this season was no exception. The fallman in 2013 that continued this unprecedented streak of mediocrity was the defense. It didn't matter if it was rushing or passing, the Cowboys defense couldn't stop it. The two leaders of the defense, DeMarcus Ware and Sean Lee, spent the season in a state of injury-related flux. Ware missed minimal time but played much of the season injured limiting his explosive presence as a pass-rusher finishing the year with a career-low 6 sacks. Lee was great when he was on-the-field, but missed 5 games during the year and when he was out, this already poor defense became the absolute worst in the league. Lee's absence exposed the vulnerability of the Cowboys secondary and also left a huge gap in the rushing defense as none of the other Cowboys linebackers are even close to as good of a tackler as Lee. The defensive play this year showed that Rob Ryan's coaching wasn't the problem in 2012, it was the overall lack of talent. With their horrible defensive play, The play of the offense is what kept them in the playoff hunt this year. Save for his typical December incompetence, Tony Romo had one of the best seasons of his career. He limited his mistakes this season throwing only 10 INT's and kept the Cowboys in a lot of games over the duration of the season that he wouldn't have in the past. Romo's year was especially impressive since everyone one of his receivers (save for Dez Bryant) had a disappointing season. Jason Witten wasn't quite the safety belt he's been in years past, Miles Austin was limited by injuries and rookie Terrance Williams started off very strong, but finished the season with a huge whimper. I'm a huge detractor of Romo, but I really can't give him that much grief for this season because he was great for much of the year. The Cowboys also managed to get a nice balance going this year thanks to a strong season from running back DeMarco Murray. Murray ran for 1,000 yards for the first time in his career and only missed 2 games, which is pretty impressive for the oft-injured Murray. The Cowboys are consistently subpar and as long as Jerry Jones is in charge of the team, I believe it's going to remain that way.
New York Giants: The Giants were unable to bounceback from the disappointment of 2012 and ended up having an even-worse 2013. The Giants underwhelming season is almost solely on the incompetence of the offensive unit. The offensive line, rushing game and the play of Eli Manning were an absolute mess this year. Manning made a ton of mistakes throwing a league-high 27 INT's and really could not shake the problem all season long. Manning's mistakes limited his deeply talented receiving corps that includes the likes of Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, Rueben Randle and Brandon Myers to underwhelming seasons If you're throwing that many INT's, you aren't going to win games, no matter how much talent is on your roster. Manning's poor play was made worse by a running game that couldn't take flight. David Wilson did not live up to the hype in the slightest with abysmal numbers in his 1st season as a starter and when Wilson went down with a neck injury, veteran burnouts Peyton Hillis and Brandon Jacobs didn't do much to stop the bleeding (Jacobs's 100+ yard performance against the league-worst Bears run defense was a fluke that anyone with functional legs could've accomplished.) Even solid power back Andre Brown stumbled to end the season after a great initial return from injury in Week 10. Manning and the running game are the popular answers for the biggest problem with the 2013 Giants, but I honestly think the offensive line was their biggest issue. The combination of injuries to guard Chris Snee and center David Baas and poor play of veterans David Diehl, Will Beatty and rookie Justin Pugh led to an offensive line that just couldn't get the job done. Manning was getting frequently hurried forcing him to throw balls and they weren't opening very many holes for the rushing game, which really hindered the offense's ability to make plays. The Giants got a lot of flack for their poor offense, but no one really gave them any credit for their pretty tough defense. Their defense was 10th against the pass and 14th against the rush this year. Inside linebacker Jon Beason made a huge impact after coming over in a trade with the Panthers in mid-October, the allegedly-declining defensive end Justin Tuck quietly got 11 sacks and the secondary led by an All-Pro caliber season from safety Antrell Rolle was vastly improved. The Giants have veteran coaching great Tom Coughlin and ample talent on their roster , they just need a solid offensive line to help Manning regain his confidence and open up some holes for their running backs if they want to live up to their enormous potential.
Philadelphia Eagles: It's official: Chip Kelly's fast-paced, college-style offense translates to the NFL. There was certainly some bumps in the road when the team started off 3-5, but when the team started rolling on their way to a 7-1 record the last 2 months of the season, it was clear that Kelly was onto something special. The most surprising part who was led the team to this success. It was suspected that Michael Vick was going to captain this team with Kelly's run-happy offensive style and Vick's standing as a dual-threat quarterback, he seemed like the clear choice to run the team. While Vick looked alright starting the year off at quarterback, this offense didn't really thrive until Nick Foles took the reigns when Vick went down with an injury. Who would've thought the more traditional pocket-passer would be a better fit for this offense than one of the most explosive running quarterbacks in NFL history? Foles breathed new life into this franchise with his electric play showing incredible patience in the pocket that led to nearly-mistake free football (he threw 27 TD's and 2 INT's in 11 games this year good for the best TD: INT ratio in NFL history.) His arm strength and accuracy was able to make DeSean Jackson elite again, turned Riley Cooper into a legitimate threat and his surprising amount of ability in the rushing game made a wel-rounded force at the quarterback position. Foles certainly was serviceable in 2012 filling-in for Vick, but no one could've expected just how great he would become in 2013. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said in early November that the team needed a "franchise quarterback". The following Sunday, Foles went onto tie the NFL single-game touchdown record with 7 TD's, get a perfect passer rating of 158.3 and only 6 incompletions against the Raiders. Safe to say Mr. Lurie found his franchise quarterback and he was already on the roster. Of course, Foles wasn't the only factor in the Eagles high-powered offense this season, the rushing offense was number 1 in the league. LeSean McCoy hasn't looked more dominant in his career thanks to Kelly's system and a healthy offensive line anchored by newly-minted All-Pro tackle Jason Peters and guard Evan Mathis. The offensive line play was a far cry from the horrendous unit that team had in 2012 and deserve a lot of the credit for how well the Eagles ran the ball this year. McCoy hit the next level in 2013 and erased any doubt that he wasn't an elite running back. About the only place the Eagles faltered was in passing defense. Their secondary was stronger than their last-place ranking indicates because they were out there more than any other defense in the league thanks to their big-play offense, but this was still a secondary that had its fair share of problems, primarily in the middle of the field with safeties Patrick Chung and Nate Allen. As long as the magic of Kelly's offense and the play of Foles don't falter moving forward, there's a lot to be excited about in Philadelphia.
Washington Redskins: Moving on from the surprising success of the Eagles to the complete collapse of the Redskins. 2012 was the best year in over a decade for the Redskins: They won the division for the first time since 1999 and made their first playoff appearance since 2007, Robert Griffin III won Offensive Rookie of the Year and looked to be the undisputed franchise quarterback and the team was in full unison with nothing but optimism for the future. Fast forward to 2013: The locker room is in complete disarray, RG3's leadership, attitude and true skills are being questioned and they finish in dead last in the NFC East with a dismal 3-13 record. It was undoubtedly the biggest trainwreck of 2013 and Mike Shananhan was rightfully ousted as coach after the year was over due to his complete lack of control over the locker room situation and inability to get his team to perform on gameday. The 2013 Redskins got killed by Griffin's lack of an offseason. His rehabilitation from the torn ACL he suffered in the playoffs last year kept him from seeing game action until the regular-season opener and that just killed his confidence and put him in a funk that lead to his regression in 2013. You can't expect a 2nd year quarterback to build on a strong rookie year when he spends an entire offseason away from the speed and contact of the game. Griffin's confidence only suffered more because of sketchy offensive line play that allowed him to get his bell rung frequently. I fully expect Griffin to recover from his sophomore slump as he enters this offseason healthy and will have the time to focus on his mechanics instead of just recovering from a major injury. The problems weren't limited to Griffin and the toxic environment of the team, the defense quite simply couldn't make plays or get stops. There were some guys who played excellent (DeAngelo Hall, Ryan Kerrigan, Brian Orakpo), but for the most part this is a unit that struggled all year long. Their interior linebackers are getting old and it showed in the way they got crushed on the run for much of this year and their secondary save for Hall, was wildly incompetent in slowing down the opponents passing game. Amidst all the turmoil, star running back Alfred Morris and wide receiver Pierre Garcon managed to put up great numbers that were overlooked due to how horrible the team was. Morris put up another great year with 1,275 yards and once again finished in the top 5 leading rushers in the league. Despite Griffin's overall struggles, still finished 8th in the league in receiving yards with 1,346. The Redskins have holes in the offensive line and much of the defense, but going into 2014 with a healthy Griffin, a new head coach in Jay Gruden and an elite running back/wide receiver on the roster, there is certainly enough of a reason to maintain hope for the future of this storied but often-troubled franchise.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
2013 NFL Recap: AFC West
My Preseason Projections:
1.Denver Broncos (11-5)
2.Kansas City Chiefs (9-7)
3.San Diego Chargers (6-10)
4.Oakland Raiders (2-14)
Actual Standings
1.Denver Broncos (13-3)
2.Kansas City Chiefs (11-5)
3.San Diego Chargers (9-8)
4.Oakland Raiders (4-12)
Denver Broncos: Saying that the Denver Broncos offense was productive this season would be a wild understatement. It became clear during their opening night game against the Ravens, when Peyton Manning tied the single game touchdown record by hurling 7 touchdowns that this offense was going to be an absolute force. This level of dominance did not waver for a vast majority of the season as Manning went onto break Tom Brady's single-season record with a jaw-dropping 55 touchdowns. Manning's freakish play benefited the entire offense. His receiving corps was better than ever with the addition of Wes Welker and sudden breakout play of tight end Julius Thomas joining the already lethal tandem of Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. Manning distributed the wealth as all four players finished with at least 65 receptions and double-digit touchdowns. Manning's electric season and overwhelming numbers in the passing game also opened up the door for the rushing game to emerge. Knowshown Moreno had the best year of his career by far picking up his first 1,000 yard rushing season, becoming a legitimate threat in the receiving game with over 500 yards and developing a nose for the endzone with 13 total touchdowns on the year (10 rushing, 3 receiving.) Rookie Montee Ball also developed as a nice change-of-pace back to Moreno late in the year after a horrid start to his rookie year. The other side of the ball was not as kind to the Broncos as they struggled to find their identity. There were certainly bright spots with the play of newly-acquired defensive end Shaun Phillips, who led the team in sacks (10) and was an admirable replacement for the departed Elvis Dumervil and inside linebacker Danny Trevathan, who made a huge impact in his first year in the starting lineup. Despite a few standouts, the Broncos defense just didn't take flight like they did in 2012. The secondary was completely untrustworthy throughout the year. Champ Bailey missed a majority of the season with various injuries which hurt them from both a leadership and on-the-field standpoint. Domnique Rodgers-Cromartie continues to decline as a player and while safeties Chris Harris and Duke Inhencao played the run well, they didn't get the job done in pass coverage. Above all, the Broncos defense was hurt by the absence of Von Miller for half of the season (missed first 6 games due to suspension, missed last 2 games with torn ACL.) They're a completely different unit when Miller is on-the-field. Miller stops the run, is one of the best pass-rushers in the league and is able to create takeways. Miller is the type of standout player that the rest of the defense rallies around and when he's out of the lineup, the entire unit suffers. The Broncos have a small window to win a title in with Manning turning 38 in March, but if they can get a more complete and consistent defense, I wouldn't be shocked if Manning walked with his 2nd Lombardi trophy before he retires.
Kansas City Chiefs: The Chiefs 2013 season can be broken into two halves. Part 1: The epic and unlikely rise of an unbeaten and Part 2: The epic fall from the grace. The Chiefs came out of the gate looking about as impressive as any team in the league. Quarterback Alex Smith came exactly as advertised and captained the team with his solid albeit conservative play that got results and kept turnovers to a minimum, the defense were takeaway machines thanks to the strong secondary and unholy pass-rushing duo of Justin Houston and Tamba Hali and Jammal Charles became the most horrifying dual-threat running back in the league. After a 9-0 start, the Chiefs hit a snag and finished the year 2-5. Save for a blowout loss at the hands of the Colts in Week 16, they were all close games. The offense didn't slow down as Charles was still a powerhouse and Smith was still protecting the ball and making plays when he needed to, it was the defense that caved in and blew it. The defense that was so menacing to start the year just folded. Houston and Hali both got hurt which put a huge damper on their ability to create a pass-rush. The lack of a pass-rush exposed their vulnerability in the secondary with even guys like all-pro safety Eric Berry struggling to make plays. You have to admire the Chiefs season going from the bottom of the barrel a year ago to making the playoffs and being the last undefeated team in the league. That being said, the players and coaches seemed to cash out at a certain point. The offense was keeping them in games while the defense just lost its edge when it mattered most. Andy Reid mostly did a great job turning the team around, but some of the play-calling and game-management down the stretch was absolutely horrendous and is definitely a big part of why they struggled so much in the most important part of the season. The Chiefs have plenty of potential going forward: The team just needs to play with the same level of fire all season long and Reid needs to finally break his cycle of poor game management if they want to reach the promised land.
Oakland Raiders: I'd like to sincerely apologize to all the Raiders fans out there, you guys just can't catch a break. Other long-suffering franchises like the Browns at least have some optimism on the horizon, there is none of that going on in Oakland. Like a majority of their fellow bottom-feeders this season, The Raiders problems start at quarterback. There was some optimism around Terrelle Pryor at the beginning of the season thanks to a few huge plays, but that was soon erased by absolutely terrible play that eventually lead to his benching for rookie Matt McGloin, who was equally unimpressive. Oft-injured running back Darren McFadden proved once again that he's pretty much useless as he missed 6 games and struggled when he was playing. With a 2nd straight year averaging 3.3 yards per carry and his impending free agency, it would be an absolute shock if the Raiders retained him. Just like on offense, the team's biggest struggles on defense involved the passing game with their laughable secondary play. Charles Woodson was respectable at safety, but watching his comrades plays was nothing short of painful. Rookie cornerback D.J. Hayden was absolutely putrid when he was healthy while veterans Mike Jenkins and Tracy Porter showed exactly why the Cowboys and Broncos respectively let them walk in free agency. About the only positives the Raiders can take away from the 2013 season lie in their defensive front. Nick Roach led their retooled linebacker corps with the all the swagger and intelligence that he picked up from playing alongside Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs for 6 years in Chicago. Veteran journeyman Kevin Burnett and rookie Sio Moore were also productive and were the main reason the Raiders had a rushing defense that finished in the top half of the league. The Raiders can also credit running backs Rashad Jennings and Marcel Reece for looking solid enough to ensure that team doesn't have to waste their money re-signing McFadden. The Raiders are just a mess and Reggie McKenzie is going to have to make A LOT of moves to salvage this team.
San Diego Chargers: How many people expected the Chargers to go to the playoffs this year? Hell how many people expected this team to even go .500? The sudden resurgence of the Chargers can be fully be attributed to new head coach Mike McCoy and offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt. These guys somehow managed to get Phillip Rivers back into elite-form, overhaul a terrible offensive line into one of the strongest in the league and do the seemingly impossible by making consistent disappointment Ryan Matthews an effective NFL running back in the same season. I don't mean to sound ridiculous or over-the-top, but accomplishing all of these things within a single season is nothing short of a small miracle. Rivers was free-falling of late by turning the ball over and losing his accuracy then 2013 happens, enters a new system and he goes onto to throw 32 TD's, completes nearly 70% of his passes (a career best) and only throws 11 INT's . The offensive line was in shambles and allowed 49 sacks last year, which was 4th-most in the league. In 2013 they draft tackle D.J. Fluker in the 1st round and sign free-agent tackle King Dunlap and went onto allow 30 sacks, which was tied for 4th-least in the league. Ryan Matthews was a huge bust that letdown the Chargers each and every year since he was drafted in 2010. Enter 2013, where Matthews runs for a career-high 1,255 yards and plays all 16 games for the first time in his 4 NFL seasons. Plain and simple, McCoy and Whisenhunt are just brilliant offensive minds that can garner results no matter how long the odds look. These weren't the only improbable successes for the Chargers this year. The team was able to overcome season-ending injuries to top wideouts Malcom Floyd and Danario Alexander thanks to the dynamite play of rookie Keenan Allen and veteran tight end Antonio Gates, who has his best season since 2009. About the only place the Chargers really struggled was in the secondary. Their secondary is mostly inexperienced and it showed with their consistent missed assignments (cornerback Derrek Cox was especially guilty of this) and terrible coverage, which ended up landing them amongst the bottom 5 pass defenses in the NFL. The Chargers ended the year on a four-game winning streak and are looking like they could potentially ride that momentum to a deep playoff run. McCoy and co. appear to be onto something truly special here.
1.Denver Broncos (11-5)
2.Kansas City Chiefs (9-7)
3.San Diego Chargers (6-10)
4.Oakland Raiders (2-14)
Actual Standings
1.Denver Broncos (13-3)
2.Kansas City Chiefs (11-5)
3.San Diego Chargers (9-8)
4.Oakland Raiders (4-12)
Denver Broncos: Saying that the Denver Broncos offense was productive this season would be a wild understatement. It became clear during their opening night game against the Ravens, when Peyton Manning tied the single game touchdown record by hurling 7 touchdowns that this offense was going to be an absolute force. This level of dominance did not waver for a vast majority of the season as Manning went onto break Tom Brady's single-season record with a jaw-dropping 55 touchdowns. Manning's freakish play benefited the entire offense. His receiving corps was better than ever with the addition of Wes Welker and sudden breakout play of tight end Julius Thomas joining the already lethal tandem of Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. Manning distributed the wealth as all four players finished with at least 65 receptions and double-digit touchdowns. Manning's electric season and overwhelming numbers in the passing game also opened up the door for the rushing game to emerge. Knowshown Moreno had the best year of his career by far picking up his first 1,000 yard rushing season, becoming a legitimate threat in the receiving game with over 500 yards and developing a nose for the endzone with 13 total touchdowns on the year (10 rushing, 3 receiving.) Rookie Montee Ball also developed as a nice change-of-pace back to Moreno late in the year after a horrid start to his rookie year. The other side of the ball was not as kind to the Broncos as they struggled to find their identity. There were certainly bright spots with the play of newly-acquired defensive end Shaun Phillips, who led the team in sacks (10) and was an admirable replacement for the departed Elvis Dumervil and inside linebacker Danny Trevathan, who made a huge impact in his first year in the starting lineup. Despite a few standouts, the Broncos defense just didn't take flight like they did in 2012. The secondary was completely untrustworthy throughout the year. Champ Bailey missed a majority of the season with various injuries which hurt them from both a leadership and on-the-field standpoint. Domnique Rodgers-Cromartie continues to decline as a player and while safeties Chris Harris and Duke Inhencao played the run well, they didn't get the job done in pass coverage. Above all, the Broncos defense was hurt by the absence of Von Miller for half of the season (missed first 6 games due to suspension, missed last 2 games with torn ACL.) They're a completely different unit when Miller is on-the-field. Miller stops the run, is one of the best pass-rushers in the league and is able to create takeways. Miller is the type of standout player that the rest of the defense rallies around and when he's out of the lineup, the entire unit suffers. The Broncos have a small window to win a title in with Manning turning 38 in March, but if they can get a more complete and consistent defense, I wouldn't be shocked if Manning walked with his 2nd Lombardi trophy before he retires.
Kansas City Chiefs: The Chiefs 2013 season can be broken into two halves. Part 1: The epic and unlikely rise of an unbeaten and Part 2: The epic fall from the grace. The Chiefs came out of the gate looking about as impressive as any team in the league. Quarterback Alex Smith came exactly as advertised and captained the team with his solid albeit conservative play that got results and kept turnovers to a minimum, the defense were takeaway machines thanks to the strong secondary and unholy pass-rushing duo of Justin Houston and Tamba Hali and Jammal Charles became the most horrifying dual-threat running back in the league. After a 9-0 start, the Chiefs hit a snag and finished the year 2-5. Save for a blowout loss at the hands of the Colts in Week 16, they were all close games. The offense didn't slow down as Charles was still a powerhouse and Smith was still protecting the ball and making plays when he needed to, it was the defense that caved in and blew it. The defense that was so menacing to start the year just folded. Houston and Hali both got hurt which put a huge damper on their ability to create a pass-rush. The lack of a pass-rush exposed their vulnerability in the secondary with even guys like all-pro safety Eric Berry struggling to make plays. You have to admire the Chiefs season going from the bottom of the barrel a year ago to making the playoffs and being the last undefeated team in the league. That being said, the players and coaches seemed to cash out at a certain point. The offense was keeping them in games while the defense just lost its edge when it mattered most. Andy Reid mostly did a great job turning the team around, but some of the play-calling and game-management down the stretch was absolutely horrendous and is definitely a big part of why they struggled so much in the most important part of the season. The Chiefs have plenty of potential going forward: The team just needs to play with the same level of fire all season long and Reid needs to finally break his cycle of poor game management if they want to reach the promised land.
Oakland Raiders: I'd like to sincerely apologize to all the Raiders fans out there, you guys just can't catch a break. Other long-suffering franchises like the Browns at least have some optimism on the horizon, there is none of that going on in Oakland. Like a majority of their fellow bottom-feeders this season, The Raiders problems start at quarterback. There was some optimism around Terrelle Pryor at the beginning of the season thanks to a few huge plays, but that was soon erased by absolutely terrible play that eventually lead to his benching for rookie Matt McGloin, who was equally unimpressive. Oft-injured running back Darren McFadden proved once again that he's pretty much useless as he missed 6 games and struggled when he was playing. With a 2nd straight year averaging 3.3 yards per carry and his impending free agency, it would be an absolute shock if the Raiders retained him. Just like on offense, the team's biggest struggles on defense involved the passing game with their laughable secondary play. Charles Woodson was respectable at safety, but watching his comrades plays was nothing short of painful. Rookie cornerback D.J. Hayden was absolutely putrid when he was healthy while veterans Mike Jenkins and Tracy Porter showed exactly why the Cowboys and Broncos respectively let them walk in free agency. About the only positives the Raiders can take away from the 2013 season lie in their defensive front. Nick Roach led their retooled linebacker corps with the all the swagger and intelligence that he picked up from playing alongside Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs for 6 years in Chicago. Veteran journeyman Kevin Burnett and rookie Sio Moore were also productive and were the main reason the Raiders had a rushing defense that finished in the top half of the league. The Raiders can also credit running backs Rashad Jennings and Marcel Reece for looking solid enough to ensure that team doesn't have to waste their money re-signing McFadden. The Raiders are just a mess and Reggie McKenzie is going to have to make A LOT of moves to salvage this team.
San Diego Chargers: How many people expected the Chargers to go to the playoffs this year? Hell how many people expected this team to even go .500? The sudden resurgence of the Chargers can be fully be attributed to new head coach Mike McCoy and offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt. These guys somehow managed to get Phillip Rivers back into elite-form, overhaul a terrible offensive line into one of the strongest in the league and do the seemingly impossible by making consistent disappointment Ryan Matthews an effective NFL running back in the same season. I don't mean to sound ridiculous or over-the-top, but accomplishing all of these things within a single season is nothing short of a small miracle. Rivers was free-falling of late by turning the ball over and losing his accuracy then 2013 happens, enters a new system and he goes onto to throw 32 TD's, completes nearly 70% of his passes (a career best) and only throws 11 INT's . The offensive line was in shambles and allowed 49 sacks last year, which was 4th-most in the league. In 2013 they draft tackle D.J. Fluker in the 1st round and sign free-agent tackle King Dunlap and went onto allow 30 sacks, which was tied for 4th-least in the league. Ryan Matthews was a huge bust that letdown the Chargers each and every year since he was drafted in 2010. Enter 2013, where Matthews runs for a career-high 1,255 yards and plays all 16 games for the first time in his 4 NFL seasons. Plain and simple, McCoy and Whisenhunt are just brilliant offensive minds that can garner results no matter how long the odds look. These weren't the only improbable successes for the Chargers this year. The team was able to overcome season-ending injuries to top wideouts Malcom Floyd and Danario Alexander thanks to the dynamite play of rookie Keenan Allen and veteran tight end Antonio Gates, who has his best season since 2009. About the only place the Chargers really struggled was in the secondary. Their secondary is mostly inexperienced and it showed with their consistent missed assignments (cornerback Derrek Cox was especially guilty of this) and terrible coverage, which ended up landing them amongst the bottom 5 pass defenses in the NFL. The Chargers ended the year on a four-game winning streak and are looking like they could potentially ride that momentum to a deep playoff run. McCoy and co. appear to be onto something truly special here.
Friday, January 10, 2014
2013 NFL Recap: AFC South
My Preseason Predictions
1.Houston Texans (11-5)
2.Indianapolis Colts (9-7)
3.Tennessee Titans (7-9)
4.Jacksonville Jaguars (2-14)
Actual Standings
1.Indianapolis Colts (11-5)
2.Tennessee Titans (7-9)
3.Jacksonville Jaguars (4-12)
4.Houston Texans (2-14)
Houston Texans: I expected the Texans to be a bit of a disappointment this year, but I didn't expect a full-on collapse. The Texans somehow managed to lose the last 14 games after starting out 2-0. Like the Lions last year, the team is far more talented than their record indicates. Andre Johnson still put 1,400 yards, J.J Watt put up another All-Pro year and the passing defense became a top 5 unit thanks to excellent seasons by Jonathan Joesph and Kareem Jackson. The team just couldn't get any traction at all thanks to poor quarterback play and injuries galore on both sides of the ball. The quarterback position was a problem the entire season. Matt Schaub began the year as the starter and has never looked worse in his entire career. He wasn't getting Johnson involved in the offense enough, he look stilted in the pocket and most importantly, he was forcing passes and defenses were taking advantages of these mistakes (4 of his 14 INT's were returned for touchdowns.) When Schaub went down with an injury and T.J Yates was terrible in relief, third-stringer Case Keenum got his chance to play. At first, Keenum was sharp and looked to be the quarterback of the future for the Texans as he threw 7 touchdowns and zero INT's in his first 3 starts. In his preceding 5 starts, Keenum regressed and followed the trend of poor quarterback play putting up 2 touchdowns and 6 INT's over that stretch. Keenum's poor play and a thumb injury, gave Schaub an opportunity to start again (a.k.a close out the season in the same disastrous fashion that it started in) further confirming that neither Scahub or Keenum should be starting in the NFL at this point in time. Making the untrustworthy quarterback play even worse, was the amount of injuries on both sides of the ball. Oft-injured running back Arian Foster finally got a severe enough injury to knock him out for the year after playing hurt the past few seasons, inside linebacker and defensive leader Brian Cushing went down midway through the year for a second straight season and tight end Owen Daniels took away the only other proven, consistent option the Texans have in the passing game besides Johnson. I honestly feel bad that Gary Kubiak was the scapegoat for this season full of terrible quarterback play and bad luck. Kubiak turned this team around from nothing and made them a playoff team and he gets fired for one bad, injury-riddled season? The NFL works in funny ways this time and Kubiak was a victim of the incredible impatience with losing the league has, even with recent success. The Texans have a roster with a lot of talent and if they can find some stability at the quarterback position via the draft, trade or free agency, they'll make a quick recovery and return to playoff form.
Indianapolis Colts: The Colts were about as schizophrenic as a team can get while still being successful. Early in the year, they were absolutely dominant knocking out the 49ers, Seahawks and Broncos in a five-week span Once Reggie Wayne went down against the Broncos, the team went through some growing pains on both sides of the ball that were most evident when they suffered two embarrassing blowout losses at the hands of the Cardinals and Rams. Then the Colts re-found their footing the last few weeks of the year with strong performances against the Chiefs, Texans and Jaguars. Amidst all the calamity the Colts had there were two constants that held them together: Andrew Luck and Robert Mathis. Luck showed no signs of a sophomore slump as he cut way down on his INT total from his rookie year, greatly improved his accuracy and showed even more flashes of why he was pegged as an electric, franchise quarterback coming out of Stanford in 2012. Mathis, the long time pass-rushing menace, had the best year of his career at age 32. Mathis was the glue that held this defense together with 19.5 sacks and 8 forced fumbles and is absolutely deserving of Defensive Player of the Year for 2013. While Luck and Mathis were the leaders, there were plenty of unsung heroes that helped the Colts win games. T.Y. Hilton stepped up majorly in relief of Wayne and showed that he will be the leader of the receiving corps once Wayne retires and running back Donald Brown made the most of his carries in a year where the Colts desperately needed a back after Vick Ballard and Ahmad Bradshaw went down for the season and newly-acquired Trent Richardson could not get anything going. Defensively, Jerell Freeman continues to impress in his second NFL season and gives the Colts a great two-way linebacker that can make plays from sideline-to-sideline. The Colts are a team on the rise and as Luck continues to grow, this team should become a stronger title contender (if they can become more consistent on both sides of the ball.)
Jacksonville Jaguars: To the surprise of no one, the Jaguars were a complete non-factor in 2013. This team just has far too many flaws all over the field to get anything going. Their issues start at the quarterback position. Blaine Gabbert finally got benched once and for all this season and will never start in the league again unless some kind of a miracle happens. Chad Henne is a solid guy to have in the reserves, but is certainly not talented enough to lead the team. Gabbert and Henne didn't even have the support of a running game this year as Maurice Jones-Drew struggled all season long and has appeared to lost a majority of his explosiveness after his Lisfranc injury in 2012. Jones-Drew should be expendable to the team in his contract year and the Jaguars really should've traded him a couple of years ago when he still had value. The biggest disappointment for the Jaguars this year was wide receiver Justin Blackmon. Blackmon was suspended for the first 4 games of 2013 then came back in dominant form before failing another drug test and getting suspended for the remainder of the season. Blackmon is an incredible talent when he is on-the-field, but the Jaguars can't continue to deal with his stupidity off of it, even with all the playmaking ability he has. As expected, the defense also was terrible. There's just really not that much talent in any aspect of the defense and they are going to need a major overhaul to get any results on that side of the ball. Inside linebacker Paul Poslunzy is one of the most underrated linebackers in the league who had a career year in 2013 and safety Jonathan Cyprien had quietly productive rookie year, but they are going to need some quality corners, a run-stopper and most importantly, some semblance of a pass-rush to turn things around defensively. Coach Gus Bradley is a great presence who is the epitome of a player's coach and an owner in Shad Khan has money to spend. Now the team needs to make some moves to put together a roster that can compete and end this current misery stage the Jaguars are going through.
Tennessee Titans: The Titans ended up being a respectable football team this year, but it wasn't for the reasons that they were expected to be. With a rebooted offensive line, I expected Chris Johnson to have a huge bounceback season and that didn't really happen. Johnson was solid and did far better than he was given credit for, but he certainly didn't return to his dominant form of old with better blockers in front of him. Johnson's future with the team looks murky due to the money he's owed and his consistent displeasure with how he's being used in the offense. If they decide to let him go, the Titans do have depth at the position with Shonn Greene and Jackie Battle, both of whom have starting experience in the league so it wouldn't be the biggest blow to this team. The Titans also did not get the season they had hoped for from Kenny Britt. The troubled wide receiver didn't even appear to put any effort in during a contract-year and the Titans will gladly let him move on. Where the 2013 Titans succeeded came as a surprise to everyone. Their secondary suddenly emerged as one of the better units in the league. Altraun Verner was one of the biggest lockdown corners in the league this season and played his way to a big contract this offseason, whether it be with the Titans or someone else. Elsewhere in the secondary, safety Bernard Pollard continued his role as a strong enforcer with his new squad by leading the team in tackles and cornerback Jason McCourty had another solid year in the shadow of Verner's newfound dominance. Defensive tackle Jurrell Casey also came out of nowhere to become one of the top interior pass-rushers in the league, picking up 10.5 sacks on the season. On a front seven that had its fair share of problems all season with getting to the quarterback and stopping the run, Casey was the exception with his impressive play throughout the year. Offensively, the team benefited greatly from the emergence of second-year wideout Kendall Wright. With Johnson and a lot of his fellow receivers being so erratic, Wright earned trust in the offense with his consistent play and his ability to keep drives alive with his great hands, which made up for his inability to get in the endzone. Wright has proved to be well worth his high-draft pick in 2012 and if he can start scoring next year, he could be a top-flight receiver in the league in no time at all. The biggest problem for the Titans moving forward is a lack of patience that threatens to ruin this potential-filled team's future. They unjustly fired coach Mike Munchak after the season was over. Munchak was just starting to getting onto something with this roster and he gets fired before he has the opportunity to build off the progress that the team made this season. It also doesn't help that the team is already thinking about pulling the plug on quarterback Jake Locker. Locker was playing the best football of his career before he went down for the year with a Lisfranc injury. Locker is still young and despite all his injuries, has shown more than enough potential to warrant a starting position on this team. The Titans have bigger holes to fill than quarterback and shouldn't be wasting draft picks or cap space by picking up a quarterback at this moment in time when you have like Locker already on the roster. Whoever inherits the Titans could take them places, but with the higher-ups making so many brash decisions and the amount of question marks from receiver depth to their defensive front to who is going to start at quarterback next season, the Titans could be stuck in the bowels of mediocrity for quite some time.
1.Houston Texans (11-5)
2.Indianapolis Colts (9-7)
3.Tennessee Titans (7-9)
4.Jacksonville Jaguars (2-14)
Actual Standings
1.Indianapolis Colts (11-5)
2.Tennessee Titans (7-9)
3.Jacksonville Jaguars (4-12)
4.Houston Texans (2-14)
Houston Texans: I expected the Texans to be a bit of a disappointment this year, but I didn't expect a full-on collapse. The Texans somehow managed to lose the last 14 games after starting out 2-0. Like the Lions last year, the team is far more talented than their record indicates. Andre Johnson still put 1,400 yards, J.J Watt put up another All-Pro year and the passing defense became a top 5 unit thanks to excellent seasons by Jonathan Joesph and Kareem Jackson. The team just couldn't get any traction at all thanks to poor quarterback play and injuries galore on both sides of the ball. The quarterback position was a problem the entire season. Matt Schaub began the year as the starter and has never looked worse in his entire career. He wasn't getting Johnson involved in the offense enough, he look stilted in the pocket and most importantly, he was forcing passes and defenses were taking advantages of these mistakes (4 of his 14 INT's were returned for touchdowns.) When Schaub went down with an injury and T.J Yates was terrible in relief, third-stringer Case Keenum got his chance to play. At first, Keenum was sharp and looked to be the quarterback of the future for the Texans as he threw 7 touchdowns and zero INT's in his first 3 starts. In his preceding 5 starts, Keenum regressed and followed the trend of poor quarterback play putting up 2 touchdowns and 6 INT's over that stretch. Keenum's poor play and a thumb injury, gave Schaub an opportunity to start again (a.k.a close out the season in the same disastrous fashion that it started in) further confirming that neither Scahub or Keenum should be starting in the NFL at this point in time. Making the untrustworthy quarterback play even worse, was the amount of injuries on both sides of the ball. Oft-injured running back Arian Foster finally got a severe enough injury to knock him out for the year after playing hurt the past few seasons, inside linebacker and defensive leader Brian Cushing went down midway through the year for a second straight season and tight end Owen Daniels took away the only other proven, consistent option the Texans have in the passing game besides Johnson. I honestly feel bad that Gary Kubiak was the scapegoat for this season full of terrible quarterback play and bad luck. Kubiak turned this team around from nothing and made them a playoff team and he gets fired for one bad, injury-riddled season? The NFL works in funny ways this time and Kubiak was a victim of the incredible impatience with losing the league has, even with recent success. The Texans have a roster with a lot of talent and if they can find some stability at the quarterback position via the draft, trade or free agency, they'll make a quick recovery and return to playoff form.
Indianapolis Colts: The Colts were about as schizophrenic as a team can get while still being successful. Early in the year, they were absolutely dominant knocking out the 49ers, Seahawks and Broncos in a five-week span Once Reggie Wayne went down against the Broncos, the team went through some growing pains on both sides of the ball that were most evident when they suffered two embarrassing blowout losses at the hands of the Cardinals and Rams. Then the Colts re-found their footing the last few weeks of the year with strong performances against the Chiefs, Texans and Jaguars. Amidst all the calamity the Colts had there were two constants that held them together: Andrew Luck and Robert Mathis. Luck showed no signs of a sophomore slump as he cut way down on his INT total from his rookie year, greatly improved his accuracy and showed even more flashes of why he was pegged as an electric, franchise quarterback coming out of Stanford in 2012. Mathis, the long time pass-rushing menace, had the best year of his career at age 32. Mathis was the glue that held this defense together with 19.5 sacks and 8 forced fumbles and is absolutely deserving of Defensive Player of the Year for 2013. While Luck and Mathis were the leaders, there were plenty of unsung heroes that helped the Colts win games. T.Y. Hilton stepped up majorly in relief of Wayne and showed that he will be the leader of the receiving corps once Wayne retires and running back Donald Brown made the most of his carries in a year where the Colts desperately needed a back after Vick Ballard and Ahmad Bradshaw went down for the season and newly-acquired Trent Richardson could not get anything going. Defensively, Jerell Freeman continues to impress in his second NFL season and gives the Colts a great two-way linebacker that can make plays from sideline-to-sideline. The Colts are a team on the rise and as Luck continues to grow, this team should become a stronger title contender (if they can become more consistent on both sides of the ball.)
Jacksonville Jaguars: To the surprise of no one, the Jaguars were a complete non-factor in 2013. This team just has far too many flaws all over the field to get anything going. Their issues start at the quarterback position. Blaine Gabbert finally got benched once and for all this season and will never start in the league again unless some kind of a miracle happens. Chad Henne is a solid guy to have in the reserves, but is certainly not talented enough to lead the team. Gabbert and Henne didn't even have the support of a running game this year as Maurice Jones-Drew struggled all season long and has appeared to lost a majority of his explosiveness after his Lisfranc injury in 2012. Jones-Drew should be expendable to the team in his contract year and the Jaguars really should've traded him a couple of years ago when he still had value. The biggest disappointment for the Jaguars this year was wide receiver Justin Blackmon. Blackmon was suspended for the first 4 games of 2013 then came back in dominant form before failing another drug test and getting suspended for the remainder of the season. Blackmon is an incredible talent when he is on-the-field, but the Jaguars can't continue to deal with his stupidity off of it, even with all the playmaking ability he has. As expected, the defense also was terrible. There's just really not that much talent in any aspect of the defense and they are going to need a major overhaul to get any results on that side of the ball. Inside linebacker Paul Poslunzy is one of the most underrated linebackers in the league who had a career year in 2013 and safety Jonathan Cyprien had quietly productive rookie year, but they are going to need some quality corners, a run-stopper and most importantly, some semblance of a pass-rush to turn things around defensively. Coach Gus Bradley is a great presence who is the epitome of a player's coach and an owner in Shad Khan has money to spend. Now the team needs to make some moves to put together a roster that can compete and end this current misery stage the Jaguars are going through.
Tennessee Titans: The Titans ended up being a respectable football team this year, but it wasn't for the reasons that they were expected to be. With a rebooted offensive line, I expected Chris Johnson to have a huge bounceback season and that didn't really happen. Johnson was solid and did far better than he was given credit for, but he certainly didn't return to his dominant form of old with better blockers in front of him. Johnson's future with the team looks murky due to the money he's owed and his consistent displeasure with how he's being used in the offense. If they decide to let him go, the Titans do have depth at the position with Shonn Greene and Jackie Battle, both of whom have starting experience in the league so it wouldn't be the biggest blow to this team. The Titans also did not get the season they had hoped for from Kenny Britt. The troubled wide receiver didn't even appear to put any effort in during a contract-year and the Titans will gladly let him move on. Where the 2013 Titans succeeded came as a surprise to everyone. Their secondary suddenly emerged as one of the better units in the league. Altraun Verner was one of the biggest lockdown corners in the league this season and played his way to a big contract this offseason, whether it be with the Titans or someone else. Elsewhere in the secondary, safety Bernard Pollard continued his role as a strong enforcer with his new squad by leading the team in tackles and cornerback Jason McCourty had another solid year in the shadow of Verner's newfound dominance. Defensive tackle Jurrell Casey also came out of nowhere to become one of the top interior pass-rushers in the league, picking up 10.5 sacks on the season. On a front seven that had its fair share of problems all season with getting to the quarterback and stopping the run, Casey was the exception with his impressive play throughout the year. Offensively, the team benefited greatly from the emergence of second-year wideout Kendall Wright. With Johnson and a lot of his fellow receivers being so erratic, Wright earned trust in the offense with his consistent play and his ability to keep drives alive with his great hands, which made up for his inability to get in the endzone. Wright has proved to be well worth his high-draft pick in 2012 and if he can start scoring next year, he could be a top-flight receiver in the league in no time at all. The biggest problem for the Titans moving forward is a lack of patience that threatens to ruin this potential-filled team's future. They unjustly fired coach Mike Munchak after the season was over. Munchak was just starting to getting onto something with this roster and he gets fired before he has the opportunity to build off the progress that the team made this season. It also doesn't help that the team is already thinking about pulling the plug on quarterback Jake Locker. Locker was playing the best football of his career before he went down for the year with a Lisfranc injury. Locker is still young and despite all his injuries, has shown more than enough potential to warrant a starting position on this team. The Titans have bigger holes to fill than quarterback and shouldn't be wasting draft picks or cap space by picking up a quarterback at this moment in time when you have like Locker already on the roster. Whoever inherits the Titans could take them places, but with the higher-ups making so many brash decisions and the amount of question marks from receiver depth to their defensive front to who is going to start at quarterback next season, the Titans could be stuck in the bowels of mediocrity for quite some time.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
2013 NFL Recap: AFC North
My Preseason Predictions:
1.Cincinnati Bengals (11-5)
2.Baltimore Ravens (10-6)
3.Pittsburgh Steelers (7-9)
4.Cleveland Browns (6-10)
Actual Standings:
1.Cincinnati Bengals (11-5)
2.Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8)
3.Baltimore Ravens (8-8)
4.Cleveland Browns (4-12)
Baltimore Ravens: The Super Bowl hangover curse continued this season with the Baltimore Ravens failing to reach the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl last year. Despite showing resilience throughout the year and being within reach of the playoffs at the end of the year, the Ravens just couldn't gain enough traction to duplicate the magic of their 2012 playoff run. The team once again flipped their identity as they struggled on offense and thrived on defense. Joe Flacco sincerely made the best of the situation he was handed. He had a severe lack of weapons in the receiving game, his offensive line feel apart at the seams so his protection was terrible and neither Ray Rice or Bernard Pierce could get anything going in the running game. Flacco ended up throwing the most INT's and having the second worst completion percentage of his career, but that can be excused because of his expectations to do so much with such a bad offense. Really the only positive takeaway on offense this year was the emergence of Torrey Smith as a top wideout. Previously, Smith was considered to be exclusively a deep-threat. 2013 proved that Smith can do anything that is asked of him as a receiver and his presence was much-appreciated in a Ravens receiving corps that was otherwise a non-factor with the departure of Anquan Boldin and absence of injured tight end Dennis Pitta for a vast majority of the season (Rookie Marlon Brown was slightly above average, everyone else was pretty much useless.) On the flip side, the Ravens defense is now an effective unit again and is the main reason the team was on the cusp of making the playoffs. Moving Haloti Ngata back to the interior of the defensive line improved the rushing defense vastly and also helped fourth-year defensive end Arthur Jones have a standout season. Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil mostly lived up to the hype of being chaotic edge rushers, racking up 19.5 sacks between the two. Suggs struggled down the stretch, but is still as valuable as ever to this defense. The secondary recovered from a lackluster 2012 thanks to the healthy return of Ladarius Webb, solid play from first-round pick Matt Elam and career years from veteran safety James Ihedbigo and cornerback Corey Graham. The real difference-maker for the Ravens defense though was new inside linebacker Daryl Smith. Smith made his presence felt in his first year with the Ravens and brought leadership and a dominant presence in both aspects of the game to a defense that desperately needed it after the retirement of Ray Lewis. The Ravens have a lot to fix on offense with the porous receiving corps, offensive line and Ray Rice's sudden inability to run, but with Ozzie Newsome as general manager and a rejuvenated defense, I'd be surprised if the Ravens were sitting at home come next January.
Cincinnati Bengals: Prior to their stumble in the playoffs, 2013 was a very strong year for the Bengals. They managed to overcome season-ending injuries to key players such as Robert Geathers, Leon Hall and Geno Atkins to go 11-5 (8-0 at home) and win the division. Plain and simple, the Bengals just improved in every aspect of the game. Andy Dalton had the best year of his career so far with over 4,000 yards and 33 TD's on the year. Dalton's improvement can be linked to getting more guys involved with the offense and not just relying on A.J. Green to make plays. Marvin Jones had a breakout year and emerged as the clear-cut number 2 wideout behind Green and rookie running back Giovani Bernard finally gives Dalton a trustworthy check-down option out of the backfield who has the elusiveness to break any short pass for a big score. Bernard also had a quality year running the ball and should continue to be a great weapon in the future for the Bengals. Of course, Green was still the top playmaker in the Bengals offense having another All-Pro season. Green continues to grow as a player each year he's in the league and in my opinion, is the best wide receiver in the league not named Calvin Johnson. While Dalton and the rest of the offense improved, the defense continued to be one of the impressive, balanced units in the league. Even when two leaders of the defense in Atkins and Hall went down, the strong play never wavered. The linebackers really led the charge this year with much-improved play from the previous season. Vontaze Burfict led the league in tackles and has already become one of the most feared and complete linebackers in the league in just two seasons, Rey Malaluga was his usual punishing himself on the inside and Vincent Rey became one of the leaders of the defense in the wake of all the injuries. The secondary also impressed heavily with cornerback Adam Jones playing some of the best football of his career and George Iloka unexpectedly becoming an enforcer at safety in his second-year in the league. The pass-rush took a bit of a hit with Atkins out and wasn't nearly as suffocating as they were in 2012 overall, but they were still pretty solid thanks to guys like Wallace Gillberry and Carlos Dunlap. The Bengals are a strong team with all the talent to go on a title run, they just need to stop choking in the playoffs if they want to finally reach the promised land.
Cleveland Browns: The Browns biggest success of 2013 was the fact they were able to unload running back Trent Richardson (who now looks like a complete bust) on the Colts and now have two first-round picks in the 2014 draft. Other than that, it was another painful year to be a Browns fan for the most part. Even with Richardson out of the picture, the Browns still couldn't run the ball to save their lives. Willis McGahee proved that his career is over after his most recent knee injury, Fozzy Whitaker was basically useless as the speed back and Chris Ogbonnaya is a good third-down back with great hands out of the backfield, but doesn't have the skillset or stamina to be an every-down back. The Browns also can't seem to lock down a solid option at quarterback. They have a brief period of hope when Brian Hoyer was calling the shots in late September/early October leading them on a 3-game winning streak, but once he went down for the year with a torn ACL, it was back to the middling play of Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden, who managed just 1 victory between the two of them. The Browns are going to have either roll with Hoyer, make a trade for a veteran or draft someone this year because Weeden or Campbell just aren't going to cut it. Amidst all the headaches this season caused, there is some bright spots for the Browns moving forward. Their secondary has quietly become one of the best in the league. Cornerback Joe Haden and safety T.J. Ward picked up well-deserved All-Pro spots after having the best years of their respective careers. Ward and Haden have anchored the unit for the past few years, but now guys like Tashuan Gibson and Buster Skrine delivered the goods this season and made this secondary one to truly fear. The front seven has also improved to thanks to the emergence of second-year linebacker Craig Robertson and the continued strong play from wildly underrated linebacker D'Qwell Jackson. If guys like Paul Kruger, Desmond Bryant and Barkevious Mingo can be more consistently productive in 2014, this defense could be a top 5 defensive unit. Of course, you can't mention the 2013 Cleveland Browns without talking about Josh Gordon. Plan and simple: Gordon is a freak. Watching him play this season was just awe-inspiring. He missed the first two games due to suspension and had weak quarterback play for most of the season yet he still led the league in receiving and became the first player in NFL history to get back-to-back 200-yard games, all while being doubled and triple-covered on just about every play. After the year put together in 2013, there is no question that Gordon is one of the most dominant receivers in the league right now. Though he was overshadowed by Gordon, Jordan Cameron has also emerged as a nice option in the Browns receiving game with a near 1,000 yard-season and was finally able to make some noise after being a relative non-factor in his first two NFL seasons. There's still some big holes to fill on this roster at the quarterback and running back position and we'll see what a new head coach brings to the table (I still can't believe they fired Rod Chudinzki after just 1 season), but the Browns certainly have some reasons for optimism moving forward.
Pittsburgh Steelers: The 2013 Pittsburgh Steelers didn't put together a winning season, but they had a strong finish to the year and almost remarkably made it to the playoffs. Once again, Ben Roethlisberger proved just how special of a player he is all season long. The offensive line play was disastrous all season long thanks to a barrage of early-season injuries and the team struggled to run the ball for much for the year, but Roethlisberger still managed to throw for over 4,000 and get complete 64% of his passes. Roethlisberger really doesn't get the credit he deserves. He may not be up to the caliber of Manning, Brady, Rodgers or Brees, but he delivers the goods year-in and year-out no matter what obstacles are thrown against him. Roethlisberger did benefit from a huge bounce-back year from wide receiver Antonio Brown. Brown showed not an even ounce of rust from his lackluster 2012 season and finished 2nd in the league in receiving with just shy of 1,500 yards on the year. Brown's strong play more than made up for the Steelers otherwise above-average receiving corps and proved that they made the right move letting Mike Wallace go. Rookie running back Le'veon Bell struggled a bit out of the gate, but found his footing late in the year and showed a lot of potential as a dual-threat back. On the other side of the ball, the Steelers were a bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side, a lot of their older players can still perform. Troy Polamalu stayed healthy all season and was in vintage form the entire season, Ryan Clark still has something left in the tank with 104 tackles at age 34 and inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons can still captain the defense with his coverage and tackling as strong as ever. The downside is, they are just too damn old on the whole. Ike Taylor is already DOA as he got gassed all season long and the rest of these guys aren't far behind. To prevent a full-scale collapse a la the Bears, they are going to need inject some fresh legs on this defense (Rookie Jarvis Jones is a start, but he wasn't all that effective in his 1st year in the league.) The Steelers have a great coach in Mike Tomlin and enough stable pieces to have a winning team. They just need a healthy and effective offensive line and some young playmakers on defense to make a playoff push in 2014.
1.Cincinnati Bengals (11-5)
2.Baltimore Ravens (10-6)
3.Pittsburgh Steelers (7-9)
4.Cleveland Browns (6-10)
Actual Standings:
1.Cincinnati Bengals (11-5)
2.Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8)
3.Baltimore Ravens (8-8)
4.Cleveland Browns (4-12)
Baltimore Ravens: The Super Bowl hangover curse continued this season with the Baltimore Ravens failing to reach the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl last year. Despite showing resilience throughout the year and being within reach of the playoffs at the end of the year, the Ravens just couldn't gain enough traction to duplicate the magic of their 2012 playoff run. The team once again flipped their identity as they struggled on offense and thrived on defense. Joe Flacco sincerely made the best of the situation he was handed. He had a severe lack of weapons in the receiving game, his offensive line feel apart at the seams so his protection was terrible and neither Ray Rice or Bernard Pierce could get anything going in the running game. Flacco ended up throwing the most INT's and having the second worst completion percentage of his career, but that can be excused because of his expectations to do so much with such a bad offense. Really the only positive takeaway on offense this year was the emergence of Torrey Smith as a top wideout. Previously, Smith was considered to be exclusively a deep-threat. 2013 proved that Smith can do anything that is asked of him as a receiver and his presence was much-appreciated in a Ravens receiving corps that was otherwise a non-factor with the departure of Anquan Boldin and absence of injured tight end Dennis Pitta for a vast majority of the season (Rookie Marlon Brown was slightly above average, everyone else was pretty much useless.) On the flip side, the Ravens defense is now an effective unit again and is the main reason the team was on the cusp of making the playoffs. Moving Haloti Ngata back to the interior of the defensive line improved the rushing defense vastly and also helped fourth-year defensive end Arthur Jones have a standout season. Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil mostly lived up to the hype of being chaotic edge rushers, racking up 19.5 sacks between the two. Suggs struggled down the stretch, but is still as valuable as ever to this defense. The secondary recovered from a lackluster 2012 thanks to the healthy return of Ladarius Webb, solid play from first-round pick Matt Elam and career years from veteran safety James Ihedbigo and cornerback Corey Graham. The real difference-maker for the Ravens defense though was new inside linebacker Daryl Smith. Smith made his presence felt in his first year with the Ravens and brought leadership and a dominant presence in both aspects of the game to a defense that desperately needed it after the retirement of Ray Lewis. The Ravens have a lot to fix on offense with the porous receiving corps, offensive line and Ray Rice's sudden inability to run, but with Ozzie Newsome as general manager and a rejuvenated defense, I'd be surprised if the Ravens were sitting at home come next January.
Cincinnati Bengals: Prior to their stumble in the playoffs, 2013 was a very strong year for the Bengals. They managed to overcome season-ending injuries to key players such as Robert Geathers, Leon Hall and Geno Atkins to go 11-5 (8-0 at home) and win the division. Plain and simple, the Bengals just improved in every aspect of the game. Andy Dalton had the best year of his career so far with over 4,000 yards and 33 TD's on the year. Dalton's improvement can be linked to getting more guys involved with the offense and not just relying on A.J. Green to make plays. Marvin Jones had a breakout year and emerged as the clear-cut number 2 wideout behind Green and rookie running back Giovani Bernard finally gives Dalton a trustworthy check-down option out of the backfield who has the elusiveness to break any short pass for a big score. Bernard also had a quality year running the ball and should continue to be a great weapon in the future for the Bengals. Of course, Green was still the top playmaker in the Bengals offense having another All-Pro season. Green continues to grow as a player each year he's in the league and in my opinion, is the best wide receiver in the league not named Calvin Johnson. While Dalton and the rest of the offense improved, the defense continued to be one of the impressive, balanced units in the league. Even when two leaders of the defense in Atkins and Hall went down, the strong play never wavered. The linebackers really led the charge this year with much-improved play from the previous season. Vontaze Burfict led the league in tackles and has already become one of the most feared and complete linebackers in the league in just two seasons, Rey Malaluga was his usual punishing himself on the inside and Vincent Rey became one of the leaders of the defense in the wake of all the injuries. The secondary also impressed heavily with cornerback Adam Jones playing some of the best football of his career and George Iloka unexpectedly becoming an enforcer at safety in his second-year in the league. The pass-rush took a bit of a hit with Atkins out and wasn't nearly as suffocating as they were in 2012 overall, but they were still pretty solid thanks to guys like Wallace Gillberry and Carlos Dunlap. The Bengals are a strong team with all the talent to go on a title run, they just need to stop choking in the playoffs if they want to finally reach the promised land.
Cleveland Browns: The Browns biggest success of 2013 was the fact they were able to unload running back Trent Richardson (who now looks like a complete bust) on the Colts and now have two first-round picks in the 2014 draft. Other than that, it was another painful year to be a Browns fan for the most part. Even with Richardson out of the picture, the Browns still couldn't run the ball to save their lives. Willis McGahee proved that his career is over after his most recent knee injury, Fozzy Whitaker was basically useless as the speed back and Chris Ogbonnaya is a good third-down back with great hands out of the backfield, but doesn't have the skillset or stamina to be an every-down back. The Browns also can't seem to lock down a solid option at quarterback. They have a brief period of hope when Brian Hoyer was calling the shots in late September/early October leading them on a 3-game winning streak, but once he went down for the year with a torn ACL, it was back to the middling play of Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden, who managed just 1 victory between the two of them. The Browns are going to have either roll with Hoyer, make a trade for a veteran or draft someone this year because Weeden or Campbell just aren't going to cut it. Amidst all the headaches this season caused, there is some bright spots for the Browns moving forward. Their secondary has quietly become one of the best in the league. Cornerback Joe Haden and safety T.J. Ward picked up well-deserved All-Pro spots after having the best years of their respective careers. Ward and Haden have anchored the unit for the past few years, but now guys like Tashuan Gibson and Buster Skrine delivered the goods this season and made this secondary one to truly fear. The front seven has also improved to thanks to the emergence of second-year linebacker Craig Robertson and the continued strong play from wildly underrated linebacker D'Qwell Jackson. If guys like Paul Kruger, Desmond Bryant and Barkevious Mingo can be more consistently productive in 2014, this defense could be a top 5 defensive unit. Of course, you can't mention the 2013 Cleveland Browns without talking about Josh Gordon. Plan and simple: Gordon is a freak. Watching him play this season was just awe-inspiring. He missed the first two games due to suspension and had weak quarterback play for most of the season yet he still led the league in receiving and became the first player in NFL history to get back-to-back 200-yard games, all while being doubled and triple-covered on just about every play. After the year put together in 2013, there is no question that Gordon is one of the most dominant receivers in the league right now. Though he was overshadowed by Gordon, Jordan Cameron has also emerged as a nice option in the Browns receiving game with a near 1,000 yard-season and was finally able to make some noise after being a relative non-factor in his first two NFL seasons. There's still some big holes to fill on this roster at the quarterback and running back position and we'll see what a new head coach brings to the table (I still can't believe they fired Rod Chudinzki after just 1 season), but the Browns certainly have some reasons for optimism moving forward.
Pittsburgh Steelers: The 2013 Pittsburgh Steelers didn't put together a winning season, but they had a strong finish to the year and almost remarkably made it to the playoffs. Once again, Ben Roethlisberger proved just how special of a player he is all season long. The offensive line play was disastrous all season long thanks to a barrage of early-season injuries and the team struggled to run the ball for much for the year, but Roethlisberger still managed to throw for over 4,000 and get complete 64% of his passes. Roethlisberger really doesn't get the credit he deserves. He may not be up to the caliber of Manning, Brady, Rodgers or Brees, but he delivers the goods year-in and year-out no matter what obstacles are thrown against him. Roethlisberger did benefit from a huge bounce-back year from wide receiver Antonio Brown. Brown showed not an even ounce of rust from his lackluster 2012 season and finished 2nd in the league in receiving with just shy of 1,500 yards on the year. Brown's strong play more than made up for the Steelers otherwise above-average receiving corps and proved that they made the right move letting Mike Wallace go. Rookie running back Le'veon Bell struggled a bit out of the gate, but found his footing late in the year and showed a lot of potential as a dual-threat back. On the other side of the ball, the Steelers were a bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side, a lot of their older players can still perform. Troy Polamalu stayed healthy all season and was in vintage form the entire season, Ryan Clark still has something left in the tank with 104 tackles at age 34 and inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons can still captain the defense with his coverage and tackling as strong as ever. The downside is, they are just too damn old on the whole. Ike Taylor is already DOA as he got gassed all season long and the rest of these guys aren't far behind. To prevent a full-scale collapse a la the Bears, they are going to need inject some fresh legs on this defense (Rookie Jarvis Jones is a start, but he wasn't all that effective in his 1st year in the league.) The Steelers have a great coach in Mike Tomlin and enough stable pieces to have a winning team. They just need a healthy and effective offensive line and some young playmakers on defense to make a playoff push in 2014.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
2013 NFL Recap: AFC East
My Preseason Projections:
1.New England Patriots (11-5)
2.Miami Dolphins (8-8)
3.Buffalo Bills (5-11)
4.New York Jets (2-14)
Actual Standings:
1.New England Patriots (12-4)
2.New York Jets (8-8)
3.Miami Dolphins (8-8)
4.Buffalo Bills (6-10)
Buffalo Bills: It was like groundhog day for the Bills this year as they once again showed flashes of grand potential, but ultimately ended up as another disappointing season in Buffalo. A lot of the hiccups can be attributed to the offensive side of the ball, where the injury bug came out in full force. Rookie quarterback E.J. Manuel missed six games with a knee injury while top weapons C.J. Spiller and Stevie Johnson missed numerous games with injuries and weren't healthy for a majority season when they were on the field. Spiller was especially disappointing, after his breakout 2012 campaign and this was supposed to be the year where he became the sole feature back. While flashes of his explosiveness remained in-tact and Spiller didn't have a completely terrible year overall, it's still a huge letdown that he ran for under 1,000 yards and only 2 touchdowns on the year. Injuries aside, Manuel was pretty decent when he was on the field this year. His receivers were also inexperienced (save for Johnson and T.J. Graham) and his offensive line struggled at times, but Manuel looked pretty comfortable calling the shots and made some really great plays throughout the year. His rookie year was far from flawless, but I really like his odds going forward if the Bills surround him with weapons or Robert Woods or Marquise Goodwin develops as an effective compliment to Johnson. Easily the biggest positive on offense this year was Fred Jackson. Jackson finally remained healthy for an entire season and was effective both rushing and catching passes. With Spiller's injuries leading to a down year for him, Jackson picked up the slack and helped the Bills become the number 2 rushing offense in the league. 2013 proved that Jackson still has something left in the tank at age 32. Where the Bills really flourished in 2013 was on defense. The defensive line is about scary of a pass-rushing unit as you can have in the league. Mario Williams once again proved worthy of his huge contract finishing the year with 13 sacks, Kyle Williams continues to fly under-the-radar and put the best numbers of his career with 10.5 sacks and Marcell Dareus is beginning to emerge as one of the premier two-way defensive tackles in the league with 71 combined tackles and 7.5 sacks. The Bills also have to be thrilled with the improvement of their secondary. Stephon Gilmore is finally playing up to his first-round potential and Jarius Byrd remains one of the most dominant safeties in the league (it's essential that they lock him down long-term this offseason.) The biggest story of 2013 for the Bills defense though is rookie linebacker Kiko Alonso. No rookie linebacker was even close to as productive as Alonso this season. Alonso made an immediate impact with his excellent tackling, coverage skills and great hands (he tied for the team lead in interceptions with 4). The Bills look like they have the next dominant linebacker in the league on their hands with Alonso. I like what Doug Marrone is doing up in Buffalo and if they get some more weapons in the passing game to help out Manuel, get Spiller healthy and back into top form and some guys that can stop the run, they'll be right be in the thick of things in the AFC East sooner rather than later.
Miami Dolphins: The 2013 Dolphins will forever be remembered as the year of the Jonathan Martin/ Richie Incognito bullying scandal, which is a shame because they actually did a lot of good things on the football field this year. Prior to the season, general manager Jeff Ireland threw a lot of money at various free agents to help improve the team and these moves worked for the most part. Cornerback Brent Grimes was the cream of the free-agent crop with an absolutely stellar year that silenced anyone that doubted his ability to come back from a torn ACL in 2012. Linebackers Phillip Wheeler and Dannell Ellerbe were solid as well, finishing first and third respectively on the team in tackles and were a big improvement in the middle of the field (Ellerbe's pass coverage skills were vital in helping the team overcome various cornerback injuries late in the year). The biggest pickup, wide receiver Mike Wallace, was spotty as expected, but finally started to develop a chemistry with Ryan Tannehill in the last month of the season. If Wallace can keep improving his rapport with Tannehill, he could end up being worthy of the huge contract the Dolphins gave him. Really the only total bust Ireland made was bringing in tackle Tyson Clabo, who was absolutely awful all season long and the only guy on the o-line that didn't improve once Incognito and Martin were sidelined for the season. The worst move Ireland made wasn't even in free agency, it was in the draft trading up to number 2 overall to snag Dion Jordan. Jordan was pretty much invisible all season long as his struggles kept him near the bottom of the Dolphins defensive end rotation. Thankfully for Ireland, second-year end Olivier Vernon had a breakout year and did exactly what Jordan was expected to and got to the quarterback picking up 11.5 sacks. Personally, I think the emergence of Vernon saved Ireland's job (for now) and a lot of scrutiny for Jordan's poor rookie year. What really impressed me about the 2013 Dolphins aside from their ability to overcome all the adversity from the bullying scandal was how much quarterback Ryan Tannehill improved. Tannehill became much more poised in his second season and made a lot more plays that helped his team win games. He doubled his touchdown total, finished just shy of 4,000 yards passing and completed 60% of his passes, all while being constantly under pressure and being sacked an astonishingly-high 58 times. Even with Tannehill's improvement, the Dolphins offense was where a majority of the team's struggles came. Their running back committee was a complete disaster. The team wouldn't commit to either Lamar Miller or Daniel Thomas and I think it hurt both of them. The only thing that hurt the running game more than the indecisiveness of what back to use was the fact that the offensive line play was so bad. Really no holes were opening up and when someone broke a big play (typically Miller) it was pretty much a solo effort. The Dolphins go into next year turning over a new leaf with the bullying scandal behind them and some real potential on both sides of the ball.
New England Patriots: The 2013 New England Patriots were nothing short of magical (I wrote a whole piece on it last month, which can be read here: http://maitlandsmadness.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-magic-of-new-england-patriots.html) Their success this season defied logic and really the only player in the league that can overcome this much adversity and still win games/contended for a Super Bowl is Tom Brady. Brady wasn't even close to the best numbers of his career in 2013. Hell early in the season he looked like his days of greatness were behind him. But as soon everyone started to doubt him, he kept coming through. The comebacks he orchestrated against the Saints and the Broncos were completely absurd. He didn't make plays all the time, but when he needed to, he came through. This is undoubtedly the least amount of talent Brady has had around him his entire career, yet he is still finding ways to win games. Despite them being not as talented as before, there was still quite a few guys that made an impact for the team this year. Julian Edelman was a godsend at wide receiver with his steady hands and great route-running ability. With Danny Amendola not living up to the hype, Rob Gronkowski missing most of the year and all of the rookie wideouts being so inconsistent, Edelman has been the only guy Brady can really trust in the passing game. The running backs also have stepped up nicely. 2012 stud Stevan Ridley had a year to forget with all of his fumbling problems, but Shane Vereen, LaGarette Blount and Brandon Bolden filled the void and helped this backfield become a top 10 rushing unit. Not everyone delivered individually on a week-to-week basis, but there was always someone in that backfield stepping up each game. There's not a dominant back in the bunch, but there's a whole lot of solid ones and that depth makes them a dangerous unit. As usual with the Patriots, the defense is where things started to fall apart. Aside from a strong start in the passing defense fueled by Aqib Talib's freakish play in the first month and a half and Chandler Jones's excellent second season that solidifies him as an elite pass-rusher, the defense was pretty awful. They lost their two best players and trusted leaders Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo for the year by mid-October which made their rushing defense absolutely laughable. They're lucky that their schedule featured minimal great running backs because if they faced a guy like LeSean McCoy, Marshawn Lynch, Jammal Charles or Adrian Peterson, it would've gotten real ugly real fast. The secondary started slipping as soon as Talib hurt his hip against the Saints in October. Talib missed a few games and has struggled since returning, while the rest of the guys save for safety Devin McCoruty (who's All-Pro spot was well-deserved, he was excellent all season) and rookie slot corner Logan Ryan (who could potentially be the first good corner Belichick has ever drafted) are either banged-up or just playing awful. In typical Patriots fashion, they've overcome these defensive woes thanks to their amazing offense. Really the only looming problem with the Patriots moving forward is whether or not Gronkowski can continue to return from these major injuries. The guy is clearly a rare talent, but how many times can he successfully comeback from getting badly hurt and still be productive? The team invested a lot of money in him and while he's been amazing when he's on the field, his injuries continue to be a huge concern, even for a team that is as seemingly invincible as the Patriots.
New York Jets: Saying the New York Jets were a roller-coaster ride this season would be completely underselling just how erratic they were. Just when you thought you had a pulse on them, they would prove you completely wrong time and time again. Consistency was completely out the window as they did win or lose consecutive games till their 3-game losing streak in late November/early December which was the counteracted by them winning 3 of their last 4 games. I know it's crazy to say given that they finished 8-8 this season and were so up-and-down, but no team impressed more than the Jets this year. No one gave these guys chance to win more than 4 games this season yet they picked up victories over playoff teams like the Saints and the Patriots. Pretty much their only strength in 2012 (passing defense) became a weakness (the failure of first-round pick Dee Milliner certainly didn't help matters) yet they end up with a better overall defense. They have no major weapons on offense and roll with a carousel of subpar running backs and below-average wideouts and they still go .500? It just doesn't make any sense. This overachieving boils down to the man running the show: Rex Ryan. Say what you want to about the guy, but he knows how to coach and get the most out of everyone on the roster. Is he arrogant? Absolutely. Does he run his mouth when he probably shouldn't? Sure. Is he as good of a coach as there is in the league? In my opinion, hell yes. Ryan was prematurely given his death sentence as coach prior to the season starting then he turns around and makes this football team a near-playoff contender with one of the most talent-scarce rosters in the league. That's incredible right there and just about any other coach in the league would've folded under those circumstances. The perfect embodiment of the Jets's roller-coaster season was the play of rookie quarterback Geno Smith. At times, the man looked brilliant. Better arm strength than he exhibited in college, quick release, ability to run with when needed: Smith had proved naysayers like myself wrong with his abilities. Then there were weeks where Smith looked like he never played football before in his life. He was a turnover machine who made throws that simply shouldn't have been made and cost his team numerous games because of his inability to take care of the football. Even with all his mistakes, Smith showed that he is capable of being a quality starter in this league if he becomes more patient and smarter with his throws. About the only aspect of the Jets team that was consistently impressive this season was the rushing defense. Rookie Sheldon Richardson and third-year player Damon Harrison are anchors in the middle of the line and are single-handily responsible for the reinvention of the defense. Not only can these guys plug up holes in the running game, they open up lanes for guys like Muhammad Wilkerson and Calvin Pace to terrorize opposing quarterbacks (and terrorize they did: Wilkerson and Pace combined for 20.5 sacks on the year.) Richardson is my personal pick for 2013 Defensive Rookie of the Year and has all the potential to become the league's next dominant defensive tackle. In order for the Jets to reach the next level, they need more weapons offensively. You can make do with their running back tandem of Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell, but this team desperately needs a playmaking wide receiver to help out Smith. Their leading receiver this year, Jeremy Kerley, would be lucky to be a number 3 wideout on most other teams in the league and surely won't cut as the top wideout again. With Ryan at the helm and a defense that can cause problems, the Jets could potentially be going places if their offense falls into place.
1.New England Patriots (11-5)
2.Miami Dolphins (8-8)
3.Buffalo Bills (5-11)
4.New York Jets (2-14)
Actual Standings:
1.New England Patriots (12-4)
2.New York Jets (8-8)
3.Miami Dolphins (8-8)
4.Buffalo Bills (6-10)
Buffalo Bills: It was like groundhog day for the Bills this year as they once again showed flashes of grand potential, but ultimately ended up as another disappointing season in Buffalo. A lot of the hiccups can be attributed to the offensive side of the ball, where the injury bug came out in full force. Rookie quarterback E.J. Manuel missed six games with a knee injury while top weapons C.J. Spiller and Stevie Johnson missed numerous games with injuries and weren't healthy for a majority season when they were on the field. Spiller was especially disappointing, after his breakout 2012 campaign and this was supposed to be the year where he became the sole feature back. While flashes of his explosiveness remained in-tact and Spiller didn't have a completely terrible year overall, it's still a huge letdown that he ran for under 1,000 yards and only 2 touchdowns on the year. Injuries aside, Manuel was pretty decent when he was on the field this year. His receivers were also inexperienced (save for Johnson and T.J. Graham) and his offensive line struggled at times, but Manuel looked pretty comfortable calling the shots and made some really great plays throughout the year. His rookie year was far from flawless, but I really like his odds going forward if the Bills surround him with weapons or Robert Woods or Marquise Goodwin develops as an effective compliment to Johnson. Easily the biggest positive on offense this year was Fred Jackson. Jackson finally remained healthy for an entire season and was effective both rushing and catching passes. With Spiller's injuries leading to a down year for him, Jackson picked up the slack and helped the Bills become the number 2 rushing offense in the league. 2013 proved that Jackson still has something left in the tank at age 32. Where the Bills really flourished in 2013 was on defense. The defensive line is about scary of a pass-rushing unit as you can have in the league. Mario Williams once again proved worthy of his huge contract finishing the year with 13 sacks, Kyle Williams continues to fly under-the-radar and put the best numbers of his career with 10.5 sacks and Marcell Dareus is beginning to emerge as one of the premier two-way defensive tackles in the league with 71 combined tackles and 7.5 sacks. The Bills also have to be thrilled with the improvement of their secondary. Stephon Gilmore is finally playing up to his first-round potential and Jarius Byrd remains one of the most dominant safeties in the league (it's essential that they lock him down long-term this offseason.) The biggest story of 2013 for the Bills defense though is rookie linebacker Kiko Alonso. No rookie linebacker was even close to as productive as Alonso this season. Alonso made an immediate impact with his excellent tackling, coverage skills and great hands (he tied for the team lead in interceptions with 4). The Bills look like they have the next dominant linebacker in the league on their hands with Alonso. I like what Doug Marrone is doing up in Buffalo and if they get some more weapons in the passing game to help out Manuel, get Spiller healthy and back into top form and some guys that can stop the run, they'll be right be in the thick of things in the AFC East sooner rather than later.
Miami Dolphins: The 2013 Dolphins will forever be remembered as the year of the Jonathan Martin/ Richie Incognito bullying scandal, which is a shame because they actually did a lot of good things on the football field this year. Prior to the season, general manager Jeff Ireland threw a lot of money at various free agents to help improve the team and these moves worked for the most part. Cornerback Brent Grimes was the cream of the free-agent crop with an absolutely stellar year that silenced anyone that doubted his ability to come back from a torn ACL in 2012. Linebackers Phillip Wheeler and Dannell Ellerbe were solid as well, finishing first and third respectively on the team in tackles and were a big improvement in the middle of the field (Ellerbe's pass coverage skills were vital in helping the team overcome various cornerback injuries late in the year). The biggest pickup, wide receiver Mike Wallace, was spotty as expected, but finally started to develop a chemistry with Ryan Tannehill in the last month of the season. If Wallace can keep improving his rapport with Tannehill, he could end up being worthy of the huge contract the Dolphins gave him. Really the only total bust Ireland made was bringing in tackle Tyson Clabo, who was absolutely awful all season long and the only guy on the o-line that didn't improve once Incognito and Martin were sidelined for the season. The worst move Ireland made wasn't even in free agency, it was in the draft trading up to number 2 overall to snag Dion Jordan. Jordan was pretty much invisible all season long as his struggles kept him near the bottom of the Dolphins defensive end rotation. Thankfully for Ireland, second-year end Olivier Vernon had a breakout year and did exactly what Jordan was expected to and got to the quarterback picking up 11.5 sacks. Personally, I think the emergence of Vernon saved Ireland's job (for now) and a lot of scrutiny for Jordan's poor rookie year. What really impressed me about the 2013 Dolphins aside from their ability to overcome all the adversity from the bullying scandal was how much quarterback Ryan Tannehill improved. Tannehill became much more poised in his second season and made a lot more plays that helped his team win games. He doubled his touchdown total, finished just shy of 4,000 yards passing and completed 60% of his passes, all while being constantly under pressure and being sacked an astonishingly-high 58 times. Even with Tannehill's improvement, the Dolphins offense was where a majority of the team's struggles came. Their running back committee was a complete disaster. The team wouldn't commit to either Lamar Miller or Daniel Thomas and I think it hurt both of them. The only thing that hurt the running game more than the indecisiveness of what back to use was the fact that the offensive line play was so bad. Really no holes were opening up and when someone broke a big play (typically Miller) it was pretty much a solo effort. The Dolphins go into next year turning over a new leaf with the bullying scandal behind them and some real potential on both sides of the ball.
New England Patriots: The 2013 New England Patriots were nothing short of magical (I wrote a whole piece on it last month, which can be read here: http://maitlandsmadness.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-magic-of-new-england-patriots.html) Their success this season defied logic and really the only player in the league that can overcome this much adversity and still win games/contended for a Super Bowl is Tom Brady. Brady wasn't even close to the best numbers of his career in 2013. Hell early in the season he looked like his days of greatness were behind him. But as soon everyone started to doubt him, he kept coming through. The comebacks he orchestrated against the Saints and the Broncos were completely absurd. He didn't make plays all the time, but when he needed to, he came through. This is undoubtedly the least amount of talent Brady has had around him his entire career, yet he is still finding ways to win games. Despite them being not as talented as before, there was still quite a few guys that made an impact for the team this year. Julian Edelman was a godsend at wide receiver with his steady hands and great route-running ability. With Danny Amendola not living up to the hype, Rob Gronkowski missing most of the year and all of the rookie wideouts being so inconsistent, Edelman has been the only guy Brady can really trust in the passing game. The running backs also have stepped up nicely. 2012 stud Stevan Ridley had a year to forget with all of his fumbling problems, but Shane Vereen, LaGarette Blount and Brandon Bolden filled the void and helped this backfield become a top 10 rushing unit. Not everyone delivered individually on a week-to-week basis, but there was always someone in that backfield stepping up each game. There's not a dominant back in the bunch, but there's a whole lot of solid ones and that depth makes them a dangerous unit. As usual with the Patriots, the defense is where things started to fall apart. Aside from a strong start in the passing defense fueled by Aqib Talib's freakish play in the first month and a half and Chandler Jones's excellent second season that solidifies him as an elite pass-rusher, the defense was pretty awful. They lost their two best players and trusted leaders Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo for the year by mid-October which made their rushing defense absolutely laughable. They're lucky that their schedule featured minimal great running backs because if they faced a guy like LeSean McCoy, Marshawn Lynch, Jammal Charles or Adrian Peterson, it would've gotten real ugly real fast. The secondary started slipping as soon as Talib hurt his hip against the Saints in October. Talib missed a few games and has struggled since returning, while the rest of the guys save for safety Devin McCoruty (who's All-Pro spot was well-deserved, he was excellent all season) and rookie slot corner Logan Ryan (who could potentially be the first good corner Belichick has ever drafted) are either banged-up or just playing awful. In typical Patriots fashion, they've overcome these defensive woes thanks to their amazing offense. Really the only looming problem with the Patriots moving forward is whether or not Gronkowski can continue to return from these major injuries. The guy is clearly a rare talent, but how many times can he successfully comeback from getting badly hurt and still be productive? The team invested a lot of money in him and while he's been amazing when he's on the field, his injuries continue to be a huge concern, even for a team that is as seemingly invincible as the Patriots.
New York Jets: Saying the New York Jets were a roller-coaster ride this season would be completely underselling just how erratic they were. Just when you thought you had a pulse on them, they would prove you completely wrong time and time again. Consistency was completely out the window as they did win or lose consecutive games till their 3-game losing streak in late November/early December which was the counteracted by them winning 3 of their last 4 games. I know it's crazy to say given that they finished 8-8 this season and were so up-and-down, but no team impressed more than the Jets this year. No one gave these guys chance to win more than 4 games this season yet they picked up victories over playoff teams like the Saints and the Patriots. Pretty much their only strength in 2012 (passing defense) became a weakness (the failure of first-round pick Dee Milliner certainly didn't help matters) yet they end up with a better overall defense. They have no major weapons on offense and roll with a carousel of subpar running backs and below-average wideouts and they still go .500? It just doesn't make any sense. This overachieving boils down to the man running the show: Rex Ryan. Say what you want to about the guy, but he knows how to coach and get the most out of everyone on the roster. Is he arrogant? Absolutely. Does he run his mouth when he probably shouldn't? Sure. Is he as good of a coach as there is in the league? In my opinion, hell yes. Ryan was prematurely given his death sentence as coach prior to the season starting then he turns around and makes this football team a near-playoff contender with one of the most talent-scarce rosters in the league. That's incredible right there and just about any other coach in the league would've folded under those circumstances. The perfect embodiment of the Jets's roller-coaster season was the play of rookie quarterback Geno Smith. At times, the man looked brilliant. Better arm strength than he exhibited in college, quick release, ability to run with when needed: Smith had proved naysayers like myself wrong with his abilities. Then there were weeks where Smith looked like he never played football before in his life. He was a turnover machine who made throws that simply shouldn't have been made and cost his team numerous games because of his inability to take care of the football. Even with all his mistakes, Smith showed that he is capable of being a quality starter in this league if he becomes more patient and smarter with his throws. About the only aspect of the Jets team that was consistently impressive this season was the rushing defense. Rookie Sheldon Richardson and third-year player Damon Harrison are anchors in the middle of the line and are single-handily responsible for the reinvention of the defense. Not only can these guys plug up holes in the running game, they open up lanes for guys like Muhammad Wilkerson and Calvin Pace to terrorize opposing quarterbacks (and terrorize they did: Wilkerson and Pace combined for 20.5 sacks on the year.) Richardson is my personal pick for 2013 Defensive Rookie of the Year and has all the potential to become the league's next dominant defensive tackle. In order for the Jets to reach the next level, they need more weapons offensively. You can make do with their running back tandem of Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell, but this team desperately needs a playmaking wide receiver to help out Smith. Their leading receiver this year, Jeremy Kerley, would be lucky to be a number 3 wideout on most other teams in the league and surely won't cut as the top wideout again. With Ryan at the helm and a defense that can cause problems, the Jets could potentially be going places if their offense falls into place.
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