2015 NFL Recap: NFC East

My Preseason Predictions:

1.Philadelphia Eagles (10-6)
2.Dallas Cowboys (9-7)
3.New York Giants (7-9)
4.Washington Redskins (5-11)

Actual Standings:

1.Washington Redskins (9-7)

2.Philadelphia Eagles (7-9)

3.New York Giants (6-10)

4.Dallas Cowboys (4-12) 

Dallas Cowboys:

Team MVP's: T Tyron Smith, G Zach Martin, C Travis Fredrick, ILB Sean Lee, RB Darren McFadden

-The demise of the 2015 Cowboys completely stemmed from the injuries to quarterback Tony Romo and to a lesser extent, wide receiver Dez Bryant. The Cowboys simply didn't have the depth or overall talent to make up for the loss of their two most productive offensive players and the entire team crumbled because of it. 2015 might've been a thoroughly disappointing season for a Cowboys team that was looking to build upon their improbable playoff run in 2014, but they can at least be thankful that they have a good shot at being competitive again if Romo and Bryant can return at full health in 2016.

-On the topic of Romo and Bryant, neither of them should've rushed backed from their injuries. The season was pretty much lost the minute the Romo went down with a broken clavicle in Week 2 and it was 100% lost by the time Bryant returned to the field in Week 8. Bryant was clearly still hampered by the major foot injury he suffered in Week 1 once he returned to the lineup and it made him a non-factor for a majority of the season while Romo was similarly restrained by his clearly unhealed injury as evidenced by his wild inaccuracy and re-breaking of the clavicle in just his second game back. That type of complete and utter disregard for your health is dangerous and the Cowboys better hope that the recklessness Romo and Bryant showed this season doesn't hurt them in the long run.

-On top of being a despicable human being, Greg Hardy also proved in 2015 that he's a gigantic moron. After the Cowboys handed him an opportunity at a comeback after a domestic violence incident nearly derailed his career, Hardy spat in their faces with his awful attitude and lack of dedication to the team. Hardy was repeatedly late to meetings, frequently disrespected his teammates and further confirmed that he's a classless hothead with his violent shoving of special team coach Rich Bisaccia on the sidelines in their Week 8 game against the Giants. Even with his undeniable talent as a player, I don't think another team will be willing to give Hardy a chance after the shit he pulled in Dallas this season.

-The lone bright spot for the Cowboys offense this season was veteran running back Darren McFadden. After Joseph Randle was released following a well-publicized meltdown at the team facility in early November, McFadden took over as the starter and shocked the football world with by being incredibly productive right out of the gate. McFadden was able to stay healthy for the whole year for the first time in forever and showed a level of burst and elusiveness that's been missing from his game since at least 2010 and it allowed him to finish fourth in the league in rushing with 1,089 yards. The pairing of his age (he'll be 29 in August) and lengthy injury history makes you leery of whether or not he'll be able to repeat this success in the future, but at the very least, McFadden deserves a lot of credit for the highly improbable comeback he made this season.

-Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli continues to be the most underrated coordinator in the league. What he's been able to in his two years as the Cowboys defensive coordinator with no true blue-chip talents at his disposal is pretty damn remarkable. The play of the Cowboys defense this season kept them competitive while the offense struggled to points up on the board (only four of their 11 losses without Romo starting were by more than 10 points) and they managed to finish fifth in the league in pass defense, 16th in points per game allowed and 17th in total defense. The unit still has its struggles with getting to the quarterback and stopping the run on a consistent basis, but this overachieving unit is headed in the right direction under Marinelli's guidance.   

New York Giants:

Team MVP's: WR Odell Beckham Jr., QB Eli Manning, C Weston Richburg, CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, G Justin Pugh

 -Lady luck was not on the Giants side in 2015. Five of their 10 losses came in games in which they had the lead with less than 2 minutes to go and three of their other five losses were by five points or less. The strangest thing about they're late-game misfortunes is that just about every one of their losses can be chalked up to something different. Everything from defensive lapses to bad clock management/playcalling to boneheaded penalties to just general tough breaks caused the Giants to suffer last-minute, gut-wrenching losses in 2015. It's kind of crazy to think that this 6-10 team could've easily been a 10-12 win team if they had just been able to hold on late in games.

-Odell Beckham Jr. followed up his unreal rookie season with an equally-impressive sophomore season. Beckham Jr. once again served as the primary playmaker for the Giants offense, picking up 1,450 yards (fifth in the league) and 13 TD's (tied for fourth in the league) in 15 games this season. 2015 provided proof that Beckham Jr's record-breaking rookie season wasn't a fluke and that he is currently in line to be one of the NFL's most lethal receivers for the foreseeable future.

-Despite being held back by a below-average receiving corps (aside from Beckham Jr.) and a crowded running back committee that failed to produce most weeks, Eli Manning still managed to put together a very impressive season in 2015. A greatly improved offensive line prompted by 2013 1st-rounder Justin Pugh being moved from left tackle to left guard and a breakout campaign from second-year center Weston Richburg gave Manning the time to sit back in the pocket and go through his progressions and not rush his throws, which is a luxury he hasn't had since 2011. The solid protection Manning received in 2015 paid off handsomely as he finished the year with career-highs in TD (35) and QBR (93.6). A lot of things prevented the Giants from being a winning football team this season, but the play of Manning sure as hell wasn't one of them.

-Bringing back Steve Spagnuolo- the architect of their menacing 2007 Super Bowl champion defense- as defensive coordinator did not reverse any of the Giants recent defensive misfortunes. To be completely honest, they might've actually been worse than they were in 2014 under Perry Fewell. Their pass-rush was practically non-existent, their rushing defense fell apart once defensive tackle Jonathan Hankins was placed on injured reserve after suffering a torn pectoral muscle against the Buccaneers and their entire secondary (aside from top corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who was once again exceptional) was so consistently terrible that it was hard to believe how any of them were able to make an NFL roster. Based on their collective ineptness, it's hardly surprising that they finished near the bottom of the league in almost every defensive category. With the exception of rush defense and takeaways where they ranked 24th and 7th (tied with the Broncos) respectively, they were in the bottom three in the NFL in every single major category (sacks, passing defense, yards allowed per game and points allowed per game). If the Giants want to avoid falling short of the playoffs for a fifth straight season, they're going to need have to an outstanding draft and free agency period to rebuild this defense.      

Philadelphia Eagles:

Team MVP's: DE Fletcher Cox, S Malcolm Jenkins, ILB Jordan Hicks, T Jason Peters, S Walter Thurmond

-The Chip Kelly GM experiment was a spectacular failure. Just about every one of Kelly's drastic personnel moves backfired and caused this team to become substantially worse than they were in his first two years as head coach. His big-ticket free-agent signings (running back DeMarco Murray and cornerback Byron Maxwell) were amongst the worst players in the league at their respective positions this season, just about all of his draft picks failed to make impact, the quarterback he traded for (Sam Bradford) was every bit as pedestrian as Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez were in 2014 and the guys he entrusted to takeover for departed veterans Jeremy Maclin and Evan Mathis (Jordan Matthews and Allen Barbre) weren't even half as productive as the guys they were replacing. While the friction between him and his players and the string of blowout losses in the middle of the season certainly didn't help, Kelly's failure as a general manager is the primary reason why the Eagles let him go.

-The Eagles were arguably the most erratic team in the NFL this season. Every impressive win (their 39-17 victory over the Saints in Week 5 and their improbable 35-28 upset over the Patriots in Week 13) they picked up where their defense was aggressive and their offense was efficient was balanced out by a lopsided loss (their back-to-back losses 45-17 and 45-14 losses to the Buccaneers and Lions in Week 11 and 12) where they looked helpless and undisciplined on both sides of the ball. Their inability to consistently perform ruined any chance they had at winning the tightly-contested NFC East this season.

-For the first time in a long time, The Eagles look like they're in big trouble at the wide receiver position. Jordan Matthews was well below average in his first season as the top wideout, fellow second-year player Josh Huff continues to show little value outside of the occasional random touchdown or splash play, Riley Cooper was basically invisible yet again and 2015 first-round pick Nelson Agholor's rookie campaign was nothing short of a disaster with his terrible route-running and inability to adjust to the speed of the game at the pro level. There's precisely a zero percent chance that they don't regret letting Jeremy Maclin leave in free agency after watching their current group of WR's stink up the joint in 2015.

-While their defense was wildly inconsistent as a whole in 2015, the Eagles had a number of players that were outstanding the entire season. Defensive end/tackle Fletcher Cox further solidified his standing as one of the most disruptive and well-rounded defensive players in the league, safety Malcolm Jenkins was a force in the middle of the secondary and rookie inside linebacker Jordan Hicks (aka the only good decision Kelly made as GM) proved to be a certified two-way playmaker from the jump. There's still huge gaps at cornerback and some depth problems at linebacker, but the Eagles nucleus of dynamic young players makes them one of the most exciting defensive groups in the league moving forward.   

Washington Redskins:

Team MVP's: T Trent Williams, TE Jordan Reed, CB Bashaud Breeland, QB Kirk Cousins, DT Chris Baker

-The Redskins were clearly the best team in the NFC East, but their winning record and division title has to be taken with a grain of salt. They did not beat a single opponent with a winning record this season (the best team they beat was the 8-8 Bills) and the three times this season where they faced an opponent with an above .500 record (the Patriots, Jets and Panthers), they got outscored 105-46. If this Redskins team wants to be taken seriously in the future, they're going to need to fare much better against quality opponents. 

-The biggest storyline that came out of Washington this season was the sudden emergence of fourth-year quarterback Kirk Cousins. The decision to finally bench to bench Robert Griffin III for Cousins was initially met with a lot of scrutiny, but it proved to be the most intelligent decision Jay Gruden has made in his brief tenure as the Redskins head coach so far. With Cousins under center, the Redskins offense found the spark it had lacked since Griffin III's terrific rookie year in 2012. After a bit of a rough start with four multi-INT games in his first six starts, Cousins found his way and became one of the league's most dependable and productive quarterbacks for the rest of the year, posting 23 TD, a 73.4 CMP%, just 3 INT and a 7-3 record in the last 10 games of the regular season. Personally, I was stunned by Cousins' sudden transformation from raw young backup to viable starting quarterback in less than a year's time. Cousins' hadn't shown much potential in his previous nine career starts and after his terrible display in 2014, I was ready to write him off as another bust for the Redskins. The accuracy, poise and genuine playmaking ability Cousins displayed in 2015 proved me wrong and I now believe he has what it takes to be a successful long-term starter in the league.

-2015 was a reminder of just how good tight end Jordan Reed can be when he's healthy. When he returned to the field in Week 7 after being forced to miss two games with a concussion and minor knee injury, Reed went on an unreal tear for the rest of the season, gathering 63 receptions for 674 yards and 10 TD's over the final 10 games. Reed is the most exciting young tight end in the NFL right now and if he can manage to stay healthy in the future, he could turn into a truly elite player.

-The generally poor play of the defense played a pivotal role in the Redskins' struggles against quality teams this season. As a collective unit, they just weren't very good as they ranked 26th overall in yards allowed (25th against the pass, 26th against the run) and 17th in points per game allowed. Free-agent pickups Terrence Knighton and Stephen Paea underperformed and failed to bring stability to the defensive line, their secondary led by the aging DeAngelo Hall and colossal free agent busts Chris Culliver and Dashon Goldson was once again ranked in the bottom half of the league and the typically-excellent outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan and defensive tackle Jason Hatcher surprisingly failed to play up to their potential. The play of their young guys (cornerback Bashaud Breeland, outside linebackers Preston Smith, safety Kyshoen Jarrett) inspires some hope for the future, but until they reach their full potential, the defense will continue to be the Redskins Achilles heel.

2015 NFL Recap: AFC West

 My Preseason Predictons:

1.Denver Broncos (10-6)

2.San Diego Chargers (8-8)

3.Kansas City Chiefs (7-9)

4.Oakland Raiders (6-10) 

Actual Standings

1.Denver Broncos (12-4)

2.Kansas City Chiefs (11-5)

3.Oakland Raiders (7-9)

4.San Diego Chargers (4-12)

Denver Broncos:

Team MVP's: OLB Von Miller, ILB Brandon Marshall, CB Chris Harris Jr., DE/DT Derek Wolfe, S Darian Stewart

-After pondering over it since the end of the Super Bowl, I can now say with absolute confidence that the 2015 Broncos are the most dominant defense I've seen in my lifetime. If you sit back and break down this defense on film or paper, you won't be able to find a single hole. Their pass-rush was suffocating, their linebackers were fast and versatile and their secondary was full of guys that can cover and tackle with equal proficiency. It's honestly kind of astonishing how much talent general manager John Elway has brought in over the years and I imagine they'll be using a majority of their available cap space to bring back as many of the free agents as they possibly can (defensive end Malik Jackson, inside linebackers Brandon Marshall and Danny Trevathan and Super Bowl MVP Von Miller are all set to hit the open market this offseason).

-The Broncos defense has been great for a few years now, but their sudden ascent to dominance can be directly linked to the presence of first-year defensive coordinator Wade Philips. Philips installed a system that allowed their plethora of gifted pass-rushers more freedom to rush the quarterback and made their secondary damn near impossible to throw on. Phillips' creative and aggressive scheme allowed the Broncos to finish first in the league in sacks (52), forced fumbles (25) and defensive TD's (4). Phillips was the best coordinator in the NFL this season by a wide margin and it'll be very interesting to see if they maintain this insanely high level of play in the future.

-Peyton Manning needs to hang it up. The man that took the field in 2015 was not the five-time MVP, 14-time Pro Bowler we've come to know all too well over his 18-year career, it was a physically-drained old man that couldn't do a vast majority of the things he was able to do in the past. All of the injuries that have plagued him over the years finally caught up with him in 2015 and it caused him to throw with next-to-no-velocity or accuracy. Watching the shriveled-up ghost of Manning play was more than enough to confirm that his days in the NFL were numbered, but perhaps the strongest indicator of his ineffectiveness is the fact that he threw almost twice as many as interceptions (17) than touchdowns (9) in the 10 games he played this season. This was the first time since his rookie year in 1998 that Manning threw more INT's than TD's in a season and it was by far the worst TD: INT ratio (0:5) he's posted in his career to-date. If Manning decides to come back next year after winning his second Super Bowl Ring in a decrepit state this season, he's officially lost his mind.

-The whole "C.J. Anderson is a workhorse stud running back" movement can officially be put to rest. While Anderson had a few impressive performances over the course of the season (his 113-yard, 2 TD performance against the Patriots in Week 13 was the clear highlight), he was a mostly average back that struggled to break through defenses on a consistent basis. To be fair, minor injuries and porous offensive line play put a bit of a damper on his effectiveness, but I still firmly believe that this season proved that Anderson doesn't have what it takes to be an uncontested starting running back in the league.

-The Broncos need to do everything in their power to retain Brock Osweiler. The fourth-year quarterback finally saw the field in 2015 when Manning went down with plantar fasciits in Week 10 against the Chiefs and he looked pretty comfortable leading the offense. His athleticism and arm strength provided their offense with the spark it sorely lacked with a physically-limited Manning running the show and that ability to orchestrate a legitimate vertical attack allowed the Broncos to go 5-2 with him as a starter. It's hard to tell if Osweiler is a surefire franchise quarterback after just seven starts, but his familiarity with the system and the four years he spent under the tutelage of Manning make him the clear choice to be the Broncos next starting quarterback.
 

Kansas City Chiefs:

Team MVP's: S Eric Berry, OLB Justin Houston, ILB Derrick Johnson, WR Jeremy Maclin, TE Travis Kelce

-I don't think there has been a better comeback story in the history of sports than that of Eric Berry. Less than a year after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, Berry returned to the field and put together the best season of his thoroughly impressive career so far. I admire Berry so much for his tremendous courage, dedication and perseverance and he deserves every penny of the huge contract he's going to receive in free agency this offseason.

-It got a decent amount of attention once they clinched a playoff berth, but I think a lot of people are downplaying just how impressive of a mid-season turnaround the Chiefs made in 2015. This was a lifeless squad that looked like they're were on the brink of being one of the worst teams in the league after six games and they somehow managed to right the ship and become the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs after starting the season 1-5. Pulling off a 10-game winning streak full of huge statement wins after starting off the season on such a lackluster note is a huge testament to the resiliency of their players and the strength of head coach Andy Reid and his coaching staff.

-Ever since he took over as the full-time starter in 2010, it seemed like the Chiefs offense would be helpless without Jammal Charles. This year, the Chiefs proved that longstanding theory to be false. After Charles went down for the with a torn ACL in their week 5 contest with the Bears, the tandem of Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware kept the Chiefs entrenched as one of the most potent rushing attacks in the NFL. While neither have of them have the elusiveness or burst that has made Charles one of the best running backs of the past decade, West and Ware came out of nowhere in 2015 to prove they're rock-solid backs who could easily start for just about any team in the league.

-As expected, the addition of wide receiver Jeremy Maclin dramatically improved the Chiefs passing offense. Maclin's numbers may have been down a bit from his career season with the Eagles in 2014, but he was still able to give the Chiefs the legitimate vertical threat they've lacked since Dwayne Bowe's last productive season in 2011 and helped Alex Smith set new career highs for passing yards and yards per attempt (Maclin's 1,088 yards accounted for 31.2% of Smith's passing yards, only Julio Jones and Odell Beckham Jr. accounted for a higher percentage of their starting quarterback's passing yards this season). If the Chiefs can acquire one more valuable asset to throw alongside Maclin and tight end Travis Kelce, their passing game could turn into something really special.

-While there's no denying that he put together a solid season, cornerback Marcus Peters did not deserve Defensive Rookie of the Year. If you simply looked at the flashy stats (INT's and passes defensed), Peters seems like a worthy candidate given his high totals in both of those categories (8 INT's and 26 passes defensed, both league highs). However, Peters also surrendered 8 TD's (second most of any corner in the league) and got burned almost every time he played a top-tier wideout (A.J. Green, DeAndre Hopkins, Emmanuel Sanders) during the season. Peters appears to be on the right track for a successful career, I just feel like some of the hype surrounding him is being inflated due to his gaudy INT numbers.     

Oakland Raiders:

Team MVP's: OLB/DE Khalil Mack, QB Derek Carr, T Donald Penn, G Gabe Jackson, DT Dan Williams

-Second-year quarterback Derek Carr quietly put together one hell of a season in 2015. The young signal-caller made huge strides in every facet of his game and was able to parlay his growth as a passer and leader into a 3,987 yard, 32 TD season. Carr hit a bit of a rough patch in the last five games of the year (2-3 record, 55.8% CMP PCT, 72.2 QBR 7 of his 13 INT for the season), but he was still mightily impressive in 2015 and I firmly believe that the Raiders have found their quarterback of the future.

-The breakout campaigns of Carr and running back Latavius Murray can directly be linked to the Raiders excellent offensive line play. Center Rodney Hudson proved to be well worth his massive free agent deal with his stellar debut season as a Raider, guard Gabe Jackson built on his impressive rookie campaign to become one of the most punishing run-blockers in the league in his sophomore season and after a second straight productive season with the Raiders, grizzled veteran Donald Penn has officially proved his disastrous 2013 season with the Buccaneers was a fluke. This Raiders have the most underrated offensive line of the league and I don't expect them to be slept on for much longer. 

-He may have become the 16th wide receiver since 1970 to put up over 1,000 receiving yards as a rookie, but I still don't know what to think of Amari Cooper. For every highlight reel-worthy play he made, he would ruin a chance at another one with a poorly-ran route or an ugly drop (Cooper was tied for second-most drops in the league with 10). Cooper clearly still has a lot of time to develop and none of the flaws in his game are things that can't be corrected over time, I'm just not sure if he's going to transform into the transcendent receiver he was touted to be prior to the start of this season.

-The jump that outside linebacker/defensive end Khalil Mack made from his rookie year to his second season was simply ridiculous. Mack was unstoppable as both a run-stuffer and pass-rusher in 2015 as he picked up 77 tackles and 15 sacks (second-most in the league) and ended up becoming the first player to ever make the Associated Press All-Pro first team at two different positions. With Mack's emergence as a superstar and a talented, young supporting cast anchored by nose tackle Dan Williams and promising rookie defensive end Mario Edwards Jr., the Raiders front seven could become one of the best in the league within the next couple of years.

-As good as Mack, Williams and the rest of the front seven were, the Raiders horrendous secondary prevented them from being one of the league's best defenses. Third-year cornerback and colossal draft bust D.J. Hayden continues to be a major liability in coverage, slot corner T.J. Carrie showed some serious growing pains in his first season as a starter and strong safety Larry Asante regressed tremendously after a decent season in 2014. With another hole opening up in the secondary with the retirement of Charles Woodson, the Raiders need to make obtaining secondary talent a priority in the draft and free agency this season. 

-I couldn't do a Raiders recap without giving props to the great Charles Woodson, who announced his retirement from the league after 18 seasons at the conclusion of 2015. The 39-year old Woodson continued to deify Father Time in his final season in the league by being an aggressive safety with field-stretching speed and a knack for creating takeaways (his 5 INT's were tied for sixth most in the league). Woodson is the rare all-time great player to go out with a bang instead of a whimper and the consistent high level of play he exhibited throughout his career further solidifies his place as one of the greatest defensive backs to ever play the game.

San Diego Chargers:

Team MVP's: QB Phillip Rivers, CB Jason Verrett, WR Keenan Allen, OLB Melvin Ingram, RB Danny Woodhead 

-You have to feel for Phillip Rivers. Despite playing at a consistently high level and throwing for a career-high 4,792 yards in an offense that was almost completely devoid of playmakers, the Chargers still ended up finishing 4-12 on the year. Rivers' 2015 season is the perfect foil to the widely-accepted notion that good quarterback play is guaranteed to translate into wins in the NFL.

-Aside from the Ravens, no team in the NFL suffered more crucial injuries on offense than the Chargers this season. Star wide receiver Keenan Allen and center Chris Watt both suffered season-ending injuries in Week 8 against the Ravens while their starting left guard Orlando Franklin, wide receiver Stevie Johnson and left tackle King Dunlap all missed between six and 10 games on the season. These injuries led to a severe lack of continuity on an already talent-deprived offensive line group and a complete lack of weapons in the passing game. The sheer number of impact players that went down on a unit that was already relatively strapped for talent ruined any chance of the Chargers offense being effective in 2015.

-Unlike fellow first-round rounder Todd Gurley, rookie running back Melvin Gordon's transition to the NFL was not even close to being seamless. Gordon was indecisive and sluggish as a runner and had a major issue with ball security, fumbling six times in the 14 games he appeared in. Gordon's play was so bad that he ended up losing a significant amount of touches to veteran pass-catching specialist Danny Woodhead, who surprisingly emerged as one of the few reliable contributors on the Chargers 26th-ranked scoring offense this season. While the offensive line woes very well could've very impacted his development, Gordon's weak rookie year should still be a cause for major concern for the Chargers organization.

-With the exception of a All-Pro/Pro Bowl caliber season from second-year stud cornerback Jason Verrett and a breakout campaign from fourth-year outside linebacker Melvin Ingram, the Chargers defense was flat-out awful this season. The defense finished in the bottom half of the league in every major category except pass defense, where the strong performance of Verrett, slot corner Patrick Robinson and the ever-reliable veteran free safety Eric Weddle allowed to them finish in 14th. This unit's overall ineffectiveness can be linked  to a number of different players, but the biggest culprits by far were defensive end Kendall Reyes and cornerback Brandon Flowers. Reyes' below-average pass-rushing and complete inability to stop the run made him one of the weakest starting defensive end's in football this season while Flowers reverted back to his atrocious 2013 form after an excellent 2014 where he was one of the most consistently dominant shutdown corners in the league. This Chargers D may have been less than stellar in 2015, but the organization and its fans can be happy that this is a very young unit (seven of their 11 starters have been in the league for four years or less) full of players that don't appear to have come anywhere close to reaching their respective ceiling's yet. 

2015 NFL Recap: AFC South

My Preseason Predictions: 
 1.Indianapolis Colts (12-4)
2.Houston Texans (9-7)
3.Jacksonville Jaguars (5-11)
4.Tennessee Titans (3-13)

Actual Standings:
1.Houston Texans (9-7)
2.Indianapolis Colts (8-8)
3.Jacksonville Jaguars (5-11)
4.Tennessee Titans (3-13)

Houston Texans:

Team MVP's: DE J.J. Watt, WR DeAndre Hopkins, CB Jonathan Joseph, OLB Whitney Mercilus,  T Duane Brown
-I never thought I'd say this, but the Texans should've never gotten rid of Ryan Fitzpatrick. Every single sad quarterback they trotted out this season (Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallet, T.J. Yates, Brandon Weeden) has no business starting in the NFL. The Texans may have been able to make the playoffs with this conglomerate of below average QB's leading the charge, but they won't be serious contenders until they find a competent quarterback.

-After two solid seasons to start his career, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins became a superstar in 2015.  Hopkins put together a ridiculous season (111 receptions, 1,521 yards, 11 TD) with a revolving door of quarterbacks and went onto secure the first Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections of his career. Hopkins is the type of player you build an offense around and if the Texans can bring in a legitimate starting quarterback, he could end up being the best receiver of his generation.

-2015 further confirmed that the Texans do not have a viable replacement in place for injury-prone star running back Arian Foster. Once Foster went down for the year with a ruptured achilles in their Week 7 loss against the Dolphins, the Texans rushing game officially went out the window. Aside from the occasional splash play or short-yardage touchdown run, the combination of Alfred Blue, Jonathan Grimes and Chris Polk failed to provide a consistent spark in the running game and made the Texans already talent-strapped offense almost completely one-dimensional. Foster's extensive injury history, age (he'll be 30 in August) and huge cap hit ($7 million) make him a prime contender to be cut before the start of the new league year, so it'll be imperative for the Texans to find a new starting running back in the draft or free agency this offseason.

-Romeo Crennel deserves a ton of credit for what he was able to do this with his defense this season. I was highly critical of him and the effectiveness of his scheme in the beginning of the year after they allowed 40+ points to the Falcons and Dolphins, but he was able to fix a majority of the issues after the Dolphins game in Week 7 and turn this defense into one of the most productive and stout units in the league for second half of the season. Crennel is still one of the best defensive coordinators in the league and this defense will perennially be among the league's best as long as he's around.

-The Texans front seven might be the most underrated in the league. The cyborg otherwise known as three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Player J.J. Watt may be the undisputed face of this defense with all of the accolades and media attention he receives, but he's hardly the only difference maker the Texans have up front. Whitney Mercilus continued his trend of steadily improving every single season by picking up a career-high 12 sacks and 2014 number one overall pick Jadeveon Clowney made a remarkable recovery from microfracture surgery to become one of the team's most consistent run-stuffers. They still lack a true nose tackle (Vince Wilfork did not work out nearly as well as they had hoped) and the inside linebacker duo of Brian Cushing and Beanrdrick McKinney is a bit inconsistent, but this is a productive, young unit that hasn't even come close to reaching their full potential.  

Indianapolis Colts:

Team MVP's: G Jack Mewhort, ILB Jerrell Freeman, DE Henry Anderson, ILB D'Qwell Jackson, T Anthony Castonzo
-Everyone and their brother was quick to criticize the Colts for their mediocre 2015 season. While some of the criticism is undeniably justifiable as the team failed to make the playoffs a year after reaching the AFC Championship game, it's actually kind of a miracle that the Colts were even able to finish .500 given all of the adversity they faced this season. Starting quarterback and offensive catalyst Andrew Luck missed nine games with assorted injuries, the team switched offensive coordinators halfway through the season and a parade of injuries and an uncharacteristically subpar play from cornerback Vontae Davis made their already weak pass defense even more vulnerable. Some blame needs to be handed out to the coaching staff for the play-calling and utilization (or lack there of) of certain players on both sides of the ball and general manager Ryan Grigson for interfering with head coach Chuck Pagano's on-field personnel decisions, but the Colts under-performance in 2015 can mainly be tied to key injuries and lack of continuity.

-Speaking of Grigson, the Colts made a HORRIBLE decision keeping him on board. This is a man who over the course of the past 12 months has made the following moves: 1. Used a first-round pick on a position (wide receiver) that's already a strength on his team when his defense and offensive line are riddled with holes. 2. Handed out numerous massive free agent deals to well past their prime veterans including wide receiver Andre Johnson, outside linebacker Trent Cole and guard Todd Herremans (who got cut in December). 3.Regularly prevented Pagano from setting the roster/starting lineup he wanted. Retaining a toxic presence and terrible personnel guy like Grigson doesn't make sense for a team that isn't that far away from being a serious title contender.

 -Anyone that said Andrew Luck is finished and that his "first three years were a fluke" during the 2015 season needs to have their head examined. If you watched the Colts play for more than a few minutes in 2015 and/or aren't a sadistic Patriots fan that goes to extreme lengths to make fun of the Colts and their misfortunes, you would know that Luck wasn't healthy from the jump this season. Luck's shoulder issues prevented him from being able to make the throws he's accustomed to making and it ended up causing an uptick in the accuracy and turnover issues that have been Luck's Achilles' heel since he entered the league. It's nothing short of ridiculous to doubting Luck's status as a franchise quarterback because of one injury-plagued season and I'll be flabbergasted if he doesn't return to the dominant form he displayed in 2012-14 next year.

-Amidst all of the miscues in the secondary and poor performances against just about every high-powered offense they faced, the Colts can at least take solace in the fact that their front seven looks likes it's finally starting to come together. Inside linebackers Jerell Freeman and D'Qwell Jackson played at a Pro Bowl-caliber level all season long, ex St. Louis Ram-defensive end Kendall Langford proved a lot of doubters wrong by emerging as the Colts most consistent pass-rusher in 2015 and rookie defensive end Henry Anderson was a highly disruptive presence before going down with a torn ACL in Week 9 against the Broncos. They still need to add a pass-rusher or two, but for the first time since the start of the Freeney/Mathis-era in 2004, the Colts seem to have the foundation for a productive front seven in place.

Jacksonville Jaguars:

Team MVP's: WR Allen Robinson, WR Allen Hurns, QB Blake Bortles, RB T.J. Yeldon, C Stefen Wisnewski

-Don't look now, but the Jacksonville Jaguars seem to be becoming a legitimate offensive force. Behind the combination of quarterback Blake Bortles, rookie running back T.J Yeldon and the absolutely lethal receiver tandem of Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns, the Jaguars were able to go from the league's bottom ranked scoring offense (15.6 points per game) in 2014 to 14th (23.5 points per game) in 2015. The scariest part about this QB/RB/WR combo is that none of them have more than two years experience in the league. If all of these guys continue to make steady year-to-year progress, the Jaguars should be one of the most explosive offenses in the league for a LONG time.

-Blake Bortles' 2015 season is one of the more interesting ones I've seen in all my years of following football. If you were to simply look at his numbers (4,428 YDS, 35 TD, 7.31 YDS per attempt), you would conclude that he had a sensational season. However, due to the Jaguars bad habit of playing from behind, Bortles did a fair amount of his damage through the air in garbage time situations. Along with his somewhat inflated stats, the combination of bad offensive line play and his gunslinger mentality forced him to throw a league-high 18 interceptions. While his numbers weren't as impressive as they appear to be on paper, it's not to say that Bortles didn't have an impressive season. His throwing mechanics and poise in the pocket were greatly improved from 2014 and that allowed him to hit the intermediate and deep throws he missed in his rookie campaign at a much higher rate. His game is still very much a work in progress, but Bortles is starting to look like the polished, rocket-armed, franchise quarterback he was touted to be when he came out of Central Florida University.

-While the offensive line wasn't as inept as it was the past two seasons, they still weren't particularity good in 2015. They surrendered 51 sacks (4th most in the league) and regularly forced Bortles to run for his life and/or make ill-advised throws downfield. Aside from center Stefen Wisnewski-who served as an effective, stabilizing presence in the middle of the line- this entire unit was well below average. Left tackle (and former top five overall pick) Luke Jockel further solidified his status as a catastrophic draft bust, free-agent pickup right tackle Jeremy Parnell struggled mightily in his first season as a full-time starter and a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 4 against the Colts prevented second-year guard Brandon Linder from building on his impressive rookie campaign. If the Jaguars want their offense full of young, gifted skill-position players to reach their full potential, they're going to need to solve their offensive lines woes as soon as possible.

-The massive strides the Jaguars have made on offense in 2015 did not translate to the defensive side of the ball. Outside of a few standout performers (defensive tackle Roy Miller, outside linebacker Telvin Smith, cornerback Davon House), this defense was a grade-scale mess in 2015. Their pass-rush was below average (they were tied for 20th in the league with 36 sacks), they failed to create takeaways with any sort of regularity (18, tied for 26th in the league) and their lack of talent at cornerback and (especially) safety made them one of the most easily beatable secondaries in the league (their pass defense was ranked 29th in the league). The return of vastly underrated defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks and 2015 first-round pick Dante Fowler Jr. from injury should help this unit improve in 2016, but they're still a long way away from even being a serviceable defense in this league.

-In an era where it seems no head coach is given time to properly assemble and develop a team, I can not applaud Jaguars owner Shad Khan enough for keeping Gus Bradley around to see the rebuilding process through. The Jaguars have gotten better in each of Bradley's three seasons with the team and there's no denying that the development of their many young players are directly correlated to his presence. I have a feeling Khan's patience with Bradley is going to pay off in the very near future.

Tennessee Titans:

Team MVP's: TE Delanie Walker, DT Jurrell Casey, S Da'Norris Searcy, OLB Brian Orakpo, T Taylor Lewan

-Quarterback Marcus Mariota's rookie season was a very mixed bag. On the positive end, he had a much smoother transition to running a pro-style offense from the spread he ran in college than most people expected and was able to put up decent numbers with a one-dimensional offense that has next-to-no weapons and a horrendous offensive line. On the other side of the coin, he was a little too desperate to prove that he wasn't just a running quarterback and often remained stationary in the pocket when he could've extended a play with his legs and regularly struggled with reading defenses and going through his progressions. It's still unclear whether or not Mariota will be a successful quarterback at the professional level, but Titans fans can at least be happy that he didn't set off any of the significant red flags that previous Heisman-winning, spread-system quarterbacks Robert Griffin III and Johnny Manziel did in their rookie years.  

-Delanie Walker is the latest example of an excellent player not getting the credit he deserves because he plays on a terrible team. Walker was nothing short of sensational in 2015, putting up 1,088 yards and 6 TD's on 94 receptions and emerging as the only player Mariota could trust on the entire offense to deliver every week. It's nothing short of a travesty that he was snubbed from the AP All-Pro and initial Pro Bowl squad.

-While the Titans defense is still a long way away from being good, it was clear that the pairing of defensive coordinator Ray Horton and defensive assistant Dick LaBeau got through to them. Even though the talent was suspect, they played with a lot more aggression and heart than they did during their disastrous 2014 campaign. Even though Horton just left the team on January 22nd to take the defensive coordinator position with the Browns, I expect their improvement to continue in 2016 with LaBeau running the show by himself .

-The Titans quietly had one of the best free agent hauls of 2015. Every single one of their major signings (Da'Norris Searcy, Brian Orakpo, Wesley Woodyard) came out and made an impact this season. While 2015 was another thoroughly underwhelming season for the Titans, at least recently-fired general manager Ruston Webster was able to formerly apologize for four years of bad drafts with one solid free-agent class.

-The decision to get rid of head coach Ken Wisenhunt in the middle of the season was the right one. Outside of improbable blowout victories in both of his season openers, he had won just one game in his two years with the team and it became clear that he just wasn't the right guy to turn this team around. However, I'm baffled by the team's choice to promote interim head coach/tight ends coach Mike Mularkey to full-time head coach. The Titans performed only marginally better under his watch than they did with Wisenhunt as head coach and it didn't seem like the team really bought into whatever he was selling. I understand that their ownership didn't want to completely shake up the culture of the team in the middle of a major rebuilding phase, but tapping a man whose two previous NFL head coaching gigs have gone horribly wrong to try and turn things around seems like a decision that will keep the Titans in the basement for at least the next couple of years.  

2015 NFL Recap: AFC North

My Preseason Projections:

1.Baltimore Ravens (10-6)
2.Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7)
3.Cincinnati Bengals (9-7)
   4.Cleveland Browns (5-11) 

Actual Standings:

1.Cincinnati Bengals (11-5)

2.Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6)

3.Baltimore Ravens (5-11)

4.Cleveland Browns (3-13)

Baltimore Ravens:

Team MVP's: G Marshal Yanda, S Will Hill, WR Steve Smith Sr., DT Brandon Williams, WR Kamar Aiken
-No team in recent NFL history has been hit harder with injuries than the 2015 Baltimore Ravens. By the time their bye week rolled around in Week 9, they had already lost leading wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., defensive leader Terrell Suggs and 2015 first-round pick Bershad Perriman to season-ending injuries. The injury situation somehow managed to get even worse after the bye as starting quarterback Joe Flacco, running back Justin Forsett, left tackle Eugene Monroe and center Jeremy Zuttah all went down for the year between Week 10 and Week 12. The Ravens may be one of the well-coached and collectively talented teams in the league, but there's just no way you can lose that many key contributors and still go onto have a successful season.

-Despite the abundance of injuries that derailed their hopes of returning to the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons under head coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens remained pretty competitive throughout the season. With the exception of two lopsided December losses to the Seahawks and Chiefs that occurred while quarterback virtuoso Jimmy Clausen was running the show, all of their losses were decided by eight points or less. Staying this competitive with an injury-depleted roster speaks volumes for the tenacity and mental toughness of this team and it will be a huge shock if this team doesn't return to their perennial title-contending form with a healthy squad in 2016.

-Even with the return of top corner Jimmy Smith from injury, the Ravens secondary struggled yet again this season. Smith did not look like even half the player he was before he broke his foot last season, Lardarius Webb looked better at safety then he did at corner the past few years, but his played remained wildly inconsistent and all three veteran newcomers (Kyle Arrington, Kendrick Lewis and Shareece Wright) failed to make much of an impact. With the exception of strong safety Will Hill- who quietly put together another excellent season in 2015- and Smith, the Ravens need to nuke this unit in the offseason and bring in new starters if they want to avoid having a terrible secondary for a third straight year.

-The one area where this Ravens squad did not suffer any loss of production was in their run defense. Brandon Williams is quite possibly the most underrated nose tackle in the NFL and Daryl Smith continues to be one of most instinctive and sure-tackling inside linebackers in the league at age 33. If inside linebacker C.J. Mosley can return to his Pro Bowl/All-Pro form of 2014 and young defensive ends Carl Davis and Timmy Jernigan can continue to improve their game, this Ravens front should continue to excel at stopping the run for a very long time.

-Third-year wideout Kamar Aiken was the unsung hero of the 2015 Ravens. Aiken took advantage of his opportunity to be the number one wide receiver by putting up consistently solid numbers (he had at least 50 yards in 11 of 16 games this year) with a whopping four different quarterbacks at the helm and is almost solely responsible for keeping this offense afloat amidst all the injuries they suffered. It's doubtful that Aiken will continue to start with Smith and Perriman-their presumed top receiver of the future-tentatively set to return to the fold in 2016, but he should continue to be a valuable contributor to this offense for the next several years.      

Cincinnati Bengals:

Team MVP's: QB Andy Dalton, DT Geno Atkins, T Andrew Whitworth, WR A.J. Green, G Kevin Zeitler 

-With the exception of their traditional playoff meltdown, this was a completely different Bengals team than we've seen in the past few years. They played with a ton of grit on both sides of the ball, fought well through adversity and demonstrated their ability to compete with any team in the league when they're firing on all cylinders. They're definitely a team to keep an eye on going into 2016.

-Even if you're the biggest Andy Dalton hater in southwest Ohio, you have to be encouraged by what you saw from him this season. He showed substantial improvement while throwing under pressure and in his decisionmaking and for the first time in his career, demonstrated an ability to put the team on his back in critical situations (i.e the remarkable 17-point fourth-quarter comeback he led against the Seahawks in Week 5). Dalton looked like a legitimate franchise quarterback in 2015 and if he continues to improve his game, the Bengals are bound to snap their playoff woes in the very near future.

-On the other side of the coin, it's alarming how much Jeremy Hill regressed in his second NFL season. The powerful, patient rusher that took the league by storm in 2014 was replaced by a jumpy, weak back who couldn't sniff out a hole if his life depended on it. The organization better hope this is merely a sophomore slump and not a permanent drop in production for Hill because their number two back Giovani Bernard, while talented and ridiculously explosive, doesn't have the durability or skill set to be the bellcow in this run-heavy offense.

-After beginning his career with two injury-shortened seasons, tight end Tyler Eifert finally proved his worth in 2015. The former first-round pick emerged as a deadly redzone target (13 TD's in 13 games) and was largely responsible for the Bengals finishing the year with the sixth-best redzone efficiency in the league. His injury history is definitely a concern (he once again proved his brittleness by hurting his foot in the Pro Bowl last Sunday), but there's no denying that Eifert's size and knack for making bigtime catches gives him the potential to be one of the league's most productive tight end's moving forward.

-Having a fully healthy Geno Atkins in the lineup for 16 games did wonders for this defense. Atkins complete and total domination on the interior of the defensive line allowed this defense to regain the edge they lacked in 2014 while he was recovering from a torn ACL. The differences in stats between 2014 with a banged-up Atkins in the lineup and 2015 with Atkins at 100% are absolutely mind-boggling. In 2014, the Bengals defense finished 32nd in sacks, 20th against the run and 12th in points per game allowed. In 2015, they finished 10th in sacks,7th against the run and 2nd in points per game allowed. Atkins is the rare game-changing defensive player whose presence brings the best out of everyone around him.

-I'm completely and utterly baffled by how the Bengals secondary was able to perform at such a high level this season. Three of their four starters (cornerbacks Adam Jones and Leon Hall and strong safety Reggie Nelson) are well into their 30's yet still managed to serve as key contributors for this resurgent defense. Ironically, it was the young corners (Dre Kirkpatrick and Darqueze Dennard) that ended up making the Bengals secondary somewhat vulnerable overall. Kirkpatick- who was a first round pick in 2012-continues to get torched almost every time opposing offenses target his side of the field and has no business starting on this defense while Dennard's early-career trajectory of poor play and constant injuries is looking eerily similar to that of certified bust Kirkpatrick. While the deficiencies of their young players prevented this secondary from being one of the league's best units, Jones, Hall and Nelson deserve a lot of credit for proving a lot of skeptical analysts that wrote them off because of their age (myself included) wrong with their high level of play this year.
  

Cleveland Browns:

Team MVP's: T Joe Thomas, TE Gary Barnidge, T Mitchell Schwartz, C Alex Mack, ILB Karlos Dansby

-The Johnny Manziel experiment in Cleveland needs to end immediately. While he showed some flashes of real potential on the field this season, this kid is every bit the knucklehead many teams expected him to when he came out of Texas A&M in 2014. Any upside he has on-the-field is grossly outweighed by the distractions be brings off of it, especially for a team like the Browns the lacks veteran leadership and a stable infrastructure. If new head coach Hue Jackson and still-unnamed general manager have any sense, they'll cut ties with Manziel and acquire a new quarterback in the draft or free agency this offseason.

-Despite spending two of their early draft picks on rush-stuffing interior defenders (first-rounder Danny Shelton and third-rounder Xavier Cooper) to try and improve their bottom-ranked rush defense from a year ago, this Browns run defense was just as bad in 2015. The Browns allowed any running back that displayed an ounce of ability to gouge them, as they allowed an absurd average of 128.4 rushing yards per game (third-worst in the league). Their linebackers, save for Karlos Dansby, were collectively awful at diagnosing the run and tackling and Cooper graded out as the league's worst interior defensive lineman, according to Pro Football Focus. Shelton showed enough flashes of potential in his rookie campaign to give the Browns hope for the future, but there's still no immediate solution in place to stop their run-stopping woes. 

-Mike Pettine certainly wasn't a great coach, but he's hardly to blame for the Browns trainwreck 2015 campaign. It's incredibly difficult to manufacture wins against quality competition (half of their games in 2015 were against teams that made the playoffs) with a team that has a leaky defense, an unstable quarterback situation and pretty much no playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. Pettine is the merely the latest coach to be slaughtered by this severely unstable and arguably toxic organization and unless some drastic change in fortune occurs in the next few years, he certainly won't be the last.

-On an anemic offense that often had trouble getting the ball onto their opponents side of the field, tight end Gary Barnidge was a revelation. The 30-year old journeyman came out of nowhere to provide a playmaking spark for an offense that desperately needed it. It remains to be seen if Barnidge's high level of play this season was merely a fluke or if he's truly turned a corner in his eighth NFL season, but there's no denying that any success the Browns offense enjoyed in 2015 can almost solely be attributed to him.

-The Browns failures on both sides of the ball this season were hardly surprising given their general lack of talent. However, the awful play of cornerback Joe Haden was a complete and total shock. While the star corner missed all but five games this season with injury, he got flat-out destroyed in coverage every time he took the field. According to Pro Football Focus, the Steelers' Antwon Blake and the Saints' Brandon Browner were the only corners that graded out worse than Haden in 2015. Haden's track record of consistency prior to this season and relatively young age (he'll be 27 in April) are enough to give him favorable odds of returning to lockdown form in 2016, but his awful play in 2015 has to leave the Browns organization and their fans at least somewhat concerned about his future. 

Pittsburgh Steelers:

Team MVP's: WR Antonio Brown, QB Ben Roethlisberger, DE Cameron Heyward, G David DeCastro, RB DeAngelo Williams 
-The debate is finally over. Antonio Brown has overtaken Calvin Johnson for the title of best receiver in the NFL. For the third consecutive year, Brown posted new career highs in receptions (136) and yards (1,834). Making these numbers even more impressive is the fact that Brown is posting them while facing near-constant double, triple and bracket coverage. I firmly believe that Brown would've shattered Johnson's single-season receiving yards record (1,964) if Ben Roethlisberger wasn't forced to miss four games with injury.

-The comeback of running back DeAngelo Williams is one of the best stories of the 2015 NFL season. The 32-year old-who had been deemed a has-been after three straight lackluster seasons with the Panthers-was thrust into the spotlight in relief of superstar back Le'Veon Bell on two separate occasions this season and delivered big time. Williams looked very good in the first two games of the year when Bell was serving a suspension, but he became unstoppable once Bell was lost for the year after suffering a torn MCL in Week 8 against the Bengals. Williams showed a burst and ability to shake defenders that he hasn't displayed since at least his Pro Bowl season in 2009, if not earlier. An ankle injury suffered early in the Steelers week 17 contest with the Browns put a damper on his fairy tale season and ended his quest to pick up his first 1,000-yard rushing season since 2009, but it doesn't take away from how impressive and inspiring his improbable bounceback campaign was.

-Don't be fooled by his high INT total (16), Ben Roethlisberger was absolutely brilliant in 2015. Despite dealing with numerous injuries and a disappointing season from number two receiver Martavis Bryant,  Roethlisberger posted a career-high in completion percentage and his highest yards per attempt (8.4) since 2010. With the way Roethlisberger has played over the past few years and the young, core nucleus of this Steelers squad, I'd be very surprised if he didn't get this third Super Bowl ring within the next three or four seasons. 

-The Steelers surprisingly solid defense in 2015 can largely be attributed to the play of second-year inside linebacker Ryan Shazier and defensive end Stephon Tuitt. Shazier was able to build upon the promise he showed in his injured-riddled rookie campaign by using his freakish athleticism and quickness to make plays from sideline-to-sideline while Tuitt remains a superb run-stuffer with the versatility and motor to get after the quarterback when called upon. If 2015 is any indication, Shazier and Tuitt will become cornerstones of this defense alongside established stars defensive end Cameron Heyward and inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons in no time at all. 

-Troy Polamalu and Ike Taylor must be sitting at home cringing at how weak the Steelers once-feared secondary has become. With the exception of excellent slot corner Ross Cockrell, the play of the Steelers secondary in 2015 was well below average. While free safety Mike Mitchell and cornerback William Gay did a decent job at their respective positions, strong safety Will Allen and, especially cornerback Antwon Blake were two of the most consistently gassed defensive backs in the NFL this season. The Steelers have assembled one of the most quietly gifted front sevens in football over the past few years, but their talent-depleted secondary is preventing them from being one of the best defenses in the NFL.        

2015 NFL Recap: AFC East

With the matchup for Super Bowl 50 set and the end of football season (sadly) on the horizon, it's now time to look back at all the madness the 2015 NFL season offered up. Over the next several weeks, I'll be providing detailed recaps on how all 32 NFL teams fared in 2015 starting today with the AFC East. The format of this series will be a little bit different than in the past as I'll be proving my analysis in bullet point format to make it easier to read. I'm excited to look back on another insane NFL season and I hope all of you football fans out there have as much fun reading this as I did writing it.

 My Preseason Predictions:

1.New England Patriots (11-5)

2.Buffalo Bills (10-6)

3.Miami Dolphins (10-6)

4.New York Jets (7-9) 

Actual Standings

1.New England Patriots (12-4)

2.New York Jets (10-6)

3.Buffalo Bills (8-8)

4.Miami Dolphins (6-10)

Buffalo Bills:
Team MVP's: WR Sammy Watkins, QB Tyrod Taylor, CB Ronald Darby, CB Stephon Gilmore, RB LeSean McCoy
-Who would've thought the downfall of a Rex Ryan-coached team would be the defense? The sudden collapse of the Bills defense (19th ranked pass defense, 16th ranked rush defense, 19th overall defense) makes no sense given the fact that they lost no major components from the 2014 unit that finished 4th in the league and the same core group of players thrived with Ryan protege Mike Pettine running a similar 3-4, blitz-heavy system in 2013. The sudden ineffectiveness of their highly vaunted pass-rush that led the league in sacks for two straight years (they ranked 31st this year with a paltry 21 sacks) and their tendency to pick up stupid penalties at key moments of the game forced this unit to fall from the ranks of the elite. They deserve some slack as the players have had to learn a new defensive scheme for a third straight year, but it's hard to not be disappointed with their middling production given how much proven talent they have on both the field and the coaching staff.

-The one factor that's being largely glossed over in the criticism of the Bills defense this year was how bad their linebackers played. Inside linebacker Preston Brown substantially regressed in coverage and against the run after his impressive rookie campaign while the normally excellent Nigel Bradham had the sloppiest season of his four-year career so far. Ryan's blitz-happy defenses require strong linebacker play to be effective and he's going to need to do some serious talent evaluation to see if he can move forward with this current group patrolling the middle of the field.

-Mario Williams epitomizes a diva veteran player. His whining and unwillingness to adapt to his new role as an outside linebacker in Ryan's 3-4 scheme was hugely detrimental to this defense. With his high cap hit ($14 million) and several of his teammates taking issue with his lack of effort and selfish attitude this season, it'll be a shock to see Williams back in Buffalo in 2016.
 
-In what was largely a disappointing year for their defense, the Bills can take solace in the fact that their starting cornerbacks, Stephon Gilmore and Ronald Darby, were the most lethal corner tandem in the NFL this season. Gilmore further solidified himself as one of the best young corners in the league before going down with a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 13 while Darby's excellent coverage skills, physicality and ball skills allowed him to make arguably the smoothest transition from college to the NFL of any rookie corner in recent history.

-Ryan ended up making the right choice when he named Tyrod Taylor the starting quarterback. Taylor demonstrated consistently good decision-making and legitimate playmaking ability as both a passer and rusher in his first year as a starter. The strongest testament to Taylor's impact on this offense was how much they struggled with E.J. Manuel at the helm when he missed two games with a sprained knee in October. He needs to work on his accuracy and getting rid of the ball in a more timely fashion, but Taylor showed enough this season to prove he can be a productive long-term starter for this team.

-Sammy Watkins is starting to look like the game-changing wideout he was billed to be when the Bills traded up and drafted him in the first round in 2014. With number two wide receiver Percy Harvin suffering a season-ending hip injury in Week 5 and tight end Charles Clay and Harvin's de facto replacement Robert Woods grossly underperforming, Watkins carried the Bills passing game on his back for the second half of the season, picking up five 100+ yard performances and 7 TD's in the final nine games of the year. Watkins has proven he can handle the on-and off-the field pressure that comes with being a number one wideout in the NFL and I firmly believe that he'll be one of the 10-15 best receivers in the league within the next three seasons.

-The LeSean McCoy trade-which was met with much ire from the national media after it was completed last March-worked out brilliantly for general manager Doug Whaley. Despite missing four games with hamstring and knee injuries, McCoy was every bit the explosive, three-down back he was during his time with the Eagles and he is largely responsible for the Bills finishing the year as the league's top-ranked rushing offense. With a pair of promising change-of-backs in rookie power back Karlos Williams and speedster Mike Gillislee behind him on the depth chart, The Bills could very well end up having one of the deadliest rushing attacks in the league for a very long time.

-No offensive line in the NFL is more confusing than the Bills. The left side (tackle Cordy Glenn, guard Richie Incognito) and anchor of their line (center Eric Wood) all had Pro Bowl caliber seasons while the right side (guard John Miller, tackle Sentrel Henderson) were massive liabilities in run-blocking and pass-protection. The vulnerability of an entire side of their offensive line is severely stunting the growth of this young Bills offense and if Henderson and Miller can't make noticeable progress soon, a change is going to need to be made.

Miami Dolphins:
Team MVP's: WR Jarvis Landry, S Reshad Jones, DT Ndamukong Suh, DE Olivier Vernon, C Mike Pouncey
 
-It speaks volumes for how awful of a coach Joe Philbin is when an inexperienced meathead like Dan Campbell suddenly gets thrust into the head coaching spot in the middle of the year and displays stronger leadership and game-managing skills. Retaining Philbin and his staff of similarly ungifted buffoons played a pivotal role in the Dolphins failure this season.

 -For the first time since entering the league in 2012, Ryan Tannehill did not improve upon his previous season's numbers in 2015. His deep ball accuracy was just horrendous, he regularly forced balls into double and triple coverage, and for the first time in his tenure with the Doplhins, the poor play of his offensive lineman left him looking regularly rattled in the pocket. Personally, I view 2015 as nothing but a bump in the road for a promising career for Tannehill. If he doesn't return to being one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL in 2016, I'd be legitimately shocked.  

-The criticism thrown at the play of Ndamukong Suh is completely unwarranted. Sure his sack total was down from a year ago (8.5 in 2014, 6 this year), but anyone that actually watched him play a solid amount of reps would've saw that he was every bit as disruptive and dominant at the line of scrimmage as he was during his five seasons with the Lions. There's plenty of scapegoats for The Dolphins underwhelming defensive performance this season (poor secondary play, inconsistent production out of key players, terrible run defense), but Suh sure as hell isn't one of them.
 
-With the exception of Suh, none of the Dolphins high-profile offseason pickups consistently contributed.  Tight end Jordan Cameron continues to demonstrate that his excellent 2013 campaign with the Browns was a fluke, outside linebacker Spencer Paysinger was woefully ineffective every time he saw the field and Tannehill's horrific deep ball accuracy made deep threat virtuoso Kenny Stills a non-factor in the passing game. 

-The play of defensive end Oliver Vernon once Cameron Wake went down with a torn Achilles in Week 8 was simply unreal. Vernon was a menace to opposing quarterbacks picking up 8 sacks, 24 hits and 25 pressures in the nine games played after Wake went down. The Dolphins need to make re-signing this kid their top priority this offseason

-With his 110 reception, 1,157-yard season, Jarvis Landry deserves a medal for carrying this sorry-ass offense. He was the only member of the Dolphins offense that could consistently stretch the field and be counted to make a play in big situations. With his excellent route-running and yards after the catch ability (he ranked third in the league among wideouts with 547 yards), Landry has emerged as one of the best slot receivers in the league after just two seasons.

-It boggles my mind as to why the Dolphins chose to use running back Lamar Miller so sparingly this season. Miller was largely productive when he got the ball (he average 4.5 yards per carry and 8.4 yards per reception) yet only got 15 or more touches in a game eight times this season. Despite the lack of respect they showed him this season, I'd be surprised if the new Dolphins regime headed by head coach Adam Gase- one of the strongest proponents of the running game in the entire league-let him walk this offseason.

New England Patriots:
Team MVP's: QB Tom Brady, TE Rob Gronkowski, OLB Don'ta Hightower, WR Julian Edelman, S Devin McCourty

-Despite horrid offensive line play and a slew of injuries to his top receivers, Tom Brady had another stellar season in 2015. The four-game stretch-which may or may not have been fueled by his anger with the Deflatgate situation- he put together to start off this season was the most brilliant string of games I've seen him play since the infamous 16-0 2007 campaign. He dismantled the defenses of the Steelers, Bills, Jaguars and Cowboys with such ease and precision that it made me seriously question whether he's a human or a robot sent from a distant planet to make the rest of the NFL look bad. His play tailed off a bit after the Cowboys game, but his play was still largely impressive on the whole, especially when you consider the fact that he's at the age (38) when most quarterbacks start to or have already shit the bed physically. His volume of bad throws might be increasing each year, but unless he suffers another major injury, there's no reason to believe that he doesn't have another two or three productive years in him.

-The absence of wide receiver Julian Edelman for the last seven games of the season exposed just how bad this offensive line is. Without a reliable short-yardage passing option, Brady had to hold onto the ball longer and the Patriots passing game proceeded to falter tremendously. While the abundance of injuries and subsequently lack of continuity certainly didn't help, there was not a single offensive lineman on this roster who performed at even a passable level on a week-to-to basis. A majority of the guys they have right now simply aren't good enough to be starters in the NFL (I'm looking at you Marcus Cannon, Bryan Stork and Cameron Fleming) and if Belichick can't rediscover his knack for finding quality offensive lineman that he displayed during the first decade of his tenure with the team, Brady is going to have a hellish end to his storied career.

- It's a well-documented fact that the Patriots do not value running the football. In the 16 years that Belichick has been coaching the team, they've had a mere four 1,000-yard rushers (Antonie Smith in 2001,Corey Dillon in 2004, Benjarvus Green-Ellis in 2010 and Stevan Ridley in 2012) and almost always chose to roll with a stable of below-average backs rather than one reliable, legitimate three-down starter. The overall lack of talent at the running back position caused this offense to sink when the injury bug struck in the second half of the season. The running game was weak enough before LeGarrette Blount and Dion Lewis went down for the season, but their performances after Blount got hurt in Week 14 against the Texans (75.3 yards per game and 3.0 yards per carry in the last 3 games) were just plain pathetic.The team's offensive woes without Edelman in the lineup and distinction of being the third-worst rushing offense in the NFL might be enough to get the traditionally run-phobic Belichick to actually invest in a legitimately capable running back for the future.

-Defensive end Jabbal Sheard proved to be one of the biggest free-agent steals of 2015. Sheard's efficiency as a situational pass-rusher and run-stopper allowed the Patriots to establish the solid defensive line rotation they've been sorely lacking for the past few years. The emergence of Sheard also allowed Chandler Jones- who typically crapped out in late November/December due to his high snap count-to stay fresh throughout the season and pick up a new career-high total in sacks (12.5). Guys like Don'ta Hightower, Devin McCourty and Jamie Collins may get all the attention and accolades, but Sheard played just as vital of a part in this defense's success in 2015.

-The secondary that was loaded with question marks coming into 2015 proved to be one of the team's biggest strengths. The starting corner duo of Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan surpassed even the most optimistic Patriots fans expectations and ended up being one of the most productive corner duos in the league this season. Butler and Ryan got thrown into the fire a lot during their first years as full-time starters and while they got torched by the likes of Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders and Brandon Marshall, they put together a number of strong performances against top-flight receivers such as DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins and Demaryius Thomas. Even more surprising than the emergence of Butler and re-emergence of Ryan was the sudden dramatic improvement of safeties Patrick Chung and Duron Harmon. No safety in the league did a better job diagnosing and stuffing the run in 2015 than Chung while Harmon was spectacular in pass coverage every time he saw the field. While it remains to be seen if these young players can deliver on a yearly basis, there was certainly a lot of encouraging signs for the future of this secondary on display throughout 2015.

New York Jets:
Team MVP's: DE Muhammad Wilkerson, WR Brandon Marshall, WR Eric Decker, DT Damon Harrison, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick

-It's amazing how much of an impact head coach Todd Bowles made in his first season with the Jets.  Bowles managed to lead the same core group of players that only won four games in 2014 to a 10-win season simply by getting them to play with the edge they lacked during the final year of Rex Ryan's tumultuous tenure with the team. If they didn't narrowly miss the playoffs with their tragic Week 17 loss to the Bills, Bowles would have gotten my coach of the year vote.

-IK Enemkpali punching Geno Smith in the face and breaking his jaw during training camp was the best possible thing that could've happened to the Jets. Smith's absence gave veteran journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick a chance to start and Fitzpatrick relished the opportunity by improbably having the best year of his 11-year career so far. Fitzpatrick looked like a whole new man under center this year, regularly making big-time clutch throws and keeping the back-breaking turnovers that have crippled him throughout his career to a minimum. Fitzpatrick won't be joining the Brady's and Manning's of the world anytime soon, but this year served as proof that he can be a viable starting quarterback in the NFL when he's given the right system and supporting cast.

-The Jets defense,which was already great under Ryan, got even better under Bowles and defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers. The defensive line anchored by Muhammad Wilkerson, Damon Harrison, Sheldon Richardson and standout rookie Leonard Williams was borderline impenetrable, their largely underrated veteran linebacking corps (David Harris, Demario Davis, Calvin Pace) continued to deliver and their overhauled secondary, despite having some struggles with consistency in the middle of the year, rarely allowed huge plays. With a really young group of core talent in place, the Jets should have one of the most intimidating defenses in the leagues for years to come.

-Saying that the Jets got a steal when they acquired Brandon Marshall from the Bears in exchange for a 5th-round pick would be a severe understatement. The 31-year old wideout silenced all of the naysayers that said he was past his prime with an absurd 1,502 yards and career-high 14 TD's in 2015. Marshall's emergence gave the Jets their first legitimate top wideout since Al Toon and the pairing of him and high-end number two wideout Eric Decker made the Jets passing offense a complete nightmare for opposing defenses to stop. Hopefully this triumphant comeback season will be enough to get people to finally respect Marshall as one of the greatest receivers to ever play the game.

-Chris Ivory is a candidate for least impressive 1,000-yard+ rushing season in the history of the NFL. A handful of great games in the early part of the year (most notable his Week 4 and 6 performance against the Dolphins and Redskins in which he ran for 166 and 146 yards respectively) heavily padded his stats and made up for his inability to hit his rushing lanes with any form of urgency for the last two months of the season.