Even though the perennially terrible Browns will finish out the 2011 season with their typical losing record, the impressive willpower of middle linebacker D’Qwell Jackson cannot go unignored. Jackson, a sixth year player out of Maryland, has battled through almost insurmountable injury scares over the past two years. His problems started about halfway through the 2009 campaign, when he tore his left pectoral muscle and missed the rest of the season. Then, almost as soon as he had recuperated from surgery, he tore his right pectoral muscle during training camp for the 2010 season. Once again, Jackson was placed on IR and missed the entire 2010 season, having to once again undergo surgery. At this point, most observers believed that Jackson’s tenure in Cleveland was done. Others even believed that Jackson’s career could have been over.
That hardly turned out to be the case. Jackson returned to the Browns as the starting middle linebacker in 2011, even though there were concerns about his stamina and overall well being. Those concerns evaporated fast. He exploded back onto the scene immediately, being named the AFC Defensive Player of the Month in September after recording 30 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Going into Week 17, he has accumulated 145 tackles throughout the season, second most in the league behind London Fletcher’s 162. Although Jackson didn’t make the Pro Bowl (a travesty, in my opinion) he has to be the favorite to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Many NFL players have had their careers cut short due to chronic injury problems. Thankfully, that does not appear to be the case with Jackson.
Most NFL experts believed that when Cincinnati selected Dalton in the 2nd round of the 2011 NFL Draft, they had found their QB of the future. What they didn’t realize, however, was that Dalton would quickly become the Bengals’ QB of the present. After Carson Palmer (now with Oakland) refused to play another down for the Bengals due to an ugly contract squabble with the team’s owner, Mike Brown, the TCU product was forced into the starting QB role in Week 1. The team’s fan base hoped he’d have modest success, but expected a brutal trial by fire that would culminate with the team acquiring another top 5 draft pick in 2012.
Dalton, on the other hand, wasn’t hearing anything from the pessimists. From the get-go, he displayed professional intangibles and smart decision making, rarities in a rookie signal caller. He also quickly developed a rapport with fellow rookie playmaker A.J. Green, who currently leads all rookie WRs in receptions, yards, and TDs. Dalton has put together a solid stat sheet too, throwing for 3,166 yards, 20 TDs and 13 INTs. What’s more impressive, though, is that he has kept the usually lowly Bengals in the playoff hunt right into Week 17. A win at home against Baltimore on Sunday guarantees the team a wildcard berth. Not bad for a rookie QB leading a team that was considered to be in a long rebuilding process just a few months ago.
Actually, you don’t have to include him in the tight end subcategory. Gronkowski is actually one of the best overall ball catchers in the NFL. Consider his numbers in comparison with the rest of the league. As of Week 16, Gronkowski had caught 82 balls (5th overall) for 1,219 yards (7th overall) and 15 touchdowns (tied for 1st, with Calvin Johnson). Those 15 touchdowns are also a single season record for a tight end. Simply put, Gronkowski has followed in the footsteps of Winslow Sr. and Gonzalez in revolutionizing their position. Whereas 60 catches used to be impressive for a tight end, 80 will now be the new gold standard. Brady loves passing to this guy, so expect more monster seasons and Pro Bowl berths in the coming years.
Well, nothing could have turned out to be farther from the truth. Ochocinco easily had the worst season of his 11 year career. As of Week 16, he has a putrid 15 catches for 276 yards and 1 TD. His speed decreased, his route running was sloppy, and his big time play making ability had all but vanished. Unlike Moss, Ochcoinco was never able to mesh in Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s offensive system, and he quickly faded out of the equation thanks to the production of Gronkowski, Wes Welker, and Aaron Hernandez. A lot of Ochocinco’s dramatic decline has to do with the aging process, but some of it has to be directly related to his “play when I want to play” attitude. Perhaps if he had put as much effort into learning the Patriots playbook as he does in gaining Twitter followers or climbing the Modern Warfare 3 leaderboards, he would’ve at least put together a respectable, Anquan Boldin-esque season. Instead, he ended up being surpassed by no-namers like Danario Alexander and Golden Tate, and that’s… just sad.
Now here’s a guy who’s lived the definition of a roller coaster football career. Here are just a few of the labels that Bush has worn over the last 6-plus years: Heisman winner, *Heisman winner, “The next Barry Sanders”, “A poor man’s Darren Sproles”, “All-around threat”, “One dimensional screen receiver”, “Future Hall of Famer”, “Bust”. For the most part, Bush’s NCAA career had more ups, and his NFL career, at least up until this season, had been highlighted by numerous downs. After being drafted with the 2nd overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, Bush quickly faded into obscurity. He never ran for more than 581 yards in a single season, and after an injury-plagued 2010 campaign, he was finally cut by New Orleans. It was widely expected that the humbled Bush would be relegated to being a backup journeyman for the rest of his NFL career.
However, after signing with the Miami Dolphins at the start of the 2011 season, Bush seemed to discover something that has been rare in his playing career: stability. As the starting running back in Miami, he has been neither horrendous nor spectacular, but he has been surprisingly solid. Certainly, he has had the best season of his professional career, rushing for 1,086 yards, a 5 YPC average, and 6 TDs. Towards the end of the season, he has shown some flashes of his supposed inner Barry Sanders too, highlighted best by his 25 carry, 203 yard outing against the Buffalo Bills in Week 15. Perhaps next season we will see the Hall of Fame- caliber back that Bush was supposed to be in 2006. For now, though, his unexpected success as a feature back suffices enough to surprise and impress.
You may not recognize this guy’s name, but you soon will. Browner has followed in the footsteps of fellow teammate Mike Williams in making a totally unexpected comeback in the NFL. This is Browner’s 2nd season in the NFL. His first season was all the way back in 2005, with the Denver Broncos. The Broncos signed Browner as an undrafted free agent that season, and he showed quite a bit of promise in training camp and preseason games. However, towards the end of the preseason he broke his arm, and ended up being place on injured reserve. He was cut the next season, nobody wanted to sign him, and that appeared to be the end of his NFL career. He spent the next 5 seasons in the CFL, playing as a starting CB for the Calgary Stampeders. Towards the latter half of those years, Browner began to develop into a dangerous cornerback, being elected to the CFL All-Star game in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Impressed with his skills, the Seahawks signed him in January 2011, hoping that he would prove to be a positive asset to the team this year.
He’s proven to be more than just an asset. Browner unexpectedly became one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL this season. He currently has 6 interceptions, tying him for second place in the NFL. He’s also recorded 52 tackles, 2 defensive TD’s, and is a alternate in this year’s Pro Bowl. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t even around long enough to be forgotten during his first stint in the league.
If there was a MUP (Most Underwhelming Player) award in the NFL, Chris Johnson would be the runaway favorite to win it. In fact, it would probably be the only thing that he would run away with this season, since the former rushing title winner spent most of 2011 getting tackled in the backfield. After holding out for a 4 year, $53.5 million dollar contract at the start of the season, Johnson responded by rushing for less than 75 yards in 11 out of 16 games. And when Johnson played bad, he was really bad (13 carries for 21 yards? 12 carries for 13 yards? Good God.) His speed seemed to have been knocked down a notch, and his ball carrier vision was lacking.
Miraculously, Johnson will probably still finish the season with a passable stat sheet. Going into Week 17, he has 986 rushing yards, a 4.0 YPC average, and 4 TDs. A far cry from the totals he posted in past seasons though. Perhaps a full offseason with minicamps and training camps will bring Johnson back to 110%. Only time will tell.
An electric playmaker who seemingly came out of nowhere, Victor Cruz lit up the league in 2011. After spending his first season as an undrafted free agent nursing a hamstring injury, Cruz spent the 2011 season gradually climbing his way up the Giants depth chart thanks in part to injuries suffered by Mario Manningham and Domenik Hixon. By midseason, he had become the clear-cut #1 wide receiver in New York. In fact, he has probably become the most prolific deep threat in the league today, supplanting the down-trending DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles. Cruz’s sensational speed was best on display last week, when he caught a 99 TD reception that became the longest play in Giants history, as well as the big play the team needed to capture the momentum in what was a do-or-die game against their AFC counterparts, the Jets.
Between Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks, the Giants have the best young duo of wide receivers in the NFL. Expect Cruz to make a big impact in the playoffs if the Giants beat the Cowboys this Sunday.
Obviously, the Panthers have won their gamble. Newton has not only been a pleasant surprise, but he has put together what is arguably the best season by a rookie QB in NFL history. He was a fantasy football beast in 2011, throwing for nearly 3,893 yards and 20 TDs, and rushing for 674 yards and a whopping 14 TDs. The passing yards total is an NFL rookie record, and the rushing TD total is an NFL record for QBs. Newton has also displayed an incredible work ethic and an insatiable appetite to win, definitely things you want to see in a professional quarterback. Six months ago, Newton was being compared to JaMarcus Russell. Now he is being compared to a Peyton Manning/Michael Vick hybrid. That’s a damn scary thought, and it is one that will probably haunt the minds of defensive coordinators who face Newton over the next decade.
Let me get this out of the way first: I’m not a Tim Tebow fan. Honestly, I’m really not. I think that his whole story has been hyped up by ESPN and other sporting media outlets simply because they realize that Tebow the Player and Tebow the Preacher are both highly polarizing figures. Still, you can’t deny the suspense and awe that “Tebowmania” generated throughout the course of the 2011 season. After becoming the starting QB of the Broncos in Week 5, he pulled off a string of miraculous 4th quarter comebacks that captivated the nation. Whether it be the nearly inexplicable wins against the Dolphins and Bears, or the Tebow-led, gritty “put the team on my back” victories against the Jets and Vikings, every one of them ended up bolstering a rapidly developing pigskin folklore that circled around a man many analysists believed had no business leading an NFL offense.
Although Tebowmania was definitely the most surprising story of the 2011 season, that doesn’t mean that all of the attention it got was warranted. Like all folk stories, Tebow’s tale of seemingly unstoppable and miraculous success is really a work of fiction. In weeks 15 and 16, the Broncos suffered humiliating losses to the Patriots and Bills, respectively. In both of those games, Tebow was, as usual, below average. However, in these games the mediocrity carried over into the 4th quarter too, proving that Tebow is indeed mortal, and that no, God is not guiding the Broncos to victory. A win against the Chiefs in the final week of the season will guarantee The Tebows…er, Broncos a playoff spot. But if the Broncos are swiftly eliminated from the postseason, and Tebow fails to develop into a more complete QB next season, this story is going to disappear faster than Thomas’ doubt upon seeing Jesus’ wounds.
You just knew I had to finish that with a biblical metaphor.
Freakin Tebow fans... "I'm not a fan of his, but I already cast my ballot for hall of fame. Cam Newton is over-rated."
ReplyDeleteBrett Farve surprised me, as he did not un-un-unretire.
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