Well, the world didn’t end this week, despite the petitioning of Kansas City Chiefs fans.
God willing, we’re going to make it to Dec. 31. And you know what that means – it’s time for lists upon lists of the “Best of,” “Worst of” and “Most Outrageous” Whatevers of 2012.
Here at PPI, we know that people enjoy lists and we’re committed to giving you what you want. So, here’s a list of the Top 10 storylines of the 2012-13 NFL season.
10. College Coaches Making the Grade
Just when it seemed there was more evidence than ever that elite college coaches aren’t cut out for NFL sidelines, Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll find themselves in a dogfight to win the NFC West. Harbaugh’s 49ers won it, and a playoff game, last year while Carroll’s Seahawks took it in 2010 (despite a 7-9 record), and shocked the heavily favored Saints in the postseason.
If Greg Schiano’s Buccaneers could understand that the season doesn’t end in November (Tampa has lost its last eight December games), we might have seen a full-on onslaught of NFL team presidents visiting college campuses this fall.
9. Megatron
Size. Speed. More size. Calvin Johnson can do it all.
Megatron broke Jerry Rice’s 17-year-old mark for receiving yards in a single season last week with an 11-catch, 225-yard performance on national television. With 1,892 yards, Johnson has a realistic, perhaps probable, shot at accruing the first 2,000-yard receiving campaign in NFL history.
Call this writer a cynic (or, ahem, a die-hard 49ers fan), but Rice’s 2005 season was more impressive. He did it with San Francisco battling for, and eventually winning, a division title. Meanwhile, Johnson and the Lions are 4-11 and therefore regularly playing from behind.
Not to mention that rules are much favorable for passing offenses in the current NFL. Steve Young and Elvis Grbac combined for 630 pass attempts in 2005. If Matthew Stafford keeps up his current pace, he’ll finish with more than 730.
8. The Book of Eli
When all is said and done, Eli Manning is going to own at least two Super Bowl rings. Does that – plus a likely 45,000 passing yards – make him a shoo-in for Canton? I say it does, but Eli has a lot of work to do before he can truly be considered one of the best of all time.
In Eli’s eight seasons as New York’s primary quarterback, the Giants have won more than nine games only four times. Meanwhile, 2004 draft classmates Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers have done it six and three times, respectively.
There’s no debating that the guy is outstanding in the clutch, maybe the league’s best with the game on the line. But doesn’t the regular season count for something? Eli’s thrown for more than 30 touchdowns once, yet led the NFL in interceptions twice. That’s hardly ELIte.
Surely, there are many more chapters to be written in Eli’s career, but give me Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees any day. And you might be able to talk me into Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan.
7. The Tebow Chronicles
Even back in May, the only person who thought adding Tim Tebow to the Jets’ roster was a good idea was Woody Johnson. Unfortunately for all of those involved, he’s the team’s owner, so his vote counts.
The following seven months have been a disaster, to put it mildly. First, there was the press conference to announce the trade, which was attended by a couple hundred reporters but nobody from the Jets’ front office.
Then came the ESPN coverage. Oh, the ESPN coverage.
In the 11 games that Touchdown Jesus has been active for this season, he’s thrown a grand total of eight passes. Rex Ryan, not one to shy from the spotlight, dropped the latest bomb last week when he finally benched incumbent starter Mark Sanchez for….wait for it…Greg McElroy. This is the same Greg McElroy who, in January, said there were “extremely selfish individuals” in New York’s locker room, fostering a “corrupt mindset.”
Either Ryan really dislikes Tebow or he’s even worse than Merril Hoge thinks. The smart money is that McElroy leapfrogged Tebow because Ryan was terrified of how it would look if he started Tebow and the Jets started winning. It’s called job preservation.
Tebow almost certainly won’t be back next year. Sanchez may be too expensive not to be. As this season wraps up, the J-E-T-S are a mess, mess, mess.
6. Replacement Refs
Yes, the call on the Golden Tate touchdown was bad. Yes, the replacement referees officiated as if they were accustomed to calling high school and college football games because, well, they were accustomed to calling high school and college football games.
What I can’t understand is why commentators were so quick to critique gaffes by the replacement officials when the seasoned referees make similarly egregious calls on a weekly basis.
The Tate call notwithstanding (although I still argue the Calvin Johnson no-touchdown in 2010 was just as bad), the only difference that I’ve noticed between the replacement and “real” referees is that the latter make bad calls decisively.
5. Chasing Strahan
J.J. Watt (20.5), Aldon Smith (19.5) and Von Miller (17.5) are within shouting distance of Michael Strahan’s sham record of 22.5 sacks. To put those numbers in perspective, only eight players in the history of the league recorded 20 or more sacks in a single season prior to this one. We could be adding three more to that list.
Throw in guys like Clay Matthews Jr. and Jason Pierre-Paul and we’re looking at the next great generation of pass rushers.
4. Bountygate
Commissioner Roger Goodell seems to be doing his best to change the sport we all know and love. In some cases, it’s for good reason, as is the case with helmet-to-helmet hits and raising awareness on concussion symptoms.
Other times, it’s absurd, like with the new overtime rules, which are the professional equivalent of making sure all of the players on a pee-wee soccer team receive the same amount of playing time. I’m rioting league headquarters the moment I hear anything about moving to the college overtime format.
In terms of Bountygate, Goodell is straddling the line between appropriate and heavy-handed. It goes without saying that coaches and players shouldn’t be offering monetary rewards to literally knock opponents out of games, but having his ruling overturned by an appeals committee and then by his predecessor, Paul Tagliabue, undermines the commish’s credibility.
It’s been a lost season for the Saints, and Goodell is as responsible as Drew Brees’ league-high 18 interceptions or New Orleans’ last-ranked defense.
3. Parity Prevails
Remember a couple weeks ago when people were actually starting to believe that Houston just might be a legitimate Super Bowl contender? Then, they went into Foxborough and got obliterated by the Patriots on Monday Night Football.
Surely that meant that New England had regained its place at the top of the NFL mountain. That lasted for all of six days, or until Brady and company ran into Justin Smith, Patrick Willis and the 49ers, who built a 31-3 lead before holding off the hosts, 41-34.
San Francisco, behind hotshot quarterback Colin Kaepernick, subsequently made a trip to Seattle with division-clinching aspirations, only to come home with their tails between their legs after a 42-13 thrashing.
With only one more week to play, there are so many more questions than answers. Can Seattle win on the road? Will Peyton take the Broncos where Tebow couldn’t Is Green Bay quietly getting healthy at the right time? Will the Giants have an opportunity to defend their title? Does anyone believe in Atlanta? How about Houston?
Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be fun.
2. Young Guns
All quarterback classes are measured against the Class of 1983, which brought us a trio of Hall of Famers in Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and John Elway. In 2004, Eli, Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers entered the league, and that threesome has already appeared in four different Super Bowls.
It may be early, but it certainly looks like we won’t have to wait another two decades for an outstanding group of rookie quarterbacks to take the NFL by storm. With a week in hand, Andrew Luck has set a rookie record with 4,183 yards passing, to go with 21 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. Robert Griffin III has reinvigorated the fan base in the nation’s capital, thanks to an efficient 3,100 yards, 20 touchdowns and only five picks. An outstanding performance in Week 17 could earn him the league’s top quarterback rating and send the ‘Skins to their first playoff berth since 2005. In Seattle, third round pick Russell Wilson (2,868 yards, 25 touchdowns, 10 interceptions) has made a late surge for Rookie of the Year honors, thanks to a three-game stretch that has seen the Seahawks outscore their opponents 150-30.
Marino, Kelly and Elway went a combined 29-19 in 1983-84. Luck, RG3 and Wilson are 29-16.
1. Peyton vs. Peterson
On Christmas Eve 2011, Adrian Peterson tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in the left knee. One calendar year later, Peterson has rushed for 1,898 yards this season — 508 more than the next-closest running back – and 11 touchdowns through 15 games. He needs 208 yards in the finale to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season record. It’s unbelievable, bordering on superhuman.
In the AFC, Peyton Manning returned from four neck surgeries – one for each of his MVP trophies – to a 12-3 record, including 10 straight wins. He has thrown for 4,355 yards and 34 touchdowns.
For maybe the first time ever, the race for league MVP and comeback player of the year is between the same two candidates. My hunch is that Peyton and Peterson split the awards, with Manning being named the most valuable for a fifth time.
At this point, of course, you’d be crazy to think that Peterson couldn’t run the Vikings into the postseason, passing Dickerson’s mark along the way. If he does, the argument will be renewed.
And isn’t that why we watch?
