Projecting the 5 Biggest Surprises of the 2012 NFL Season

As 2011 aptly demonstrated, if there's one thing that's fairly constant in the National Football League, it's that nothing is constant in the National Football League.

Three quarterbacks threw for more than 5,000 yards in 2011, including one who set the NFL single-season passing yardage record when Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints lit up defenses to the tune of 5,476 yards.

A 9-7 team with the 27th-ranked defense and worst rushing attack in the NFL won the Super Bowl, as the New York Giants got hot at the right time and rode that momentum all the way to a win in Super Bowl XLVI.

Expect the unexpected.

So, what will 2012's biggest surprises in the NFL be?

Here's one stab at projecting them.

Neither Team from the 2012 NFC Championship Game Will Make the Playoffs

The 2012 NFC title tilt was a game for the ages.

The New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers battled in a back-and-forth affair that couldn't be settled in regulation before the Giants finally emerged victorious with a 20-17 overtime victory that propelled them to the Super Bowl.

However, not only will next January's NFC Championship game feature a pair of new participants, but neither the Giants nor the 49ers will even make the postseason this year.

For the Giants, the inconsistency on both sides of the ball that plagued the team for much of the regular season in 2011 will simply prove too much to overcome, especially in an NFC East that features three other teams that all improved in the offseason.

It's a bit more difficult to pinpoint exactly why a 49ers team that looks very solid on paper will falter on the field, especially given the improvements that the team has made at wide receiver.

With that said, this is a San Francisco team that went from 6-10 in 2010 to 13-3 in 2011, showing just how quickly things can turn around in the NFL.

All it takes is an injury or two on defense, a regression from quarterback Alex Smith and improved play from the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals, and Cinderella can turn back into a pumpkin just as quickly.

Tom Brady Will Shatter Drew Brees' Record After Just One Season

Before 2011, there had been all of two 5,000-yard passing seasons in the 90-plus-year history of the National Football League.

Three passers eclipsed that mark last year, with Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions and Tom Brady of the New England Patriots joining Drew Brees, who set the new NFL benchmark by tossing for nearly 5,500 yards.

That record will stand for all of one season.

With a suspect running game and a roster of receiving talent that looks more at home on a "Madden '13" roster than in the NFL, Brady will not only surpass Brees' 5,476 yards but do so in convincing fashion.

In addition to breaking the single-season passing yardage record, Brady will also break Dan Marino's mark for 400-yard passing games in a season, and it's possible that Brady will flirt with topping his own mark of 50 touchdown passes.

Bleacher Report's own Sigmund Bloom may be driving the "Brady for 6,000" bandwagon, but it has at least one passenger.

A Rookie Will Lead the National Football League in Rushing

Not since Edgerrin James of the Indianapolis Colts led the league with 1,553 yards in 1999 has a newcomer to the NFL been the rushing champ.

That will change in 2012, but it won't be the rookie running back that many might suspect who will be the leader of the pack at season's end.

Doug Martin was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 31st overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft, and as Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times recently reported, even though Martin has yet to carry the ball in a game as a pro, he's already drawing comparisons to some of the best ball-carriers in the league.

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"He made some explosive runs where you really see why they drafted him so high," guard Davin Joseph said. "He reminds you of a Ray Rice or Maurice Jones-Drew. He's very crafty and he really understands the run game."

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New Bucs head coach Greg Schiano loves to run the ball, and with the former Boise State star already atop the depth chart in Tampa Bay, Martin will be the catalyst for an improved Buccaneers offense and the NFL's top rusher in 2012.

Calvin Johnson Will Top 2,000 Receiving Yards

The NFL record for receiving yards in a season is 1,848, set by the great Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers in 1995.

Much like many of the passing and receiving records that are being broken with regularity in today's pass-wacky NFL, you can kiss that record goodbye.

Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions is a nearly unstoppable receiving machine, with three 1,000-yard receiving seasons in the past four years, including a league-leading 1,681 yards on 96 catches in 2011.

Not only will "Megatron" set a career high in 2012, but the 26-year-old will do what was once unthinkable, setting a new high-water mark for pass-catchers by topping 2,000 receiving yards this season.

The Detroit Lions Will Win Super Bowl XLVII

For most of the past 15 years, the Detroit Lions have been one of the laughingstocks of the National Football League, including setting a new standard for futility by becoming the first team in NFL history to go 0-16 in 2008.

However, the tables began to turn a season ago.

Propelled by quarterback Matthew Stafford's 5,038 passing yards and Johnson's receiving prowess, the Lions advanced to the postseason for the first time since 1999 on the heels of a 10-6 campaign.

This season, Stafford, Johnson, and a Detroit defense led by defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and linebacker Stephen Tulloch will not only take the next step but achieve the ultimate goal in the NFL.

Much like the New York Giants before them, the Lions will enter the postseason as a Wild Card team, but when the confetti drops at the end of Super Bowl XLVII, it will be Stafford and the Lions holding up the Lombardi trophy as Super Bowl champions.