6 Biggest Surprises from 2014 NFL Season

The beauty of the NFL is the idea that one team can beat another on any given Sunday. Extended throughout a season, this means that a team can easily surpass expectations or easily fall short even before the halfway point.

Despite the fact that we are halfway through the 2014 NFL season, the contenders and pretenders have not entirely separated from each other, and that has made the season particularly exciting.

There are players who have been big surprises as well, for better or worse. Which players and teams have been the biggest surprises so far this season?

6. Winning Games with Kyle Orton

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The Buffalo Bills have been a roller-coaster ride, yet at the end of it, they have turned into a pleasant surprise. They are 5-3 in the AFC East despite changing their quarterback four games into the season.

Placing Kyle Orton as the starter over E.J. Manuel was a risk, but it has paid off. The Bills are 3-1 since the change, with the only loss against the Patriots.

While Orton's surprising play puts them on the list, their five wins are the result of quality play from a few in particular. Rookie Sammy Watkins has played as advertised, and Leodis McKelvin and Marcell Dareus have led the defense, putting up nice numbers in the process.

The Bills' defense in particular has been effective, and as long as it continues to be, the Bills can continue to win games with Orton at quarterback, and they could end up as a shocking playoff contender.

5. The Suddenly Struggling Seattle Seahawks

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On the surface, the Seattle Seahawks look like they're fine. They are 5-3 and just had two straight wins, Russell Wilson's numbers remain good, and they are in far better shape than the San Francisco 49ers, who seem to be crashing and burning. Where does the surprise come in?

In their past four games, they have losses to the Cowboys and Rams, and ugly wins against the Panthers and winless Raiders. Not only that, but Percy Harvin was traded after causing a rift in the locker room, a rift that Russell Wilson noted as nonexistent, but it caused a shift nonetheless.

Not only that, but the strength of the team, the secondary, also hasn't lived up to its reputation this season. Kam Chancellor has been a shell of himself, and Earl Thomas has yet to notch an interception.

It doesn't help that the Seahawks have looked questionable through the easiest part of their schedule. They still have to face the Cardinals twice, the Eagles and the 49ers twice.

Despite having many of the same players as last year, something is off in Seattle, and that will need to be fixed quickly if they want to be a playoff threat. Even with their issues, they are far from the biggest surprise in the NFC West.

4. The Entire AFC North

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The AFC North is that division where having three teams over .500 is reasonable, especially given the talent on the teams in the division. All four teams over .500 at this point in the season, however, is a surprise.

The Pittsburgh Steelers looked like they were going to take a step back, especially with how they looked early in the season. Instead, Ben Roethlisberger is playing the best football of his career, and the Steelers are 6-3 largely thanks to him. The Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals, conversely, looked great to start the season, yet have slowed down, at least in comparison to their 3-1 starts.

The Cleveland Browns might be the biggest surprise. Despite not having Josh Gordon all season and despite a few games where they looked like the "same old Browns," they are over .500 as well and have the league leader in interceptions in Tashaun Gipson.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is their record outside of the division: As a whole, the AFC North is 14-5-1 against the other conferences. Admittedly there are a few easy games in that batch (three teams faced the Jaguars and Buccaneers), but that's still a great record no matter how you look at it.

Three AFC North teams made the playoffs in 2011, and if all four teams continue to play like they did at their best, then it should happen again this year.

3. Dallas' Defense Delivers

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I was one of many who thought the Dallas Cowboys' defense would not only be bad, but historically bad, especially since they no longer had DeMarcus Ware and Sean Lee on their defense, among others.

Instead, the team is 6-3 because the defense managed to be effective. Rolando McClain in particular is one of the NFL's greatest comeback stories, becoming the team's leader on defense after coming out of retirement.

The offense, while less surprising, has had its great pieces as well. DeMarco Murray easily leads the league in rushing, and if Tony Romo ends up missing significant time, he's unlikely to lose that distinction.

The defense may not be an elite unit, and it may not be near where the offense is, but it is also miles better than anyone would have thought entering the season. After all, who would have foreseen back-to-back losses because of the offense stalling rather than the defense?

2. The NFL's Best Team: The Cardinals?

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The Cardinals, like the 49ers, entered the season with injury concerns. Darnell Dockett and John Abraham are on IR, leaving a lot of question marks on the defensive front seven. Losing Carson Palmer on top of that should have made it a difficult first half.

Instead, they are 7-1, with their only loss coming to the Denver Broncos in a game where they were stuck using third-stringer Logan Thomas for part of the game.

The biggest shock isn't even their record, but the fact that their strength is the front seven despite the injuries and nonexistent sack numbers (Alex Okafor leads the team with two). Their 637 rush yards allowed is third in the league, and their 3.4 yards per rushing attempt is fourth.

The fact that they're a top-five rushing defense after facing DeMarco Murray and LeSean McCoy in back-to-back weeks shows how good of a team they are. If Carson Palmer can keep up his effectiveness on top of that (11 touchdowns to two interceptions), then they will cruise to the playoffs.

1. The Entire NFC South

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In 2010, the Seattle Seahawks won the NFC West despite a 7-9 record. Four years later, it could very well happen again, as the NFC South as a whole, a division which should have been entertaining and competitive, has looked awful.

The New Orleans Saints have had an AWOL defense on top of not knowing how to win on the road, outside of last week's victory over Carolina. They play much better at home, but that could change against Cincinnati and Baltimore. At 4-4, they can rebound and finish with a winning record, but then again, they did need overtime to beat Tampa Bay at home.

The 3-5-1 Carolina Panthers, meanwhile, can't seem to get anything going after starting 3-2. They have talented players, and rookie Kelvin Benjamin has been a bright spot, but if there's a team that needs a bye week now, it's them.

As for the 2-6 Atlanta Falcons and 1-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, their numbers say it all. Julio Jones and Gerald McCoy cannot be cloned and placed on the other side of the football to help you win games.

All four teams are better on paper than they have been playing, but in the NFL, it's about results, and none of the teams are producing when it matters.