What We Learned, Loved and Hated from the 2014 NFL Season

That's a wrap, folks. After the New England Patriots staged the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in Super Bowl history to defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, the 2014 NFL season is officially in the books.

The season was filled with ups and downs. Players such as Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray and Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt posted historic seasons on the field, but for far too much of the year, the dominant storylines in the NFL involved scandals off it.

For the final time this season, we've gathered the National Lead and Division Lead Writers here at Bleacher Report, this time to get their takes on the season that was.

What did they learn? What did they love? And what set our scribes' blood to boiling?

Read on to find out!

Learned: Games Are Still Won in the Trenches

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

In recent years, the NFL has done just about everything but stand on its head to make offense more prolific.

Rules have been changed to the point that sneezing in the direction of a receiver will draw a flag. Of the eight 5,000-yard passing seasons in NFL history, seven have occurred since 2008.

Still, in the opinion of NFL National Lead Writer Matt Bowen, the old axiom that "the more things change, the more they stay the same," holds true in today's NFL:

"

Running the ball and playing defense are still the top tools to winning pro football games. The narrative says this is a passing league, but the ability to run the ball—and stop the run—will never, ever go out of style. Passing stats? Forget about it. That's for fantasy leagues. I'm riding with the teams that can whip people up front on both sides of the ball.

"

NFL National Lead Writer Ty Schalter agrees: "You've gotta have a quarterback to win, but just having a quarterback isn't enough. Defense still wins championships, even though it's much harder to build a real defense than it used to be."

Given that the NFL's top three defenses and top two rushing teams all made the playoffs in 2014 and that the NFC champion Seattle Seahawks led the league in both categories, it would appear that they have a point.

They aren't getting any argument from NFC East Lead Writer Brad Gagnon, who wrote that he enjoyed watching the resurgence of the run in 2014:

"

The return of prominent running games, which often carried contenders like Dallas, Seattle, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Denver, Green Bay and Carolina. And both Super Bowl teams were led by huge rushing outputs en route to the big game. Could we be witnessing yet another shift in league-wide trends?

"

Bowen felt much the same way about watching teams get after it defensively in 2014:

"

Defensive pressure is back in style. I saw more zero-blitzes (man-coverage with no safety help) on tape this season than previous years. Defensive coordinators are becoming even more aggressive to counter spread offenses and quick passing games. The result? Bring the house and challenge wide receivers at the line of scrimmage.

"

Maybe the trends just didn't shift as much as we thought to begin with.

Loved: High Watt-Age

Scott Halleran/Getty Images

It was a pretty good season for Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt.

The 25-year-old racked up nearly 80 tackles, an eye-popping 20.5 sacks, an interception and four forced fumbles. Watt scored a staggering five touchdowns, including three on offense as a goal-line tight end.

On Saturday night's NFL Honors show, Watt brought home the 2014 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, finishing as the runner-up to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the Most Valuable Player vote.

And NFC North Lead Writer Zach Kruse thinks Watt may just be getting started, saying, "We're watching the single most dominant defensive player of this generation. Great player on the field, and a better person off it. We are fortunate to receive the chance to watch him play at the height of his powers."

AFC North Lead Writer Andrea Hangst is on the Watt wagon as well:

"

Watt sacked quarterbacks, scored touchdowns, batted down passes and single-handedly led to a number of Texans wins, all while being one of the league's best ambassadors on and off the field.

He was my official MVP vote for a reason: He's fun to watch and makes the often frustrating and sometimes unbearable NFL better. He's pro football in a vacuum—fun, talented, hardworking.

"

NFL National Lead Writer Mike Freeman echoed their refrain, albeit much more succinctly.

When asked what he loved about the 2014 season, Freeman replied simply, "Watching J.J. Watt play with such joy."

Hated: The Process of Ruining Football

Mike McGinnis/Getty Images

Unless you've been living on Tristan da Cunha for the past few months (go for the isolation, stay for the shepherd's pie), then you know the NFC divisional round between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys turned on a catch by wide receiver Dez Bryant that wasn't a catch, even though it really looked like a catch, but the rules say it wasn't a catch.

Confused? NFC West Lead Writer Sean Tomlinson is right there with you, writing, "A simple, fundamental act still leads to confusion far too often."

AFC West Lead Writer Christopher Hansen doesn't get it either:

"

We have no idea what a catch is anymore, among other things. The NFL had an opportunity to address this way back in 2009 when Louis Murphy had a touchdown taken away from him in the second game of the Monday Night Football doubleheader in Week 1. The Louis Murphy rule, as I call it, became the Calvin Johnson Rule a year later.

A half-score since Murphy's catch illuminated the rule, and seven months to go until the 2015 season, and we are still talking about this rule because Dez Bryant had a catch taken away from him in the divisional round.

The worst part is the officials don't always call it the same way because they know a catch when they see one. In the NFL's attempt to take judgment calls away from the officials (i.e. replay, a ridiculously long rule book, etc.), they've only managed to make things worse.

"

NFL National Lead Writer Ty Schalter is fed up as well, criticizing what he called "another season marred by officiating mistakes and rules controversies."

"Way too much time, effort and money goes into NFL football," Schalter said, "for the great stories the game produces to be lost in shouting about on-field legalities."

Hear, hear.

Learned: There's No Shaking the Shield

Gene Puskar/Associated Press

To say it was a rough year for the National Football League off the field is an understatement.

The 2014 season began with scandal swirling around Ray Rice, Greg Hardy and Adrian Peterson. It ended with whispers, finger-pointing and yet more talk of "cheating" surrounding the New England Patriots.

Yet as NFL National Lead Writer Mike Tanier wrote, despite all the controversies, the juggernaut that is the NFL kept rolling right along:

"

The NFL can weather any scandal, for better or for worse. After the year of Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson, could you have guessed that we would spend Super Bowl week worrying about the air pressure inside of footballs during a 45-7 game?

The NFL knows that if the temperature is too high in the court of public opinion, just wait a week: We'll move on, and the league can go back to something close to business as usual. This is not the ideal lesson to learn, but darn it, they learned it.

"

In the opinion of AFC North Lead Writer Andrea Hangst, unfortunately, that lesson also means nothing is ever really going to change:

"

No matter what could possibly befall the NFL and Roger Goodell, as long as the money keeps flowing, change will be more lip service than actual action. The NFL can basically print money.

Nothing—Ray Rice/domestic violence, concussion and health issues, long- and short-term health of players—will pull eyes away from the sport. Until and unless the money is being threatened, the league has no incentive for change.

"

The whole season left a bad taste with NFC North Lead Writer Zach Kruse.

"Child abuse," Kruse said. "Domestic abuse. Cheating allegations. The NFL is as popular as ever, but 2014 was undoubtedly a rotten year for professional football."

AFC South Lead Writer Rivers McCown also wasn't impressed with the NFL's "investigations" into the scandals that engulfed it in 2014, questioning "the NFL's decision to use its myriad off-field incidents to morph itself into a Law & Order unit. The NFL can't even land a team in L.A. right, and we're supposed to trust their investigators?"

Still, AFC West Lead Writer Christopher Hansen hopes that somehow, something good can come from all the ugliness:

"

I have a three-year-old daughter and a three-month-old daughter, so I am just scratching the surface of parenthood. While domestic violence has gotten all the commercials and attention in the wake of the Ray Rice saga, it's the Adrian Peterson controversy that has had an effect on my family.

It's my hope that the domestic-violence awareness efforts are making a similar impact on lives around the country.

"

Amen to that.

Loved: How 'Bout Them Cowboys?

Mike McGinnis/Getty Images

I have a confession to make. I don't much care for the Dallas Cowboys. Never have. The whole "America's Team" nonsense has always aggravated me.

Besides, I'm a Cleveland Browns fan. Bitterness and resentment came in the fan pack.

Before the Patriots became the Darth Vaders of the NFL, the Cowboys were the team that everyone loved to hate.

Apparently, NFL National Lead Writer Michael Schottey is a member of the same club, but even he confessed that it was fun watching the Cowboys make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2009:

"

I'm not a Cowboys fan—far from it—but the sport is better when they're an anti-hero for everyone who doesn't buy into the "America's Team" meme. I am a Tony Romo fan, though, and the small slice of vindication he served up this season was as sweet as any storyline of the 2014 season.

"

Romo's resurgence was also a high point for NFL National Lead Writer Ty Schalter: "Seeing Tony Romo finally prove not only that he wasn't the problem, but is a huge difference-maker for Dallas. His rags-to-riches story is too rarely told and too quickly forgotten."

The Cowboys face a very interesting offseason that includes huge personnel decisions regarding wide receiver Dez Bryant and running back DeMarco Murray, but hopefully they'll be able to navigate those waters and vie for a playoff spot again in 2015.

Because Schottey's right. Whether you love them or hate them (and with the Cowboys there's usually no in-between), the NFL is better off when the Cowboys are good.

Hated: Flag on the Play

Brett Deering/Getty Images

Before the 2014 season, the NFL announced, per Fox Sports analyst Mike Pereira, that defensive holding and illegal contact would be "points of emphasis" in the upcoming campaign.

Were they ever.

According to NFLPenalties.com, in 2013 defensive holding was called 181 times. That number jumped to 235 in 2014.

The spike in illegal contacts was even greater, from 38 in 2013 to an eye-popping 106 last year.

In AFC North Lead Writer Andrea Hangst's opinion, if those points were meant to improve the game, the league missed the mark—badly:

"

I get the NFL's supposed commitment to safety and to making a fairer on-field product, but the excessive penalties this year stemming from the league's points of emphasis—defensive holding, illegal hands, etc.—just gummed up the works.

Game play felt slowed, games themselves felt stretched out, time stood still and much more laundry came out of the officials' locker room than ever before. I'm not one of those "for the love of all that is football, just let them play!" types. But seriously, let them play.

"

NFL National Lead Writer Matt Bowen beat the same drum:

"

Defensive holding, defensive contact and PI calls. NFL offenses have taken advantage of this to chuck the ball up and beg for a flag. That's not pro ball in my opinion. If you can't get open, that's on you. Don't throw a temper tantrum after the play and ask for a free first down.

"

Mind you, this is from a man who played seven seasons in the NFL.

And he's spot-on. The NFL is supposed to be "big boy" football—the very best of the best.

Stop hamstringing them with needless penalties. Passing games were just fine before the zebras starting flagging every cornerback who gives a wideout a dirty look.

As Hangst said—let them play.

Learned: Coaching Counts

Mike McCarn/Associated Press

The two teams that advanced to Super Bowl XLIX were led by a pair of the league's very best at what they do. Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks and Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots have very different ways of doing things, but there's no arguing with the results.

In fact, AFC South Lead Writer Rivers McCown wrote that his underestimation of a couple of the NFL's head coaches affected the accuracy of his predictions this season.

"Certain head coaches have a much bigger effect on wins and losses than I liked to give them credit for," McCown said. "I bombed my preseason predictions for both the Cardinals and Chiefs by not respecting Bruce Arians and Andy Reid enough."

Of course, there's a flip side to that coin. As Bleacher Report NFL National Lead Writer Michael Schottey pointed out, the Chicago Bears' overestimation of Marc Trestman cost them dearly in 2014:

"

Marc Trestman was north-of-the-border for a reason all of these years. Still believe this guy is a football genius, and everyone has a reason they believe he didn't succeed with the Chicago Bears. Whatever it was, it was so spectacularly awful, he's not getting another shot.

"

Of course, with more than one first-time head coach taking the reins in 2015, whether men like Todd Bowles of the New York Jets turn out to be more like Arians or Rich Kotite is a question yet to be answered.

And that means this is a story for which chapters remain to be written.

Loved: The Catch Heard Around the World

When the Bleacher Report NFL Lead Writers were recently polled regarding the top play of 2014, the top vote-getter was a runaway winner.

The same held true at NFL.com. According to its Judy Battista, that's because the choice was a no-brainer:

"

How is this even a question? Were you not watching Odell Beckham Jr. in Week 12? There have certainly been more impactful plays -- the Giants, after all, didn't even beat the Cowboys that night -- but no play in recent memory has put a player on the map, has caused such an explosion of interest and, heck, might have even saved a few jobs, like Beckham's amazing, bending, one-handed, three-fingered, while-being-interfered-with masterpiece. The best part: There should be more where that came from.

"

That may be why AFC East Lead Writer Erik Frenz's answer to the question, "What did you love about the 2014 NFL season?" had all of three words:

"Odell Beckham's catch."

Hated: The Ravages of Time

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

No one enjoys getting old.

However, while most of us simply complain about sore backs, hair growing in places it shouldn't and falling out of the places it should, getting older means a lot more for professional athletes. 

It means the end of the line.

After watching a hobbled Peyton Manning fall flat against the Indianapolis Colts in the playoffs, NFL National Lead Writer Michael Schottey believes the end of that line for Manning is closer than many think.

It doesn't mean he has to like it:

"Though a thigh injury clearly exacerbated some of Manning's ongoing problems, it takes a memory of what he was 5-10 years ago to properly understand the heights from which he's fallen...even if he's still one of the best in the league."

Manning wasn't the only future Hall of Famer who inspired concern from one of our scribes. For NFC South Lead Writer Brent Sobleski, the source of his uneasiness was (of all places) the Big Easy:

"

Drew Brees' decline already started. While Brees still led the league in passing with 4,952 yards, it was his lowest total in four years. The same applied to his yards-per-attempt average (7.51) and touchdown passes (33).

It went beyond statistics, though. Brees' deep-ball accuracy wasn't to the same level seen over his career, and his arm strength appears to be a concern moving forward. With Brees now 36 years old, the New Orleans Saints need to start planning for their future at the quarterback position.

"

Sometimes, the future is just kind of depressing.

Learned: Patience Is a Virtue?

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

As we move into the 2015 season, much of the talk around the NFL will center on the upcoming draft.

In fact, many pundits, from Bucky Brooks of NFL.com to Bleacher Report's Sean O'Donnell, have already taken a stab at predicting the first round in Chicago on April 30.

Their mocks may differ in some respects, but both share at least one thing in common:

A quarterback is selected first overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

However, NFC East Lead Writer Brad Gagnon is no longer sure that's such a hot idea:

"

Quarterbacks are officially no longer worth an early first-round gamble. Look at guys like passer rating leader Tony Romo, Offensive Player of the Year shoo-in Aaron Rodgers, Super Bowl quarterbacks Tom Brady and Russell Wilson, and the league's passing yardage champs, Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees.

None were drafted in the top 10, and only one (Big Ben) was drafted higher than 24th.

Meanwhile, Robert Griffin III (No. 2 overall in 2012) is becoming a bust, and Cam Newton (No. 1 overall in 2011) is coming off a rough season. Looking at the 17 quarterbacks taken in the first round since 2009, no more than three of them (Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill and maybe Matthew Stafford) had what I'd call good 2014 campaigns.

"

Still as NFC North Lead Writer Zach Kruse wrote, the end of the first round was quite kind to the Minnesota Vikings:

"

Teddy Bridgewater at No. 32 was an absolute steal for the Vikings. He might not be a once-in-a-generation talent like Andrew Luck, but his poise and pocket awareness give him a real chance to be great. Look at all the chaos he dealt with around him as a 21-year-old rookie. The Vikings got a good one. Finally.

"

Given that, maybe it isn't taking quarterbacks at the top of Round 1 that's the issue.

Maybe teams just need to stop picking the wrong one.

Loved: 1st-Year Finery

USA TODAY Sports

Top-of-the-draft quarterbacks may have struggled in the NFL the past couple of years, but there were plenty of youngsters who had no such issues in 2014.

In fact, the 2014 class at the wide receiver position may go down as one of the deepest in NFL history. Odell Beckham. Mike Evans. Sammy Watkins. Jarvis Landry. The list of first-year wideouts who made a big dent just goes on and on and on.

NFC West Lead Writer Sean Tomlinson loved every minute of it:

"

Odell Beckham Jr. is rightfully getting all the attention, because superman one-handed catches tend to have that effect. But Mike Evans was also among the top five in wide receiver touchdowns (12), and Sammy Watkins finished just shy of 1,000 yards even while receiving passes from Kyle Orton/EJ Manuel.

Then, further down in the draft, John Brown, Donte Moncrief, Jarvis Landry and Martavis Bryant also made significant contributions immediately.

"

AFC South thinks the huge influx of talent at the position could have a major impact for years to come.

"If next year's class continues the trend, McCown said, "we'll soon see teams with one worthy receiver being left in the dust statistically."

However, NFC South Lead Writer Brent Sobleski passed along a reminder that it wasn't just the rookie receivers who shined in 2014:

"

Rookie offensive linemen dominated. The 2014 wide receiver class dominated the headlines, but the rookie offensive linemen played as well or better than any receiving target from May's NFL draft.

No one can deny what Odell Beckham, Mike Evans and Kelvin Benjamin accomplished this past season, but Joel Bitonio, Zack Martin and Corey Linsley dominated at a level no one expected. Those three offensive linemen weren't just the best rookie performances. They were among the best offensive linemen in football, period.

The fact these names were discussed as Rookie of the Year candidates—when an offensive lineman has never won the award—speaks for itself.

"

Let's just hope the class of 2015 can keep the proverbial ball rolling.

It's harder than it sounds with a prolate spheroid.

Hated: Johnny Football's Face-Plant

USA TODAY Sports

So much for Johnny Manziel taking the NFL by storm.

Oh, there was a storm all right. From the moment the Cleveland Browns drafted Manziel last May, the hype crashed against our shores with hurricane force.

The storm came complete with dark clouds as well. There were a lot more pictures of Manziel at parties over the summer than of the former Heisman Trophy winner buried in film study.

Then, as NFC South Lead Writer Brent Sobleski reported, the skies opened up:

"

Despite the Browns starting 7-4 this past season, the organization felt the need to see exactly what they had in "Johnny Football." What they found rocked the organization.

After pitiful performances against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Carolina Panthers, the mercurial quarterback was injured and back on the bench.

It's a place he should have never left after admitting, per Mary Kay Cabot of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, he didn't take his role seriously and didn't put in the work required of a former first-round pick and potential franchise quarterback.

As a result, Manziel's future with the team is already in question. Instead of "wrecking the league" like he predicted, per Dowell Loggains on Sports Talk with Bo Mattingly (via Cabot), Manziel, instead, wrecked his team.

"

I went so far as to suggest last week that the Browns need to move on from the notion of Manziel ever being "the guy":

"

NFL history is drowning in "talented" players who washed out as pros, as often as not because they just weren't willing to put in the work. Whether Manziel wakes up or not, the Browns have to.

Because from all indications, the pipe dream that Manziel would ride into town and save the Browns was just that—a pipe dream.

And unless the Browns have another plan at the ready, this will become an even bigger nightmare for the team than it already is.

"

I stand by what I wrote. Hype the talent until you pass out from oxygen deprivation. Unless Manziel puts in the work, he's got zero chance of succeeding as a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Coincidentally, that's also the amount of inclination he's shown for doing that work.

Learned: We're All About That Action, Boss

Matt York/Associated Press

Super Bowl Sunday opened with reports that the Seattle Seahawks were prepared to break the bank to bring back a key contributor in 2015.

And we're not talking about Russell Wilson.

Of course, much like Wilson, running back Marshawn Lynch is technically still under contract next season. However, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported that the Seahawks aren't waiting to lock their star ball-carrier up:

"

On the heels of another dominant season for the running back nicknamed "Beast Mode," multiple sources tell me Seattle has made Lynch an offer on a huge contract extension that would keep him in a Seahawks uniform for years to come.

The deal is believed to include more than $10 million for Lynch in the 2015 season alone. Lynch currently is slated to make $5 million in 2015, the final year of what originally was a four-year, $31 million deal.

The Seahawks believe that Lynch, who has rushed for at least 1,200 yards in each of the past four seasons, has outplayed his contract, sources say. They want to reward him for his work.

"

NFC West Lead Writer Sean Tomlinson thinks that's a fine idea:

"

Marshawn Lynch is pretty much unbreakable. He was supposed to slow this season at the age of 28 and following 675 touches over the past two years. Now the Seahawks will be ripping out the foundation of their offense if they attempt to move on from Lynch this offseason.

"

NFL National Lead Writer Mike Freeman went ever farther, writing that "Marshawn Lynch has the same value as some of the top quarterbacks."

Given that Lynch gained 102 yards on 24 carries against the Patriots in the Super Bowl and that fans will be screaming for months that the Seahawks should have punched it in late with the wrecking ball rather than having Wilson throw the most infamous pass of his career, it's a hard point to disagree with.

Loved: Southern Mediocrity

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

For most of the 2014 season, the NFC South was a punch line—four teams in a battle of bad.

Well, not exactly. When it came to being bad, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were definitely the class of the division.

Still, while most fans and pundits bemoaned the Carolina Panthers for making the postseason despite a 7-8-1 record, AFC West Lead Writer Christopher Hansen actually found it refreshing:

"

A lot of people think this means the playoff system is broken, but I disagree. This is a rare quirk of divisional play and NFL scheduling techniques. Only twice in the last 30 years has a team with fewer than eight wins made the playoffs.

Re-seeding the playoffs devalues division play, where we get the most compelling games and rivalries. The playoff system in the NFL is great, so the league shouldn't change a thing.

"

It's also worth noting that, in each case where a sub-.500 team has made the playoffs in a non-strike year, that team went on to win a postseason game.

So if we're going to ban "losing" teams from the playoffs, we might as well bar the Cincinnati Bengals as well.

At least this year's Panthers and the 2010 Seattle Seahawks actually did something with their opportunity.

Hated: Nontroversy Trumps Controversy

Steven Senne/Associated Press

We'll start this take with some words from NFL National Lead Writer Mike Tanier. When asked what he hated about the 2014 season, he hit the nail on the head so hard it's now in the league's concussion protocol:

"

Hated the Thursday night blowouts, which usually showcased the NFL at its worst. Hated the Redskins drama: They seemed more interested in extending the narrative than winning football games, which is scary.

Most of all, I hated the fact that we lost control of the modulation knob on our outrage and are treating deflated footballs the same we treated domestic violence and spousal abuse.

When everything's the biggest scandal in the world, nothing is. I would love to be able to take seriously what's serious, trivialize the trivial and enjoy the joyous instead of turning the amps to 11 on everything.

"

He's absolutely, positively, 140 percent correct here.

What? Math was never my thing.

There was every bit the amount of vitriol on social media about Deflategate that there was for the scandals surrounding Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson.

We should be outraged by video of a woman being assaulted in an elevator. We should be incensed by photos of a child's legs covered in welts.

But to express the same level of anger over a dozen footballs that may or may not have been under-inflated?

It was rather silly, and it takes away from just how serious those other incidents were.

Especially when it now turns out those footballs may not have been nearly as under-inflated as originally believed, reports NFL.com's Ian Rapoport.

We certainly haven't heard the last of deflated footballs (especially after the Patriots won the Super Bowl), but I'll be overjoyed when we have so we can shift the focus back to issues (such as domestic violence) that actually matter.

Loved: Variety Is the Spice of Life

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

I'm not doing it.

There is no way I'm ending this look back at 2014 on a flat note.

Get it? Flat? That's gold, Jerry! Gold!

After all, for the various problems in 2014, it was still a season filled with excitement of all types.

Watt's monster season. Beckham's grab. The Patriots' championship season. From plays to players to teams, there was something for everyone.

NFL National Lead Writer Mike Tanier hailed another form of variety across the NFL in 2014:

"

The Broncos and Patriots did their Peyton-Brady thing, the Seahawks won with defense and options, the Eagles were uptempo, the Cowboys rediscovered having a great line and a simple running game, the Colts gave up the run completely, the Cardinals duct-taped together wins with crazy defensive schemes, the AFC North played AFC Northball, the Chiefs didn't throw any passes more than eight yards downfield, and so on.

It was a great year for moving beyond, "gee, our quarterback is better at running an old Bill Walsh offense, so we win."

"

With so many teams doing things (with success, mind you) differently in the NFL nowadays, there's never a dull moment. Every week brings with it new surprises. New wrinkles. Something even the "experts" never saw coming.

See the Dallas Cowboys defense in 2014. Or Chris Matthews in Super Bowl XLIX. Or Super Bowl XLIX itself.

As for those Patriots...I would be remiss if I didn't pass along the words of AFC East Lead Writer Erik Frentz, who offered up these thoughts well in advance of New England's win.

"Never count out Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots," Frenz said. "Even when it appears all is lost, they find a way to make noise and dominate the AFC."

Now if we could just get him to pick the Powerball numbers. Or maybe he has.

It was a thrilling season, and we can't wait to start the madness again with the march toward Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara next year.

Now, let's just keep the stories on the field.