NFL: Eight Reasons Why This Might Be The Best Season Yet
The NFL is the best sport, collegiate or professional, in existence. I look forward to football season more than most children look forward to seeing presents from Santa on Christmas morning.
I just don't think there is anything better than rooting for your team and riding the waves of emotion that comes from your team's successes and failures.
That being said, I believe that this season has sprung out of the gate on the race to be one of the best and most exciting NFL seasons that I can recall.
Expectations are high across the board for all 32 teams and there are been some big surprises. There have also been some great stories of redemption and controversy.
Here's a look at eight reasons why this season is so great.
Are Those Win-Loss Records Backwards?
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The teams that dominated the first few weeks of the season were at best unexpected. Three teams sat at 3-0 after Week 3; the Kansas City Chiefs, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears.
The Kansas City Chiefs? The Chicago Bears?
Really? No, seriously, really?
Records have normalized a bit since Week 3 as teams are starting to show their weaknesses but really who would have ever thought that the Chiefs would have started 3-0.
On the other said of the standings list, who would think that the normally dominate Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings or San Diego Chargers would be fighting for winning records? In the past few years their records would more than likely have been flipped.
The next few weeks of the season should be thrillers as teams push hard to keep from already being eliminated from playoff contention.
Redemption Or Back To The Bench?
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Love him or hate him, it's just plain exciting to see Michael Vick back on the field and playing the way he's been playing for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Vick has a quarterback rating of 108.8 and has thrown six touchdowns and not a single interception; not too bad for a guy that wasn't even supposed to start this season.
Unfortunately for Vick, he was sidelined by a rib injury in Week 4 after taking over and becoming the starter over the injured Kevin Kolb.
Kolb has since returned and is playing great. He had a monster game this past week against the Atlanta Falcons putting up 326 yards and throwing three touchdowns.
So the big exciting question is, who is going to start for Philadelphia when both quarterbacks are healthy and ready and play?
Is This Favre Stuff Done Yet?
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Is he going to retire or come back?
For the past three years it's been the same question, will Brett Favre finally hang up his Wranglers and retire to Mississippi?
Unfortunately for Favre, he decided to come back for another season and it hasn't been easy on him or his team. Favre has been struggling with an elbow injury and just doesn't seem to have the finesse he had in years past.
The Vikings are struggling to get a hold on their season and are sitting in a very uncomfortable 3rd place in their division.
Can Favre help his team rally back and make it to the postseason? We'll see.
Oh yeah, and there's that whole Jenn Sterger thing too. Enough said.
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Give It Up For The Rookies
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Unfortunately for Sam Bradford, he was drafted by a team that went 1-15 last season. The St. Louis Rams currently sit at 3-3 and Bradford is playing a big role in the team having that kind of a record.
Although Bradford's stats aren't amazing (seven touchdowns, eight interceptions), you have to give credit to anyone that comes into the league and starts behind center as a rookie.
Tim Tebow, another 2010 rookie, isn't starting at quarterback and really hasn't seen much action. Tebow did seem to put a spark into the Denver Broncos on Sunday as he ran for 23 yards and scored his first NFL touchdown.
Watch as both of these players will continue to grow into their NFL roles and may end up as dominate players in the league.
Trading Places: Moss and Branch Go Back In Time
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The New England Patriots have been making some big name trades in the last few weeks.
In Week 4 the Patriots traded Randy Moss to the Vikings, a team that Moss played for from 1998 to 2004. During six of the seven previous seasons he was with the Vikings, Moss caught 1,200 yards or better.
Will it happen again this year? How will Moss and Favre pair up?
So far it's been good. Moss had a 81 yard game in Week 5 against the New York Jets. Moss and Favre should only get better and become one of the league's better quarterback-wide receiver duos as long as Favre stays healthy.
Will Randy Moss be missed in New England?
The Patriots picked up a familiar face of their own, wide receiver Deion Branch, in Week 4 right after trading Moss. Branch previously played for the Pats from 2002 to 2005.
Branch is clearly not on the same level as Randy Moss but he had a great first game with the Patriots on Sunday netting 98 yards with 9 receptions.
It looks like the Patriots aren't missing Moss just yet.
Battle Of The Divisions
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AFC South
Before Jacksonville's Monday night loss to the Tennessee Titans, the AFC South was completely tied up at 3-2. Now three of the four teams sit at 4-2 and all three teams (Indianapolis, Tennessee, and Houston) seem to be getting things together.
The Indianapolis Colts, who are usually undefeated at this week in the season, are a surprising 0-2 in their division but look to be rallying after fighting some injuries and a struggling defense in the earlier weeks of the season.
They should step out and lead their division in the upcoming weeks.
NFC Divisions
The NFC South and East divisions look like they will go down to the wire when it comes down to determining who wins the division.
The Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints look like they will battle it out for the NFC South just the like the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles will fight for the NFC East.
If You Don't Like It Then Return It
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Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears appears to have awoken from his no punt return slumber. He already has two punt returns this season giving him 13 combined return touchdowns in his very short career. This ties Brian Mitchell's record and it only took Mitchell 12 years.
Leon Washington of the Seattle Seahawks had a great game against the San Diego Chargers in Week 3 taking two kickoffs all the way to the house.
Dallas' Dez Bryant and Minnesota's Percy Harvin have also had impressive returns so far this season.
Enjoy It While You Can
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Odds are high that this could be the last NFL season until the 2012-2013 season based on a lockout between team owners and the NFL Players Association.
Things aren't looking favorable for the 2011 as players and coaches continue to debate topics such as an 18 game season, drug testing, and player's pay.
New rules by the NFL on helmet-to-helmet hits certainly aren't helping matters as players seem to think that the NFL wants it both ways when it comes to their safety (B/R's own Erik Frenz wrote a great article on this topic).
Regardless of if the season ends with a lockout or not, we all should sit back and enjoy watching the greatest sport on Earth!
I know I will.
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