Cory Tell All Sports: The Most Surprising NFL Teams

Friday, December 23, 2011

The Most Surprising NFL Teams

1. Cincinnati Bengals: After a disastrous 4-12 season in 2010 and Carson Palmer refusing to play any longer for the Bengals and asking owner Mike Brown for a trade, the Bengals have had one of the most impressive turnarounds of any NFL team this season. Their great success has been led by their first round pick A.J. Green and their second round pick Andy Dalton, who have formed an incredible connection on the offense side of the ball. A.J. Green has over 1,000 receiving yards and is just the fourth player since 1999 to have over 1,000 receiving yards as a rookie, joining just Anquan Boldin in 2003, Michael Clayton in 2004, and Marques Colston in 2006. The only passer ratings better than Dalton's 81.0 since 1999 are Matt Ryan's passer rating of 87.7 in 2008 and Ben Roethlisberger's passer rating of 98.1 in 2004. The Bengals, who started 6-2, now sit at 8-6 and are currently tied for the final AFC Wild Card spot with the Jets.

2. Denver Broncos: After a 1-4 start, most Broncos fans were turning to the NFL draft in April and hoping that their team would get the number 1 overall pick and be able to take Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. And then Tebow-mania began. Since Tim Tebow took over as the Broncos starting quarterback, Denver is 7-2 including a 6 game win streak that they went on before they fell to the Patriots last week. Tebow, the most polarizing figure in the NFL, has captured the attention of the nation by his incredible 4th quarter comebacks. In his first start on the road in Miami against the Dolphins in week 7 with the Broncos down 15-0, he led two touchdown drives plus a two point conversion in the final 5 minutes of the game before a Matt Prater field goal won the game in overtime. In week 11 against the Jets, Tebow led a 95-yard touchdown drive in the final 5 minutes to top the Jets 17-13. In week 14 against the Bears, with the Broncos down 10-0 with under 5 minutes remaining in the game, Tebow threw a touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas before setting up a Matt Prater field goal with seconds remaining in regulation. The Broncos would win the game in overtime after another Prater field goal 13 to 10. Currently, the Broncos sit atop the AFC West at 8-6.

3. Detroit Lions: Although many people really liked the Detroit Lions this off-season and predicated that they would make the playoffs, the Lions are still a surprise considering that they finished at the bottom of the NFC North last season at 6-10. They key to the Lions success has been a healthy Matthew Stafford. After missing a total of 19 games in 2009 and 2010, Stafford has played in all 14 games this season with the Lions and his connection with Calvin Johnson, also known as Megatron, has been deadly. Stafford, who ranks in the top 5 of nearly every passing category, has thrown 14 touchdown passes to Megatron. Only the Packers, Saints, and the Patriots have scored more points this season than the Lions, who have scored 24 pointsor more in 9 games this season. If the Lions win one of their final two games against the Chargers or the Packers on the road in Green Bay, they would clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 1999.

4. San Francisco 49ers: Jim Harbaugh, the former Stanford head coach, has changed the culture in San Francisco. After a 6-10 season in 2010, the 49ers are currently 11-3 and have already clinched their first NFC west title since 2002 and just their second since 1997. The 49ers have been led by an incredible defense. They have allowed just over 13 points per game, which is the best in the NFL and is 6 points better than the Seahawks, who rank 2nd in the NFC in points allowed per game at 19.5. The 49ers defense is led by their great linebackering core of NaVorro Bowman and the always great Patrick Willis. Alex Smith has also had a career saving season. The former numer 1 pick is having his best season in the NFL in his 7th year in the league, as Harbaugh has instilled a lot of confidence in his quarterback. Smith has taken great care of the ball this season and has made plays when he has needed to. Smith has thrown just 5 interceptions this season.

No comments:

About Me

About Me:

Welcome to my blog, Cory Tell All Sports. Before you begin to read my posts and sports opinions, you should get to know to know some things about me and learn about my favorite teams. You can keep up to date with my blog activity by following me on twitter at https://twitter.com/ctellallsports and by listening to the podcasts that I record with my friends and family on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/ctellallsports or at http://corytellallsports.blogspot.com/search/label/Telling%20It%20All%20Podcast

My Teams:

My dad and his father were die hard Colts fans when they lived in Baltimore. My grandfather witnessed back-to-back NFL Championships when the Colts beat the Giants in 1958 in "The Greatest Game Ever Played" (I love watching that Alan Ameche TD run in OT) and then again in 1959 behind the play of Johnny Unitas. On my dad's 9th birthday on January 12, 1969, he had to watch Joe Namath come through on his guarantee to defeat the heavily favored Colts in Super Bowl III. However, my dad got his childhood wish of seeing the Colts win the Super Bowl, as they knocked off the Cowboys in Super Bowl V two seasons later due to a long John Mackey TD reception and a Jim O'Brien game-winning FG in the final minute. My dad continued to keep tabs on his Colts when he was at graduate school in the Baltimore area. During the 2000s, I had to undergo years of anguish and disappointing playoff defeats like my dad experienced (the loss to the Steelers in the 2005 playoffs still hurts). However, Peyton Manning (with the help of Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney, and the rest of the squad) finally led my Colts to a Super Bowl. I could not have been happier after the Colts came back from a 21-3 deficit against the Patriots in the AFC Championship game behind an 80-yard game-winning drive TD in the end of the 4th quarter and then went on to beat the Bears in Super Bowl XLI. The Tracy Porter interception against the Saints in the Super Bowl during the 2009 season still gives me nightmares, but the 14-year run with Peyton Manning was a magical one. While it was obviously upsetting to see the only Colts quarterback that I have ever known leave Indianapolis in 2012, it was time to move on to the future with Andrew Luck.

When I was a little kid, I went to Boston every summer on my way up to, and back from, camp in Maine. My family went to a bunch of Red Sox games and I fell in love with Fenway Park and the team. Although any Red Sox playoff success was hard to believe for a tortured Sox fan during the early 2000s, Boston won five World Series prior to trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. We do not have to talk about what happened over the next eight decades from Ted Williams having to play hurt during a 7 game World Series loss to the Cardinals in 1946 to the Bucky Dent home run for the Yankees in the 1978 tie-breaker game to the Bill Buckner error in game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the Mets. After Aaron Boone hit his walk-off home run in game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Sox, I thought I would never see a World Series win. Although all the heartbreak felt like perpetual despair, the struggle for a title made it feel so sweet when the Sox overcame the Yankees in the ALCS after being down 3-0. I will never forget Dave Roberts stealing second base off Mariano Rivera and Bill Mueller driving him home to tie the score in game 4, Big Papi's walk-off home run in extra innings of that contest or walk-off hit in game 5, Curt Schilling's bloody sock performance in game 6, or Johnny Damon's grand slam in game 7. The feeling of finally reaching the mountain top in 2004 by sweeping the Cardinals in the World Series was the pinnacle of my sporting fandom. To make things even better, my beloved Sox came back from 3-1 down against the Indians in the ALCS before sweeping the Rockies in the World Series in 2007 and then had the "Boston Strong" World Series season in 2013.

My love of the New Jersey Devils comes from knowing many of their players and coaches since several of them live in my local New Jersey area. Although I was disappointed over the firing of John MacLean in 2010 and the team's lack of recent success, I will never forget the dominance of the Devils from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. After winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in 1995, the Devils made three of four Stanley Cups from 2000 to 2003, winning in 2000 and 2003. The Stanley Cup in 2000 was incredible because the Devils came back from a 3-1 deficit in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Flyers and then won the cup by beating the Stars in game 6 in 2 OT thanks to a series-clinching goal by Jason Arnott. I will never forget the excitement of the Stanley Cup Finals three years later when the Devils beat the Ducks in a thrilling 7 game series, once again behind the play of legendary net-minder Martin Brodeur along with veterans Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens, and Patrik Elias. Although the Devils came up a little short in 2012, I will never forget the overtime goals in games 6 and 7 against the Panthers in the first round, beating the Rangers in the Conference Finals, and getting to the Stanley Cup behind a 40-year old Martin Brodeur.

When I was in London with my family for a vacation, I begged my parents to take me to a soccer game (or as they call it in the UK, a football match). There were no games in London at the time because of an international break, so at the very least, I wanted to buy some team gear. There were Chelsea shirts everywhere in the city and I fell in love with the Chelsea blue. Little did I know that Chelsea, a club that had limited success in English football prior to the arrival of Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola in the late 1990s, had been taken over in 2003 by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Abramovich injected millions of dollars into the club, and transformed the Blues into a top English, and European, side. I feel as though I am Chelsea's good luck charm as the team has won the Premier League five times since my trip to London in 2003 and also won four FA Cup titles, three League Cup titles, and a Europa League (my impact may have been less than the likes of club legends Petr Cech, John Terry, Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard, and Didier Drogba). I will admit that John Terry's slip in the penalty shoot-out against Manchester United in the 2008 Champions League Final is still hard to watch. However, my Blues finally won the Champions League in 2012 with their improbable victory over Bayern Munich in penalty kicks, thanks to a late Drogba goal to tie the game, after having already overcome a 3-1 first leg deficit against Napoli in the round of 16 and beating title holders and favorites Barcelona in the semifinals.

Although I do not have one favorite NBA team, I like watching the league as much as any other sport. The level of play in the NBA is exceptionally high, and the modern game is so enjoyable to watch because of how teams spread the floor offensively to give their best players space to operate. It has been a pleasure to grow up during the era of LeBron James, one of the five greatest players in the history of the NBA, and I have marveled at Stephen Curry's shooting ability ever since his days at Davidson. The star power in the NBA with players like LeBron, Curry, Durant, Kawhi, Westbrook, and Harden cannot be matched by any of the other professional sports leagues in the world. The NBA has had so many unforgettable moments over the last 5 years from the Ray Allen three in game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals to Klay Thompson's 11-three pointers in the Warriors miraculous win against the Thunder in game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals to the Cavaliers coming back from 3-1 down to beat the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals behind an all-time performance from LeBron James.

The Lafayette Leopards have a special place in my heart (my dad went to college there), but I loved the Maryland Terrapins as a little kid. I was not close to being born during the Lefty Driesell years when the Terps had Tom McMillen, Len Elmore, and John Lucas during the 1970s and Adrian Branch and Len Bias during the 1980s, and I was too young for the Steve Francis teams of the late 1990s. I faintly remember the Terps Final Four run in 2001, which ended when they squandered a 22-point first half lead in a loss to Duke in the National Semifinals (as if blowing a 10-point lead to the Blue Devils in the miracle minute earlier that season was not enough). Although I was just 7 years old the following season, I remember my dad telling me not to celebrate too early when the Terps took a big lead over Kansas in the National Semifinals (the Duke losses had conditioned my dad to fear for the worst) and I recall being in Maryland for the team's victory over Indiana in the NCAA Championship Game. Maryland's title team with Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, Byron Mouton, Lonny Baxter, and Chris Wilcox was so special to me because it was the first time I was alive to see one of my favorite teams win a championship. Although the Maryland football team has not enjoyed the same success as the basketball team (even with their flashy Under Armour uniforms), the football program should continue to rebuild. However, as a student at Johns Hopkins, I'm on the side of the Blue Jays when the Maryland schools meet on the lacrosse field.

Now you know everything about me and my favorite teams!

Cory Tell All Sports

Images

Pages

TELLING IT ALL PODCAST

Sections

Pages

Friday, December 23, 2011

The Most Surprising NFL Teams

No comments:

Post a Comment