The Dark Horses of the 2010 NFL Season
We know that the Colts, the Saints, the Vikings, the Chargers and the Cowboys look like the teams to beat this year. There are also teams like the Jets, Ravens, Patriots and Bears who are expected to improve this year. But, doesn’t it get boring to talk about what we expect? Why not talk about what happens in the NFL every year that many fail to anticipate? I’m talking about the team that comes out of nowhere and takes the league by surprise and competes for the Lombardi trophy.
We’ve seen this in many years and you don’t have to look any further than the last couple of seasons to get an idea. Raise your hand if you expected the Saints to win the Super Bowl at the beginning of last year? How about if you thought the New York Jets would reach the AFC Championship? Even the year before, we saw the Dolphins come off a 1-15 season to improve to 11-5 and win the AFC East. We also saw the Tennessee Titans roll to a 13-3 record.
So what team will surprise us this year? Which team that missed the playoffs in 2009 can shock football fans and reach the playoffs or even compete for the Super Bowl?
One team that should come to mind is the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers are in a relatively weak NFC West and finished 8-8 last year, even beating the Arizona Cardinals in both their games. The Cardinals have now lost Kurt Warner to retirement and may have difficulty keeping pace with a young, improving 49ers team. The Seattle Seahawks are in a rebuilding process, as are the Rams. So, no one should be surprised if San Francisco does what it should do and that is take the NFC West.
Staying in the NFC, the Washington Redskins have to get a little more respect. While they were mediocre last year and have been very inconsistent in recent years, they took giant leaps of improvement this offseason. They hired two time Super Bowl winning coach Mike Shanahan and they traded former divisional rival Donovan McNabb. The Redskins also drafted well and are taking the right steps. They are not simply building for the future, but are looking for ways to win right now. While they play in the league’s toughest division, the NFC East, they can cause some problems for their divisional opponents.
Perhaps another sleeper pick in the NFC is the Carolina Panthers. Yes they are with rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen, but they now got rid of an aging Jake Delhomme and have two great running backs with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. They have a pretty strong defence and wide receiver (WR) Steve Smith. In recent years, the Panthers always rotate between playoffs and missing the playoffs. They missed it last year, so maybe this year they'll make it to the playoffs. Don’t rule them out.
The AFC gives us the Miami Dolphins. Remember the Dolphins won the AFC East in 2008, and although they finished 7-9 last year, many of those losses were by less than a touchdown and were perhaps only a couple of breaks away from a division title. Chad Henne is now their starter and he looks promising. He also now has Brandon Marshall as a legitimate threat at wide receiver. The two-back attack of Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown should balance out the offence and their defence now has Karlos Dansby and a young secondary with more experience. Watch out.
The AFC South will likely have the Colts finishing first, but the division has two potential wild cards, The Tennessee Titans and the Houston Texans. Either one of these two teams can intimidate opposing teams.
The Texans have a deadly passing attack and an improving defence. Matt Schaub led the league in passing yards last season and the Texans let games slip away from their claws. Had two key field goals been made at the end of the games against the Titans and Colts, the Texans could have potentially went on to their first playoff game in franchise history. Don’t be surprised if it finally happens this year.
Last but not least, the Tennessee Titans. The Titans have the speedy backfield of Vince Young and Chris Johnson. The duo poses a threat to all defenses and it is often a case of picking your poison when playing the two. The Titans defence got younger as they replaced aging, declining veterans. If Cortland Finnegan and Michael Griffin have bounce-back years on defence, the Titans can very well return to the playoffs. They simply find a way to win games even if they aren’t the most star-studded team in the division.
Well those are perhaps the surprises of 2010, so don’t count the dark horses of the league out. The NFL is a surprising league and only has a 16 game season. Teams can get hot at the right time and finish with the best records even if they aren’t the best teams on paper. That’s just the craziness and joy of football.
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