Following what has to be considered one of the best Super Bowls of all-time, the 2014 NFL season has come to a conclusion. As teams set their eyes on the offseason and look to dethrone the defending champion New England Patriots, it’s time to look back on the season that was.
From a lot of off-field issues and drama surrounding the league to some tremendous individual performances, the 2014 NFL season will go down as one of the most intriguing in league history.
As we prepare to close the book on the 2014 season, let’s check in on 10 takeaways from this past year.
1. Tom Brady is a Cut Above
Imagine if the Seattle Seahawks were able to get that final yard to win Super Bowl XLIX. It would have been Russell Wilson’s second Lombardi Trophy in three years—just one less than Brady had entering the Super Bowl. New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers also have two Super Bowl titles to their name.
If we’re looking solely at overall team success and the ultimate goal of each franchise, Brady was just one step ahead of some of the other successful quarterbacks in the NFL. That changed big time when New England’s defense—led by Malcolm Butler—stoned Seattle at the goal line to win the Super Bowl earlier this month.
By virtue of his four-touchdown performance, Brady has now matched Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the most Super Bowl wins for a quarterback in NFL history (four). That’s a far cry from being just one title ahead of two other active signal callers. It also enables us to move on from the debate about who is the most successful quarterback of our generation and into the larger-scale conversation regarding the best quarterback of all-time—a conversation Brady is surely in.
2. NFL and NFL Players Association Need More Leadership
From the entire Ray Rice situation and perceived cover-up from the NFL to the league’s handling of the Adrian Peterson child abuse case, this past season was nothing more than a dumpster fire for the suits in New York City. This doesn’t even take into account issues with the personal conduct and drug policies within the league itself. As the season progressed, the NFL even set into motion a new personal conduct policy without seeking input from the NFL Players Association. To say that there is a likely labor strife on the horizon would be an understatement.
Placing all this blame on Roger Goodell would also be a major mistake. Sure he has overstepped his bounds as the league’s commissioner, but it’s important to remember that Goodell is practicing under a Collective Bargaining Agreement that was signed off by NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, who has failed his union members at every turn. Smith wants to publicly chastise Goodell, which is fine. But he might want to take a look in the mirror and understand that his seemingly weak approach to negotiations back in 2011 has played a major role in the issues we see today.
Moving forward, the two sides are going to have to come together. The relationship between a union and a league cannot be this one-sided. Smith must step up and show more leadership, while Goodell has to reach out to the middle of the aisle to find answers to what is currently hindering the league today.
3. Rookie Wide Receivers Were the Rage
Heading into the 2014 season, a total of seven rookie receivers had tallied 1,000-plus receiving yards since 1992. That’s nearly a quarter century of sample size that tells us the transition from college to the NFL is more intense at wide receiver than almost any other position in football.
Leave it to the 2014 wide receiver class to absolutely throw common logic out the window in an overall performance for the record books. Led by Odell Beckham Jr, who broke the single-season Giants rookie mark for receptions, yards and touchdowns per game, this rookie class absolutely dominated.
Including Beckham, three rookies put up 1,000-plus receiving yards. Beckham’s 1,305 yards outpaced Mike Evans (1,051) and Kelvin Benjamin (1,010). In addition to this, Buffalo’s Sammy Watkins fell just 24 yards short of hitting the 1,000-yard plateau. Overall, Beckham’s yardage total was third-most among rookie receivers since 1992, behind only Anquan Boldin and Randy Moss. That’s some might fine company right there.
4. Officiating and League Rules Need to be Overhauled
From the archaic “Calvin Johnson rule” to an inability to actually review penalties, the 2014 season was defined by horrendous officiating. While not necessarily the fault of the officials on the field, things need to change.
In the playoffs alone, we saw the Dallas Cowboys impacted by two controversial calls. We don’t need to get into too much detail regarding those specific plays, especially considering that they were controversial enough to draw a response from the league itself.
On a macro level, the NFL made a decision years ago to take the human element out of officiating by implementing the current instant replay system. If that’s the ultimate goal of the league, there’s no reason NOT to review penalties. More than that, the league needs to modernize some of its rules in order to cater to an athlete it could have scarcely imagined just a few years back. Hopefully the competition committee takes these issues seriously in the offseason and amend the rules accordingly.
5. Drama Does Impact Team’s On-Field Performance
Two case studies from the 2014 season are the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins. One team was a serious Super Bowl contender entering the season only to finish the year with a .500 record. The other team was coming off a disastrous 2013 campaign only to see itself finish in the cellar of the NFC East once again.
For San Francisco, the drama surrounded former head coach Jim Harbaugh and the team’s front office—most notably CEO Jed York. While some will point to injuries, and yes they played a major role, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that the drama in San Francisco impacted the team’s on-field performance. Once 7-4 and in the midst of the playoff race, San Francisco dropped it next four games to fall completely out of postseason contention. During that time, 49ers’ brass reportedly told Harbaugh that he would not return as the team’s head coach in 2015.
Washington’s situation was a bit different. Reports persisted throughout the season that quarterback Robert Griffin III had alienated himself from other members of the team. Then as the season progressed, head coach Jay Gruden surprisingly took to the media to criticize the quarterback. And while both Gruden and RGIII look like they are returning, there is little doubt that this drama played a role in the team’s lack of success.
The moral of this story? Teams that go through internal issues that are leaked to the public can indeed see their on-field success impacted. While Washington was nowhere near contention status entering the year, San Francisco’s demise from Super Bowl contender to mediocre .500 team was astonishing.
6. Injuries Played a Major Role Down the Stretch
We have absolutely no idea how the NFC Playoffs would have turned out if the Arizona Cardinals didn’t have to enter the postseason with their third-string quarterback, Ryan Lindley, under center. Speaking of the Cardinals, they were also suffering big time on the defensive side of the ball. Daryl Washington was suspended for the entire 2014 season while Darnell Dockett tore his ACL in August and missed the entire season as well.
While all teams go through injuries throughout the season, Arizona was impacted a great deal by this aspect of the game. More so than even Arizona, the San Francisco 49ers were impacted a great deal by injuries. All-Pro linebacker NaVorro Bowman missed the entire season due to a knee injury he suffered in last year’s NFC Championship game. Fellow All-Pro Patrick Willis missed the final 10 games due to injury. Meanwhile, the likes of Glenn Dorsey, Daniel Kilgore, Jimmie Ward and Ian Williams missed a combined 40 games due to injury. This doesn’t even take into account the nine games Aldon Smith missed due to a suspension. Talk about a walking emergency room.
A little further east, the New York Giants missed the most games from their starters of any team in the National Football League. This was one of the primary reasons that Tom Coughlin’s squad finished with a disappointing 6-10 record.
It’s easy to blame a lack of success on injuries. After all, the Seattle Seahawks were impacted more than most teams by injury. But when teams are consistently entering the trenches with half their starting line up out of action—see the aforementioned San Francisco 49ers—it’s going to have an impact. That much cannot be denied.
7. Horrendous Quarterback Play Puts Teams in Unenviable Situation
Of the eight last-place teams this past season, their quarterbacks combined for 17 more turnovers than touchdowns. Of the four teams that took part in the conference finals, their quarterbacks threw 84 more touchdowns than interceptions. If this is not a sign that quarterback play is important in the NFL today, I am not sure what is.
Needless to say, it’s all about a lack of talent at this position in the NFL. With the exception of five or six elite signal callers, we are talking about mediocrity at every turn. Unfortunately for these bottom-feeding teams, there isn’t much hope of improving via the draft or free agency this season.
8. NFL is Clearly Leaning Towards Relocating a Team to Los Angeles
By this time next year, it’s highly likely that the NFL will be in the midst of relocating a team to Southern California. For all intents and purposes, the St. Louis Rams seem to be the front-runner. Rams owner Stan Kroenke is making it known that he’s planning on returning to Los Angeles, especially considering that he has purchased a plot of land in Inglewood and is working with a local developer to come up with a plan for a new venue.
Look at it this way. Los Angeles is one of the world’s largest media markets. It has been without a team for two decades. And in reality, the National Football League has lost countless billions because of this. If not the Rams, we can expect the Oakland Raiders or San Diego Chargers to make a push. Whoever does end up in Los Angeles, we can rest assured someone will be there by the 2016 season.
9. The Seattle Seahawks Were not Invincible
Entering the 2014 season, most pundits looked at NFL’s top contenders in tiers—Seattle and everyone else. Even following the regular season, Seattle was the unquestioned favorite to win the Super Bowl. It may have taken an epic comeback from New England, but the Super Bowl tells us a story about today’s NFL. You simply can’t look at a talented team, one that may stand above the rest, and conclude that its going to walk away with the Lombardi.
In fact, the only true favorite for the trophy to have actually walked away as champions over the past 10 seasons were the 2013 version of these Seattle Seahawks. Expect much of the same moving forward.
And as it relates to Seattle, this is going to be a team in contention for the Lombardi for the foreseeable future. However, other teams within the NFC are now going to set their focus—even more than in the past—on dethroning the top dogs.
10. The Best Player in the NFL Plays on Defense
With all due respect to Aaron Rodgers, who won the MVP award, J.J. Watt is currently the best player in the NFL. His 2014 campaign—by all possible standards—was the best in the history of the league for a defensive player. Just look at the numbers.
Watt tallied 20.5 sacks, 44 quarterback hits, 54 quarterback hurries, 10 batted passes, four forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and five total touchdowns. In fact, Watt’s 30 points scored was fifth on the entire Houston Texans roster. That’s a stunning statistic in and of itself.
The NFL may very well be a quarterback-driven league, but the 2014 season showed us one player from another position that stood above the rest. In this, Watt deserves some season-ending recognition.
Photo: USA Today