Biggest surprise this season

[ThomasTomasz]

Be it related to your team, or the NFL as a whole, what is your biggest surprise of this season.

For the Redskins, I would say Roy Helu, with Ryan Kerrigan a close second. Many regarded Kerrigan to be a productive pass rusher at the very least in his career, and he's had a great rookie season with eight sacks. But Helu has been a dual threat this season since taking over from Tim Hightower. The fourth rounder probably has the starting job locked up for next season.

For the rest of the NFL, I'll stick in the NFL and say Lesean McCoy. Did anyone expect him to have 20 touchdowns right now? I'm too tired to look it up, but I believe he is tops amongst positional players for touchdowns. Rob Gronkowski has also had a dominate year, and I think New England has started a new offensive trend for teams to have two tight-ends who are both threats in the passing game.

 

[Leftwich]

For my team... Garrard getting cut before the season started and Del Rio getting fired mid season. We all knew he'd get axed at the end of the season but didn't expect it in the middle of the season.

For the rest of the NFL, The Eagles playing poorly, The Colts being dismal without Manning and The Tebow saga.

 

[Shayn•Da•Pain]

The state of the Dallas Cowboys backfield.

I was pretty sure Marion Barber and Felix Jones were going to share the backfield, and Barber was going to get somewhere around 12+ TD's. I expected Choice to get one or two games with good numbers. But I didn't expect Barber to be traded at the start of the season. But then I expected Choice+Jones to share the load and have a solid season each. I didn't expect them both to get injured, and Murray to take over the way he did.

 

[Fappin Raptor]

The Lions being in in the playoff race.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

The state of the Dallas Cowboys backfield.

I was pretty sure Marion Barber and Felix Jones were going to share the backfield, and Barber was going to get somewhere around 12+ TD's. I expected Choice to get one or two games with good numbers. But I didn't expect Barber to be traded at the start of the season. But then I expected Choice+Jones to share the load and have a solid season each. I didn't expect them both to get injured, and Murphy to take over the way he did.

Murray single-handedly turned my work fantasy league from an utter mess into a team that just missed the playoffs, so I am definitely thankful for him. I also didn't expect Choice to go off a cliff like he did. It's like he's got his money, and now just isn't trying.

 

[kmanharris]

The state of the Dallas Cowboys backfield.

I was pretty sure Marion Barber and Felix Jones were going to share the backfield, and Barber was going to get somewhere around 12+ TD's. I expected Choice to get one or two games with good numbers. But I didn't expect Barber to be traded at the start of the season. But then I expected Choice+Jones to share the load and have a solid season each. I didn't expect them both to get injured, and Murphy to take over the way he did.

Murphy single-handedly turned my work fantasy league from an utter mess into a team that just missed the playoffs, so I am definitely thankful for him. I also didn't expect Choice to go off a cliff like he did. It's like he's got his money, and now just isn't trying.

It's Murray you fucks. Demarco Murray.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

It's Murray you fucks. Demarco Murray.

Too busy of a week......:thebigone:

 

[EmpireWF]

For the Giants....

1. Justin Tuck - WTF? He's been banged up all year from neck issues to foot problems and it's clearly caused his game to take a nosedive. All we can hope for is he gets healthy in the off-season and returns to form in 2012.

2. Victor Cruz - Nobody figured he would become this good and consistent. Took over the Steve Smith role and has played tremendously (with the exception of a few hiccups).

3. Eli Manning - All the talk in the pre-season about the Giants was about how Eli would miss Steve Smith and Kevin Boss. Not so, he's gone on to have one of the best statistical years of his career.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

For the Giants....

1. Justin Tuck - WTF? He's been banged up all year from neck issues to foot problems and it's clearly caused his game to take a nosedive. All we can hope for is he gets healthy in the off-season and returns to form in 2012.

2. Victor Cruz - Nobody figured he would become this good and consistent. Took over the Steve Smith role and has played tremendously (with the exception of a few hiccups).

3. Eli Manning - All the talk in the pre-season about the Giants was about how Eli would miss Steve Smith and Kevin Boss. Not so, he's gone on to have one of the best statistical years of his career.

On Victor Cruz, any rookie will have some hiccups, including some untimely drops, but the guy went undrafted and is fourth in the league in yardage. He's been huge, and I probably should have put him on my post to at least mention him.

 

[Rudi]

The fact that the Bengals are in the playoff hunt and the scenario is very possible. The play of Andy Dalton and AJ Green. Green is going to be something special to watch over the next few years. His ability to go up and get the ball out of the air is something that reminds me of Randy Moss back in his hayday.

 

[JBregz]

Tony Romo playing this well.
Eagles being this bad
Packers with this record
AJ Green playing tremendous football as a rookie

 

[Obst]

The strong play of Cam Newton. I thought he would make some good plays with his legs this year but I didn't expect him to have such success passing the ball. I'm very impressed with him so far.

The emphasis on having big athletic tight ends. Sure we had a few tight ends who made an impact like Gates, Witten and Vernon Davis but Gronkowski and Graham are changing how NFL offenses are going to be set up. Now every team is going to be searching for tight ends like those two that they can split out wide and have them make plays.

The San Francisco 49ers. I don't think many people expected Harbaugh to come in and make Alex Smith into a good quarterback or to have San Fran possibly getting a first round bye. A bunch of surprises within the 49ers too. Already mentioned Alex Smith playing the best football of his career, young players like Navarro Bowman and Aldon Smith proving to to be staples of the defense for years to come. Carlos Rogers having a stand out year. This team is playing some really good football.

The Denver Broncos and the comeback heroics of Tim Tebow. I really didn't expect the Broncos to be on the road to win the AFC West this year and I did not think Tebow would be the one under center if they were to pull the upset. Also I am very impressed with Von Miller, this guy has shown flashes of being elite already, the way he abuses offensive lineman is almost scary.

Nnamdi Asomugha being burnt several times. I live on the East Coast, so admittedly I didn't watch many Raiders games in full while Nnamdi played with them. But all of the talk and from what I have seen is that Quarterbacks didn't even bother to look his way. Nnamdi was off limits and whatever WR was matched up with him might as well not show up to the field. Well with living in Philly I have got to see plenty of him this year and teams are loving to pick on this guy. He has got embarrassed a few times this year and gets destroyed on back shoulder fades. I thought this guy was the real deal, I just don't see it.

On the other hand, a huge surprise to me is Jason Babin. He was a surprise last year with his emergence but this year Babin is 3 sacks away from tying Reggie White's Eagles all time sack record and is 4.5 away from tying Michael Strahan for the all time NFL record. I thought he would have a good year with being with Washburn and across from Trent Cole but I didn't expect 18 sacks in 14 games.

 

[Rayman]

Tony Romo playing this well.
Eagles being this bad
Packers with this record
AJ Green playing tremendous football as a rookie

Really?

To me, he's playing at an insane level, but it's not like he's not done this before.

Biggest surprise to me is without a doubt Laurent Robinson. I thought we'd get #4 WR contributions from him at best, but he developed a rapport with Romo in one week that Roy Williams could only dream of over three years. He's been a godsend with Miles Austin's injury and now that all three WRs and Witten are healthy, it's looking good.

 

[DSpydr84]

I don't even think I really need to say it.

The emergence of Eric Decker as a viable number two passing threat?

 

[ZoneBlitz]

Adding to the list of surprises: Reggie Bush proving he can be an every down back, run between the tackles, and stay healthy for an entire season while doing it...proving everyone completely wrong.

 

[jms493]

On Victor Cruz, any rookie will have some hiccups, including some untimely drops, but the guy went undrafted and is fourth in the league in yardage. He's been huge, and I probably should have put him on my post to at least mention him.

Victor Cruz is not a rookie.

Cam Newton is the biggest surprise to me along with the strong play from Andy Dalton.

 

[FirstTimer]

For the Bears: Ummm wow. Nothing to really be surprised about. Amobi Okoye looked pretty damn good...and will be extended.

Around the NFL: I was shocked Andy Dalton has played so well. I saw a very rough time for him and he's managed quite well.

 

[KNUBB]

Adding to the list of surprises: Reggie Bush proving he can be an every down back, run between the tackles, and stay healthy for an entire season while doing it...proving everyone completely wrong.

This

I knew he could do it. I'm happy for the guy.

 

[nflman2033]

Yes Demarco Murray was huge for my 'boys, and Choice getting cut. Miles Austin getting hurt and Romo still produced due to emergence of Robinson.

Around the league.
Cam Newton and Tim Tebow
Victor Cruz (saved my FF season)
Dalton and green in cincy, wrote them off before season and boy was I wrong

As far as Reggie Bush goes, I'm not surprised in his success, I'm surprised he hasn't gotten hurt yet.

 

[KNUBB]

Yes Demarco Murray was huge for my 'boys, and Choice getting cut. Miles Austin getting hurt and Romo still produced due to emergence of Robinson.

Around the league.
Cam Newton and Tim Tebow
Victor Cruz (saved my FF season)
Dalton and green in cincy, wrote them off before season and boy was I wrong

As far as Reggie Bush goes, I'm not surprised in his success, I'm surprised he hasn't gotten hurt yet.

No one knew he could be a 1000 yard rusher, but he is less than 30 yards away. I always told everyone he wasn't a bust, it was just his role on the Saints. It was somewhere around year 4 that I noticed Reggie had almost learned how to run in the NFL.