Some odds and ends on the NFL regular season

Obviously I’m particularly not pleased how the season  concluded,  with Packers failing to secure the second seed (as if the first seed did them any good last season), but for the second straight year Aaron Rodgers finished as the top-rated quarterback, with a 108 rating.  The season had some other interesting odds and ends, although not as many as last year's passing fest.

Matthew Stafford set an NFL record with 727 pass attempts—but for all of that, only 20 TD passes.

Drew Brees threw for 5106 yards, extending his “record” as the only quarterback with multiple 5,000 yard seasons. He now has three such seasons.

Peyton Manning is, well, Peyton Manning. It should be pointed out, however, that during Denver’s 11-game winning streak, nine of those games were against teams with losing records.

Five rookie quarterbacks--Andrew Luck, Brandon Weeden, Ryan Tannehill, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson--threw for more than 3,000 yards. It is interesting to note that the latter two quarterbacks are "zone-read"--or "read-option" or whatever is used to define a non-standard style--and had fewer passing yards than the former three.

Andy Reid will be done in Philadelphia, and once more the belief in Michael Vick will be the cause of it. Vick had a fine season three years ago--receiving a big contract and ending Kevin Kolb's career with the Eagles. But since then he has been a bust. We've seen this story before, in Atlanta when Jim Mora Sr. was the victim/coach. Perhaps not surprisingly, there are still commentators out there who think Vick still has a future in the NFL. Not surprisingly, they say that Vick can "thrive" in the "zone-read" or "read-option" playbook. It remains to be seen if some of other "box office" stars currently playing at quarterback will have similar career trajectories.

Adrian Peterson just barely missed breaking Eric Dickerson’s NFL record for rushing yards in a season. But this has to be put in perspective; Dickerson and Peterson had the benefit of a 16-game schedule, and one is hard put to say that their seasons came close to matching O.J. Simpson’s remarkable 1973 season. That year, Simpson shattered Jim Brown’s seemingly unbreakable record, gaining 2,003 yards in a 14-game season. His average of 143.1 yards per game that year is still unmatched in NFL history; in a 16-game season, that would be 2289 yards—184 yards more that Dickerson’s total.

Luck threw for 4374 yards, besting Cam Newton’s previous rookie record by over 300 yards. The Indianapolis Colts’ 9-win improvement over last season was by far the best in the NFL. I was listening to John Clayton’s radio show on Saturday, and a Seattle fan named Dre or something came on to give his racial politics spin on the quarterback position, this time critical of Clayton’s statement that Luck probably should receive the rookie of year honors for bringing the Colts back from the abyss. The claim that Luck only won against bad teams needs a little perspective. Consider the following:

Wilson is 4-1 against teams in the playoffs; all of these wins came in Seattle, which has been a nightmare for visiting teams. But the Seahawks were 5-4 against teams that finished with losing records.

Luck is 3-2 against teams in the playoffs. But unlike Seattle, the Colts did beat the teams they were “supposed” to, despite having the worst record the previous season—8-2 against teams that finished with losing records. 

Griffin III is 2-2 against playoff teams; the Redskins were 4-2 against teams with losing records.

There is a very strong argument to be made that entering this season, Seattle was a team primed to win once they had adequate quarterback play, and there is no doubt that Wilson is a better quarterback than Tarvaris Jackson ever was or could be. Local commentators were expecting the team to make the playoffs, particularly because of their lofty expectations of Wilson. On the other hand, Indianapolis and Washington were teams that entered the season with hope rather than expectation, and few expected either team to make the playoffs in their first season with a rookie quarterback. Thus their achievements are more “impressive.”

Since Seattle will play the Redskins next week, there will obviously be interest over which of these new-fangled “zone-read” quarterbacks will remain standing.