Eyes on the NFL 2014: The Good and Bad Surprises of the Season

Every season of NFL comes with a lot of surprises. In American Football, it’s not uncommon when a team goes from a great season to a bad one in the following year, or the other way around.

First, let's talk about the New Orleans Saints: last season they headed to the playoffs with 10 wins over 5 losses, and this season so far they have more losses than wins. But considering the bad performances of the other NFC South’s teams, they are still in the hunt. Whether the Saints or the Atlanta Falcons, someone is going to make the playoffs with a negative balance (more losses than wins). The last time this has happened was in 2011 with the Seattle Seahawks, when they passed the regular season with 7 wins and 9 losses. The Carolina Panthers, the winner of the NFC South in 2013, surprisingly isn’t even in the hunt for the playoffs this season. All NFC South teams are in negative balance.

Talking about the Seattle Seahawks, they didn’t start this season well, which was a surprise because they were the winners of the last year’s Super Bowl. A better performance than what they presented was expected when the games started. They have been very tied up with the San Francisco 49ers, and definitely won’t be the division champion. 

Actually, NFC West has been a complete surprise in 2014. First, the SF49ers started a fairly well, but their performances got worse week after week. In 2012, they lost the Super Bowl in a rough match against the Ravens. In the following year, they reached the Conference Championship and lost against the Seahawks in another very difficult game. After their loss against the Oakland Raiders,  the last team in the AFC standings, projection says that they will end up with a negative balance and won’t make the playoffs this year.

Still in NFC West, the Arizona Cardinals are a good surprise this season. They were quick to surpass both Denver Broncos and New England Patriots to get the first place on the league. It’s very unlikely that they lose the division. It’s possible that they play the NFC Championship against Green Bay Packers, another team that has been playing very well. The Packers were already good in 2013 and have definitely improved this year.

The New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos have been maintaining their performances since 2013, so we can expect an AFC Championship between those two again. Still in AFC, there are two teams that come calling attention: the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburg Steelers. The Chiefs aren’t numerically better than the last season, but their performance has improved and they are scaring some big competitors. The Steelers aren’t the first place of the AFC North, but they’re not too far from the Cincinatti Bengals. And they’re having a better performance than last year, big chances of reaching the playoffs.

This is another exiting and surprising season of NFL. Don’t fail to watch and check out the surprises that are waiting for us, and stay tuned to Blasting News to discuss it with us.