Biggest Surprise in 2015 Season

[JimJaime]

The BIGGEST Surprise:

 

Carolina not only dominating but being 14-0. And Cam Newton doing it with both his arm and legs with Mediocre receivers.

 

I will also say the NY Jets are a big surprise even though they will probably just miss the playoffs, but going from a basement dweller to probably 10-6 is pretty damn impressive!

 

Anything else anyone like to add?

 

[21isSuperman]

I expected the Bills to have an elite defense.

[Vinatieri4]

The Colts going from legit superbowl contenders to not even making the playoffs,  
 

Peyton Manning's terrible play (I mean it's expected for him to drop off, but how he played this year is terrible.

[chad72]

Bad year for both Luck and Peyton fans :). 

[amfootball]

1) Manning's decline. I expected some decline but not his play to fall the way it has.

2) Giants losing so many close games and their D being awful which probably goes along with JPPs fireworks accident

3) Carolina being 14-0

4) Aaron Rodgers struggling as much as he has this season

5) Malcolm Butler emerging as a legit left corner and anchoring Pats secondary

6) Kirk Cousins and Brian Hoyer playing as well as they have and Jay Gruden showing he may have what it takes to be a decent head coach

7) Luck being hurt so much and missing so many games. Hasselbeck playing well in his absence.

8) Mariota, Bortles and Winston all showing good flashes that they may have what it take to be franchise QBs for their teams

9) Romo missing almost all of the season and taking the hopes of the Cowboys with him

10) Rex Ryan coaching his most productive offense of his HC career and yet out of the playoffs because he is also coaching his worst performing defense of his HC career. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

My Top 3 biggest surprises are:

1. Panthers being 14-0.

2. Colts being 6-8 (Andrew's injury has contributed to that though, with him we would at least be 8-6 at worse and in full command in the Division).

3. Ravens stinking up the joint at 4-10 (of course Flacco has been out but they didn't look good with him).

[jet1968]

Colts having a subpar season.

How depressing!

[oldunclemark]

1.) Andrew Luck getting hurt......he'd never been hurt...as a pro

 

2.) Denver being 10-4 with Peyton hurt...Didnt think they could beat NE and Green Bay

 

3.) Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston playing well....I thought neitehr would have the numbers they have

[Synthetic]

 

Carolina? Not really surprising. If you've kept up with them the past few years, Ron Rivera has been slowly building a team that was set to take over the NFC South from the Saints who previously ran the tables. 

 

Carolina started the season with one of the easiest schedules in the league. They played the AFC South and the NFC East. Almost the entire NFC South has been getting a boost this season playing two horrible divisions. 

 

So far so good, the only two good teams with winning records that Carolina has beaten was early season Seattle when they were struggling, and a Packers team that is overrated every single year, and hasn't beaten a team with a winning record on the road since 2011. Sorry, but the Giants don't count. They're overrated trash year in and year out, and I called them to go 8-8 before the season began. 

 

Carolina is good, but I don't know if they're that good. They desperately needed a loss all season long (Saints and Colts could have done it) and if I were a Panthers fan, I'd be very concerned going into the playoffs knowing this team is due for a bad game where they finally lose, and they have yet to play a real dominant team. If they get Seattle in the divisional round or meet Arizona in the NFCCG, I don't know if they'd walk away with a victory in those games. 

 

 

The real surprise team for me is the Chiefs. Everyone thought they were dead at 1-5, and they've now won 8 in a row. Another surprise has to go to the Texans; but most of this probably stems from the fact the Colts are a mess, and this made the AFC South an open division this year. I still will give the Texans credit though, that they can finally win another division. 

 

[Synthetic]

2 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

My Top 3 biggest surprises are:

1. Panthers being 14-0.

2. Colts being 6-8 (Andrew's injury has contributed to that though, with him we would at least be 8-6 at worse and in full command in the Division).

3. Ravens stinking up the joint at 4-10 (of course Flacco has been out but they didn't look good with him).

 

The Ravens remind me of the Saints from last year. They have all these close nail biter loses.

 

Last year, there was 4 games with the Saints that were all decided by 3 points or less; two of those games went in overtime (Atlanta and SF) and the other two came down to just 2 points and 1 point (Cleveland and Detroit). This also is not counting the other close loses that were by 7 points. The Saints were in most of those games all last year, and couldn't finish. The Ravens are having that same problem. 

 

If the Saints would have just won one of those single 4 nail biters, they go 8-8 and win the division last year. 

 

Baltimore could rebound next year and I hope they do, I surely feel the pain the fans are going through. Last year was absolutely mind wrecking insane with my team and the close losses.  

 

[teganslaw]

All the quarterback injuries has to be one of he biggest surprises. I don't recall that many starting quarterbacks on IR. That, besides all the other major players. It's been a really brutal year for injuries.

[wig]

Aaron Rodgers' play and Cobb's play.

 

Rookie QBs both looking like future studs.  Usually one hits and one misses

 

Cam Newton's development

 

How awful the NFC Least is

 

Andrew getting hurt more than once

 

Cincinnati looking like a legit contender before Dalton went down

 

How bad the Ravens have been all season

[BloodyChamp]

The Colts are the only team whose season in general is a surprise. I thought they were slightly overrated but still pretty dang good. Then Luck got hurt which only made it worse.

 

I think people are caught up in the drama of Peyton situation when they say it's a surprise. Would people say this if that hadn't happened after such clinic against undefeated Green Bay, then a benching then the Pats game?

 

Carolina's success is no surprise but 14-0 sure is.

 

Here are some smaller surprises that will come out in the wash, but were surprises at the time:

 

-Green Bay blowing some easy games. I'm critical of Green Bay but not because they blow easy games.

 

-Seattle managing to be so $!#"&•ing good after taking the 1st half of the season off...again. It's an even bigger surprise this time because nobody thought they could pull it off after The Call.

 

-3 scary defenses in the league

[Qwiz]

Cardinals and Jaguars have surprised me. Also Cam and the Panthers. I always knew the Cowboys sucked but I didn't think they would look this terrible, even without Romo.

[amfootball]

Russell Wilson's play this year has been very impressive. He has elevated himself this season and has done so without Lynch and without his dominant D that only recently has started to come on strong.

[Coltswarriors]

The Colts being absolutely terrible and letting a Brandon Weeden/Brian Hoyer/TJ Yates led Texans team go to the playoffs.