The NFL season isn’t quit at the halfway point, but we’re not in early September, either. Some stories have already developed to the point that teams appear headed on their way.
1. Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys have been so inconsistently consistent the past three seasons that it was very hard to expect anything different from Jerry Jones’ team in 2014. The previous three seasons, Dallas finished at or near .500, losing in Week 17 in a game that would decide the NFC East championship each time. The Cowboys would be great one week and awful the next, and with Philadelphia defending its NFC East championship, it seemed that Dallas would have to settle for second or third place in the NFC East this year.
Yet, Dallas might not just be the best team in the NFC East. The Cowboys could be the top team in the whole conference and even the NFL. Dallas went into Seattle and knocked off the defending Super Bowl champions, becoming only the second team in the past three years to beat the Seahawks on their home field. Dallas deserved to win, too, as this was no fluke. The Cowboys got more than 100 rushing yards against Seattle’s defense, and had Dallas not committed mistakes on special teams (a blocked punt allowed and a muffed punt), Seattle would have scored only 13 points. The Cowboys have great offensive and defensive lines. They play physically and are punching opponents in the mouth. If they continue to play this way, they’ll contend for a Super Bowl title.
2. Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals were a 10-win team last season, and they missed the playoffs only because the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers were even better than they were in the rugged NFC West. This year, Arizona is once again playing well, but why should that be seen as a surprise?
There are three basic reasons for this: First, Arizona has been playing without Carson Palmer at quarterback for much of the season. The Cardinals have been missing the quarterback they expected to have throughout the season. Palmer has been playing in roughly half of the team’s games, but the Cardinals haven’t missed a beat.
The second reason is that Arizona has had Darnell Dockett out for the season with an injury. Dockett was a big reason this team’s defensive line play was as good as it was last season. The loss of Dockett was supposed to matter.
And the third is that John Abraham, one of the best pass rushers in the league in recent seasons, has also had to move to the sidelines, shelved with concussive symptoms that include memory loss. With Abraham being out in addition to Dockett, Arizona was supposed to face a horribly difficult time playing defense. Yet, head coach Bruce Arians has put these pieces together and made the Cardinals a force anyway.
3. Cleveland Browns
The Browns have a long way to go to make the playoffs, but they’ve still been far better than even their most optimistic and enthusiastic fans could have expected. The Browns beat Super Bowl preseason favorite (or co-favorite) New Orleans in a tight game. They’ve beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers in a blowout. They’ve come back from a 28-3 deficit to beat the Tennessee Titans (a team looked at as a playoff contender before the season began) on the road, 29-28. This team is figuring out ways to win despite being very inexperienced and having a first-year coach, Mike Pettine. That’s a surprise in the NFL for sure.
