100 by Stuart Tomlin

The end of the year is usually a time to reflect, to think about the past year and what has happened, and to think about what is to come. Likewise with the end of the NFL Season. With the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers about to play in Super Bowl LIV a week on Sunday, we thought what better time to reflect on this past season. 

Or, if you're me, to start writing about the NFL again. One of the two. Or maybe both. 

Both. It's both. 

The 100th NFL Season has come and almost gone, so I decided to present you with this: 100 thoughts on the season, a totally original idea that has clearly never been done before. 

I'll try and cover every single team here but I can't promise that as there's usually one I'll forget. I can't even make this joke about the Titans as they were good this season. And in our division. 

There's always the Arizona Cardinals?. 

Ach well. I'll begin. Here's 100 things I think I think, to quote the quite excellent Peter King. A few of us met him on an NFL UK Live event a couple of years ago. An absolute gentleman and an inspiration to my writing. Also met Kurt Warner and Steve Smith Sr that night. Was a fun one. 

I'll stop name dropping now. 

Anyway. 100 things I think I think about the 100th NFL Season. This is in no particular order. 

1. Outside of my blue and white Colts bias, Patrick Mahomes is absolutely my favourite player to watch in this league. If the Colts aren't in London next year, I want the Chiefs here so I can see him play live. He's utterly unreal and I'm excited to watch him in the Super Bowl for the first time. Feel like it won't be the last time he gets there. 
2. It could well have been Lamar Jackson if the Ravens hadn't Sixty Minutes in January'd it against the Titans. He's had a sensational year and is likely going to deservedly win the MVP despite that Playoff loss in the Divisional. We were robbed of Mahomes vs. Jackson in the AFC Championship this year but I can see it very much happening in the future. 
3. The Niners were one year later in proving my "gonna be a hell of a team to watch" pick right, but Jimmy G and Kyle Shanahan are a fantastic combination. Shanahan is one of the best offensive minds in the league and has been badly missed by the Falcons. 
4. Is Jimmy Garoppolo the most handsome man in the league? For my money, yes. 
5. One thing that's massively helped the Niners is the fact they've gotten a generational talent in Nick Bosa. Politics and the fact he has me blocked on Twitter aside, you can't help but admire how good a player he is. Definite Defensive Rookie of the Year. 
6. I also have to begrudgingly congratulate the Tennessee Titans on a hell of a season. From absolutely nowhere they've come one game away from the Super Bowl. Unreal performance. 
7. Mike Vrabel promised to cut his dick off in exchange for a Titans Super Bowl win. Then they reach the AFC Championship. No further comment at this time. 
8. Derrick Henry is really a ridiculously good player. Won the rushing title and carried the Titans to the AFC Championship. Tennessee is gonna have to pay him all of the money to keep him around. 
9. Also Ryan Tannehill finally had his breakout season. A Pro Bowl season. The devil's skating to work tomorrow. I'm gonna miss the every year is gonna be Tannehill's breakout season meme. It had a good run. 
10. Our Colts season pretty much was dead on arrival with Andrew Luck's retirement. I understand his reasoning but it's always gonna be one of the biggest What Ifs ever. I hope he has a happy life in retirement but I miss the hell out of him both as a Colts player and in the league itself. The league needs more men like Andrew Luck. 
11. Andrew Luck never lost to the Tennessee Titans. I love this fact. 
12. Jacoby Brissett gave it a go and we started well but it fell to bits and I have to honestly say I don't think he's the long-term answer at Quarterback in Indy. Hate to say that as I really like him but I just don't think he's a franchise QB. 
13. The more I see and read about Jordan Love, the more I like him. Draft him, Colts, sit him for a year and go from there. Bring in a stopgap in the meantime. If Drew Brees somehow does not stay with the Saints and doesn't retire...yes please. 
14. Speaking of retirements, Eli Manning is gone. Officially retiring as a Giant. Kyle will have a lot to say but for my money, it was time. He was a fantastic player in his day but he did not have anything left and regressed in hisast few years. At least he got a proper send off. Thanks for beating the Pats twice, Eli. 
15. My and Kyle's team's Quarterback retired in the same season. Huh. 
16. Bill O'Brien is a binfire of a Head Coach, and as long as the Texans hang on to him, they'll never go far. It's stunting the development of DeShaun Watson who is truly becoming an elite player. 
17. On a related note, may the Texans extend Bill O'Brien for at least ten years. 
18. As of 2020, the Houston Texans' stadium has still been to two more Super Bowls than the Houston Texans. 
19. I would say I've gotten 19 points into this without mentioning the Patriots but I mentioned them when talking about Eli retiring. 
20. SO THE DYNASTY IS DEAD. 
21. Well, not quite yet but it's a massively interesting off-season in Foxborough. After going 8-0 to start the year, the Patriots looked mortal and Tom Brady looked human. Father Time is undefeated. 
22. A couple of years ago it'd have been unthinkable for Tom Brady to finish his career anywhere but New England but he and Belichick don't seem as tight any more and if anyone is not sentimental about removing players who he feels don't fit anymore, it's Belichick. I still think Brady finishes in New England but it's one to keep an eye on. Especially with his impending free agency. 
23. It's gonna be an interesting Quarterback carousel. Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, Tom Brady, Phillip Rivers and the incoming draft QBs. 
24. Lock Joe Burrow in as the Cincinnati Bengals Day One starter next season now. 
25. I said at the start of the year that the Cleveland Browns would be either a huge success or the biggest binfire since the 2011 Dream Team Eagles, and it was massively the latter. 
26. A bad start, Baker Mayfield struggling, Odell complaining about not getting the ball enough, a head coach massively over his head and fired at the end of the year. Yeesh. 
27. Speaking of those who could have been fired… 
28. Dan Quinn has managed to hold onto his job in Atlanta. The Falcons struggled this year at the start and were pretty much out of the Playoff Picture by the time they had a good finish to the year. They might actually be a team to watch next year, as there is still a lot of talent and a hot finish there. But next year is very much boom or bust for Quinn. 
29. Ron Rivera is my favourite hire of the off-season so far. Think it's a very un Washington DC Football Team move. His time was very much up in Carolina but I think the change will do both good. 
30. Jameis Winston threw over 30 touchdowns and exactly 30 interceptions this season. Tampa Bay will probably hang onto him for another year. I hope so. They're incredibly fun to watch with him in an incredibly masochistic way. One moment he'll have a wonderful touchdown drive and then he'll throw a ridiculously bad interception. How can you not love that? 
31. I saw him play against the Panthers in London this year. He threw four of those interceptions.
32. That game also featured the incredibly rare free kick attempt. If a team rules a fair catch, they can opt to go for a place kick or a drop kick to score three points. It's only really attempted if the team is in field goal range with the fair catch and there's not enough time to score a touchdown. This attempt, by the Panthers, was unsuccessful. 
33. The last team do it successfully was the San Diego Chargers in 1976, as Ray Wersching hit one against the Buffalo Bills.
34. I think Kyler Murray made a good call by picking football over baseball. Then again I just cannot get into baseball. 
35. The Rams might be in trouble. Tied to Jared Goff and having to pay Jalen Ramsey and several others while managing the cap for the likes of Aaron Donald's 2018 mega deal. Then there's Kupp, Woods etc. At least there's all those first round pick…oh…right…welcome to cap hell boys! 
36. Barring any trade ups this or next year, the Los Angeles Rams will go five years without a first round pick, which is sheer madness. 
37. That's just the fourth time that's happened. Washington DC went 10 straight (1970-79) and 7 straight (1984-90), while the Eagles went 5 straight (1974-78) without a first round selection. Washington and bad drafting decisions? Never! /s
38. I'm genuinely surprised none of those were the New York Fitba Jets by the way. 
39. I'm amazed the Eagles went as far as they did considering almost the entire team died this year. They got leathered with injuries and still won the division. They'd have walked it if everyone was fit. 
40. The Cowboys finally punted Jason Garrett after a decade. Right move. He'd done all he could there. I do like him as an offensive co-ordinator hire for the Giants though, and he gets to try to stick it to the Cowboys twice a year? Perfect motivation. 
41. The Indianapolis Colts won this numbered Super Bowl. We are covering all 100 seasons technically. Okay bias is here. I had to throw a bone to us, we've not had the best of years. I mean it was in Miami, home of this year's game, and Prince played the best Super Bowl halftime show of all time. Oh, and the Colts won the Super Bowl. 
42. The Minnesota Vikings have some kind of hex over the New Orleans Saints as of late, and we should all quite enjoy that fact. You might even say…you like that. 
43. The Saints have had three heartbreaking losses in January in the last three years in ridiculous circumstances. Sean Payton really did use that cursed monkey's paw known as Bountygate for that Super Bowl XLIV win, didn't he? 
44. Also I hate reminding myself about Super Bowl XLIV. The most recent one in Miami until Chiefs v Niners a week on Sunday saw the Saints beat my Colts. Ugh. 
45. The AFC South and the NFC West might be very, very competitive for years to come. Titans, Texans and Colts in the South, and the 49ers and Seahawks in the West. Fun times. 
46. The Curse of the Super Bowl hosts worked in a weird way this year. The Dolphins seemed to be openly punting the season, then started winning games. Brian Flores is a good coach and the players want to play for him. With all those first rounders in the next few years, and a franchise QB likely on the way…the Dolphins will be fun to watch in a couple years time. 
47. The door on the AFC East might be creaking open. The Bills need Josh Allen to develop faster and the Dolphins are nowhere near ready yet, but maybe in a couple of years. 
48. As for the Jets…they still have Adam Gase. Fire him. Out of a cannon. Into the heart of the sun. Then we'll talk. 
49. Thank you if you've gotten this far by the way. 
50. The halfway point so it's a good time to talk about the Super Bowl halftime show. It's Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. Like the game itself should be miles better than Super Bowl LIII, the halftime show should be better than Maroon 5 by default. We were all robbed of Sweet Victory. 
51. Terrible game, terrible halftime show. Super Bowl LIII really was brutal wasn't it? Much higher hopes for Super Bowl LIV. 
52. I'm also glad the game is on FOX simply because their team intros are always incredible. Go back and watch the ones for XLV, XLVIII and LI. All superb. 
53. Speaking of incredible intros, CBS smashed it out of the park for their AFC Championship teaser. I genuinely think they're better than the Super Bowl intros. 
54. Oh God I still need 45 more thoughts after this one…trying to think which teams I haven't mentioned yet. 
55. Every single team has played a game in London except the Green Bay Packers. They're the toughest team to get across here simply because they won't give up a home game and the Packers travel in numbers so it's a big revenue away game to give up. This might have to wait til the 17th game comes in…if it does. 
56. The 17th game idea. Kinda like it if they reduce the number of off-season games. There's pros and cons. Maybe a future article to discuss this in more detail during the off season. 
57. Speaking of the Packers, they were good this year. Aaron Rodgers and Matt LeFleur also seem a good match in QB and HC. 
58. However, I think they do need to start looking for his successor soon if not now and prepare for the post Rodgers life. Maybe build a bit more round and not rely on the Aaron Rodgers bailing you out approach so much. 
59. My brother didn't get to use the "Cram it up your cram hole LeFleur" meme enough as a result of the Packers being good this year which is a shame. 
60. We didn't quite get peak Grudenball this year in Oakland. We did get the fans throwing trash on the field in the final game there but it wasn't a terrible last season for the Raiders in Oakland… 
61. And it's onto Vegas for the Raiders. Will the Las Vegas Raiders be more successful in the next few years? All depends on Gruden. They're tied to him for a long time. 
62. Another stadium move this year is the Rams and Chargers moving into SoFi Stadium. It does look ace but I don't think the Chargers should be moving in with the Rams. Chargers should head back to San Diego. It's where they truly belong. 
63. A reminder that the Chicago Bears picked Mitch Trubisky over Lemar Jackson, DeShaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes. 
64. And traded up to do it. 
65. Trubisky being pretty awful wasted a good defensive season for the Bears. 
66. The Lions have regressed under Matt Patricia. Think he's very much on the hotseat for next season. 
67. Darius Leonard missed three games and was still amongst the leaders in tackles. Future Defensive Player of the Year. 
68. He also finally got his Pro Bowl nod, which he was massively snubbed of last year. 
69. Gronk retired, but I feel the "fun TE" role has been filled well by the Niners' George Kittle. Helps that he's a fantastic player mind you. 
70. Drew Lock could very well be the future in Denver. 
71. Joe Flacco is very much not, but he doesn't have to be at this point. He's won his ring, can be a very serviceable backup/mentor. If he doesn't go full Jay Cutler Don't Care Bear that is. 
72. I am hoping Cam Newton comes back and finds his MVP form again. Whether that's in Carolina - and it should be, Kyle Allen is meh and Will Grier is very much not on fire, your support is terrified (whenever he's under center) - so unless you draft someone, stick with Cam. 
73. One small silver lining of Luck retiring is it finally ends the pointless Luck vs. Russell Wilson argument and I can appreciate how good Wilson is. 
74. Richard Sherman is still (one of) the best in the game. 
75. Stephon Gilmore was the best defensive player in the league last year, and would 100 percent be my DPOY pick. 
76. I'd give Offensive Player of the Year to Christian McCaffrey. Carried the Panthers. 
77. Andy Dalton is also finished as a starter. Bring on the Joe Burrow era. Will he stick around to backup Burrow? 
78. Kirk Cousins was quietly pretty decent this year. I like that. 
79. Ben Roethlisberger got injured very early in the year and the Steelers played Quarterback Carousel between Devlin "Duck" Hodges and Mason "MAGA" Rudolph. Neither was that good really. 
80. Also Myles Garrett livened up what was a very boring game between the Browns and Steelers by literally trying to murder Mason Rudolph with his own helmet. Madness. 
81. Garrett sat the rest of the season and who knows when his ban will end. 
82. At least the Antonio Brown and LeVeon Bell sagas are over in Pittsburgh? 
83. LeVeon didn't exactly set the world alight on the Jets...but good luck to anyone trying to do that. 
84. Also Antonio Brown…Christ. The man needs serious help. Beyond parody now. 
85. Although some of the individual stuff like throwing a bag of dicks at someone or managing to get frostbite from a cryogenic tube is kinda funny. 
86. Also the Raiders actually made money out of the Brown signing which is surreal. 
87. DeAndre Hopkins and Julio Jones were both superb out on the field which bode well for my fantasy team. My issue was trying to get a Quarterback who'd score 20 or more points a week. That killed my season in one of my two main leagues. Semi-Final exit for the second year in a row. 
88. Also cheers to my mate Greg for dropping Melvin Gordon. That helped me a bit. 
89. In my other main league I draft players for the Colts from the NFC and it's a lot of fun. Luck's retirement hurt me a lot on that and I really need to reevaluate my plans for next season. Still somehow made the playoffs, but crashed out in the first round. 
90. Time to start planning for that league's draft soon. 
91. Free Agency should be fun, especially as a Colts fan with the most space in the league for the second year in a row. Reckon we need to spend a bit more of that this time. 
92. It's odd to think there's only one more game this season. No, the Pro Bowl does not count. Come on. It's the Pro Bowl. 
93. I mean I'll probably be watching the Royal Rumble live if I'm not at work early the next day. 
94. I have three more articles in the pipeline for the next couple of weeks, my absolute favourite to write, the Alternative Awards, is up next and should be up early next week. Probably gonna start that Sunday. 
95. It's genuinely fantastic to be back writing about the NFL again. I have missed this. 
96. In the meantime, it's been an odd, sometimes enjoyable, sometimes frustrating year in the National Fitba League. 
97. Here's to the next 100 Seasons of the NFL. May it continue to entertain us for years to come. 
98. The long off-season is almost here, but at least we have Euro 2020?
99. Thank you if you've made it this far into the article. You guys and girls reading this make this all worth it. I hope I can do you all justice in my articles and somewhat entertain you. 
100. I cannot wait for the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. 

And that'll do it! 100 thoughts that came to me in a mostly random order on the NFL. Hope you've enjoyed reading this. 

Alternative Awards early next week, Super Bowl Preview article late next week. Then the family rivalries article early in the off season, and we'll go from there. 

Anyway, thanks for giving this a read and giving me a chance for a long ramble. 

And as always, Go Colts.