It’s been a long time since I’ve talked about football in this column, and I have so much to say about the most entertaining sport in the world! This year has already been more interesting than recent years with events like Peyton Manning’s (and Nick Foles’) seven touchdown passes in one game, the Kansas City Chiefs not only being good…but great, and the Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens coming up with a slow start to the season (which is OK, because the Steelers are in last place).  Now that we’re moving into Week 10 of the NFL, we’re more than halfway through the season, and I’d like to share my thoughts on how both teams and individual players have impressed, disappointed and surprised people so far. So here are my top five surprises and rookies to watch so far in the 2013 season of the NFL.

Biggest Surprises

 

Denver Broncos (7-1)
    Alright, alright; I know it’s really not a surprise that  they’re one of the best teams in the league, but did anyone honestly see them being this dominant? Peyton Manning threw an NFL record-tying seven touchdowns against the Ravens and has thrown only six interceptions this year, which has helped the team to gain a league-high 42 points per game. They are scary good.
 
New York Giants (2-6)
    What the heck has happened to this team? Yes, I know the two young promising running backs, David Wilson and Andre Brown, have been out most of the season, but you still have Eli Manning, Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz essentially doing nothing on offense all year. Fans can’t even blame the offensive line, because he ranks #14 in sacks taken (that’s 16 less than the leader, Ryan Tannehill). This team needs to get it together.

 

New England Patriots (7-2)
    Tom Brady, without his five most productive receivers from last year for most of the season (only Rob Gronkowski remains), has proven even more this season that he’s one of the best quarterbacks of all time by helping this team drag through seven wins. It’s been a rough season, but after scoring 55 points against the Pittsburgh Steelers (no team has ever scored that many points against them), it looks like the Patriots are in a groove once again.

 

New York Jets (5-4)
    After losing top cornerback Darrelle Revis and drafting former West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith to seemingly replace the amazingly atrocious Mark Sanchez, it looked that this was a rebuilding year for the Jets. But Smith now has produced four game-winning drives and this team is only two games out of first place in the division. Rex Ryan must really want to keep his job.

 

Kansas City Chiefs (9-0)
    If you called this happening, stand up right now, find the nearest person to you and ask them to slap you in the face, because no, you didn’t. Even you, that one Kansas City fan in Ocean City. Quarterback Alex Smith has only nine touchdowns, but has also given up only four interceptions. What’s most exciting in Kansas City is their high profile defense that has allowed an NFL-low 12 points per game and NFL-high 23 takeaways this season. While no one expects them to stay undefeated, this is still one of the most exciting teams to watch, especially on defense.

Top Rookies

 

Aaron Dobson, WR, New England Patriots
    Dobson has notably been quiet pretty much all year up until last week. The second round draft pick was making a name for himself the wrong way earlier in the season by running incorrect routes and dropping passes. Yet, his athletic ability was never in doubt. He finally seems to have gotten the hang of things, and was lined up as the Patriots’ #1 receiver during the entire game last week, which put him in position for a career high 130 yards and two touchdowns. He could be the team’s next big receiver since Randy Moss.

Andre Ellington, RB, Arizona Cardinals
    The Cards are pretty mediocre this year, but Ellington is definitely the most exciting player on this team. Much like how Buffalo has used C.J. Spiller behind Fred Jackson, Ellington has shown flashes of greatness. The only complaint would be that the sixth round pick doesn’t get the ball enough and the starter, Rashard Mendenhall, flat out sucks. But Mendenhall was injured their last game, giving Ellington the workload, 154 rushing yards and a touchdown. If the coaches get their act together, expect big things from Ellington from now on.

Eddie Lacy, RB, Green Bay Packers
    Having an unexciting start of the season and being injured for a couple of weeks put some question marks on Lacy. The second round pick has certainly responded since the team’s bye week, averaging 109 rushing yards per game and scoring a touchdown in his past three games. The Packers really haven’t had a solid consistent running back since the days of Ahmad Green, and many are expecting Lacy to be that guy.

 

Keenan Allen, WR, San Diego Chargers
    Philip Rivers and the Chargers have had quite the comeback, and Allen has a lot to do with their success. The team wasn’t doing so hot when they put Malcom Floyd on the injury reserve list; giving Allen the starting opportunity. He has been nothing but awesome since, gaining at least 100 yards and a touchdown each game, save for one three-catch game versus Jacksonvile. Showing shades of former Chargers big play wide receiver Vincent Jackson, this third round pick has a lot of long balls yet to be thrown to him.

Zac Stacy, RB, St. Louis Rams
    After initially losing the starting job in preseason to second year running back Daryl Richardson, Stacy has shown his coaches what they’ve been missing over the past few weeks. While he got off to a slow start, he’s exploded the past two weeks, gaining 178 all purpose yards and two touchdowns last week alone. He’s their workhorse from here on out and St. Louis fans won’t be missing Steven Jackson much at all anymore.