3 Biggest Surprises and 3 Biggest Disappointments

Surprises

#3 - Atlanta Falcons & Baltimore Ravens

Rookie quarterbacks, rookie head coaches, low expectations, and fan bases that were getting irritated at their teams and moving on from a bad era. Both teams have put themselves in a position to make the playoffs and convincing the experts week-by-week that they are the real deal.

#2 - Old Quarterbacks

Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, and Kerry Collins have positioned their teams to make a deep playoff run and possibly win it all. And all three have been mentioned when it comes to the MVP talk.

#1 - Matt Cassel

I am one of the people that immediately jumped on the bandwagon that Belichick should have gotten a veteran quarterback in his roster just in case anything happened to Brady. I said the same thing about McCarthy in Green Bay when they still had Favre. The argument backing Belichick up was that he trusted Cassel because he knew the offense very well from being in practice for so long behind Tom Brady. Well, come to find out, he knows that offense pretty well, throwing for over 400 yards in the past two games, something the Patriots have never done in franchise history. Last week, he became the first player in NFL history to throw for over 400 yards and rush for over 60 yards. I have to say I am completely sold on this guy. His future with the Pats? That's a whole nother story.



Disappointments

#3 - Saints, Seahawks, Bills, Jaguars, and the Chargers

They all had high playoff expectations and none of them are producing to their full potential. It amazes me how these athletes are being paid the salary that they are paid and they don't produce up to their full potential.

#2 - Donovan McNabb

5-5-1 and he doesn't fully know the OT rules? This is a pro-bowl type QB I'm talking about and he is not looking anything like what he can do. And in this instance, you cannot say he doesn't have enough weapons on offense because that is simply a lie. I think it is time for Philadelphia to move on from Reid and McNabb. They have had their chances and they have blown it several times and they are now completely giving up.

#1 - Officiating and Post-game fines

Quite frankly, it's getting ridiculous. There are some players that have over $100 thousand in fines for late hits, unnecessary hits, too hard of a hit. Pretty soon we will be watching two touch football or flag football. This is football. It is a rough sport. You play with no apologies. Or at least that is what I thought. The thing that really gets me about these fines is that they assessed to plays that had no flag thrown and no penalty. They have sissified the game so much today that the quarterbacks can't even get hit.

And as for the officiating in the game, I have seen a bunch of blown calls this year. It gets me infuriated when I know that these officials are being paid good money and they aren't making the right calls. A lot of people say that some people are too hard on the refs and that they are humans and can make mistakes like everyone else. I agree with this, to a point. When it is your job to get these calls right and you simply aren't time and time again, there has to be a point in which people say enough is enough. These guys are getting paid a lot of money to possibly change the outcome of the game, just ask San Diego when they took their trip to Denver.