Can you believe that we are already halfway through the 2021 season for the National Football League? I feel like just yesterday I was turning on my TV to watch the kickoff between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys. This season has been filled with twists and turns, and it already looks so different from when we started two months ago. Though it is so upsetting to even think about the season winding down, this is the perfect time to reevaluate my predictions for the season. It makes so much sense to see where all of the teams are at, now and looking toward going forward!
Let’s start with the pleasant surprises. Of course, I have to shamelessly plug my wonderful, amazing, show-stopping Dallas Cowboys. Let me make it clear, I am a huge Cowboys fan so this may be biased, but I am amazed by their success this season. Dak Prescott at quarterback has been the comeback player of the year for me, and their last six wins in a row have been amazing to watch. From Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs on defense, they look perfect on both sides of the ball. Even though I was disappointed in how they performed against the Denver Broncos, I am choosing to believe that is a blip on the radar. I have absolutely no doubt that they are going to win their conference, and go to the playoffs for sure (Honestly, part of me wants to say the Super Bowl is in their future even though that feels like a big stretch, but we can dream).
My other surprise success story is Cooper Kupp, who plays wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams. Kupp was picked 69th overall in the NFL draft and he is playing like one of the first picked WRs in the league right now. He has vastly outperformed his reputation this season, and he is a huge part of the Los Angeles Rams’ success this season in my eyes. Kupp currently leads the league in receiving yards and touchdowns and is one of the best in the National Football Conference West in terms of receptions this year. The Rams have a terrific offense already, and they have an amazing record at 7-1 so far in the season. To me, Kupp has been making the offense look like it is perfectly planned every time. He has great ball awareness and energy that really comes in clutch for the Rams when they need him. He is the reason that I am 100 percent calling for the Rams to be in the Super Bowl this year.
Moving onto the things I hoped for that have let me down: the Kansas City Chiefs have truly struggled throughout this season. They have been winning, but really only by small margins that display none of the dominance they had over the league last season. I am still really disappointed in the fact that they only had a 4-4 record going into this week, and now they have to play the top three teams in their league over the next three weeks (the Green Bay Packers, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Cowboys). I just don’t think that they can keep up with the rest of their division and after the spectacular season they had last year, I wanted to see so much more from them. For them to have a chance of coming out of the playoffs on top or even making it to the playoffs, they really need to start turning things around.
Now, in my most controversial opinion yet. I am shocked by the performance of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season, especially after they lost to The New Orleans Saints during week eight. Their record isn’t spectacular to begin with, and then for Tom Brady to have four turnovers in one game was the last straw for me. I am sure that Brady will pull it together as playoff season gets closer, and I will be forced to eat my words, but as of right now I am saying this just doesn’t look like the Buccaneers that I remember.
As I said at the beginning of the article, this will all look completely different in a couple of weeks or even by the end of this weekend, but that is why we love the NFL!
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