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2020-21 NFL Season

Jul 28, 2024

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In the NFL edition of battling the pandemic, the 2020-21 season, all things considered, was a really good year. Everyone played 16 games, catching COVID wasn’t quite a major issue, and the postseason went swimmingly. Things got weird though, as we knew they would - we had Tuesday games, Wednesday games, and even a game where the Broncos sent out a practice squad wide receiver to play quarterback with everyone else on the COVID list. But even amidst all the chaos, plenty went as normal. In year 21 at age 43 Tom Brady did it again, taking down Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LV for his 7th ring in another fantastic season capped off with a great Super Bowl performance. Brady took down league MVP Aaron Rodgers along the way as the NFC’s No. 1 seed fell short again, with a controversial pass interference call on 3rd and long securing the road win for Tampa Bay in the NFC Title Game. Gronk caught two touchdowns in the Super Bowl and Antonio Brown had another, with the Buccaneers rolling past Kansas City in a convincing showing by the offense and a shut-down performance by the defense. Drew Brees, one of Brady’s victims in his Super Bowl run, reached the end of the road in his illustrious career, retiring after 20 NFL seasons and finishing his career with a Divisional Round loss to Brady's Bucs after beating them handedly twice in the regular season. It also marked the end for Philip Rivers after a year in Indy, concluding a memorable 17-year career with the first 16 spent with the Chargers. That wasn't it, as legendary kicker Adam Vinatieri hung up the cleats, the Pouncey twins too, and a pair of pass-catching legends in Jason Witten and Julian Edelman. It was a heck of a year in the AFC and get this - the Browns were actually good. Taking down the Steelers, the last undefeated team, in a crazy Wild Card game set them up to face Kansas City, and it took a late-game Chad Henne - yes, Chad Henne, 4th down conversion to send the Chiefs over the top. It was certainly bizarre seeing the Browns in a game like that, and could mark a sign of big things to come in their first playoff win since 1994. Henne was in there because of a concussion Patrick Mahomes suffered, but he'd be back in there next game to lead his team to the Super Bowl. The Patriots’ first season of the post-Brady era wasn’t a promising one, with Cam Newton starting off strong but never looking the same after an early COVID diagnosis, and they limped through a 7-9 campaign in Bill Belichick's first losing season since his first year with the Patriots. One year in, it's no debate Brady is winning the divorce. New England's AFC East counterpart New York Jets at one point looked like they might lose every game before stunningly winning two in a row - against a pair of playoff teams at that - in what would end up losing them the No. 1 pick and Trevor Lawrence. Instead it’s Jacksonville, who lost 15 straight after an opening week win over the Colts, that won the rights to the generational QB prospect. Staying in the AFC, Derrick Henry was absolutely unstoppable. He ran for 2,027 YDS and 17 TDs, leading the league in both, marking just the 8th 2,000-yard season in league history. The NFC East was historically bad. The Washington Football Team - in their inaugural season under that name - won it at 7-9. And remarkably enough, they gave the Buccaneers all they could handle in the Wild Card round, with Taylor Heinicke - undrafted in 2015 - starring for Washington in only the second start of his career. Joe Burrow’s rookie season got cut short with a bad knee injury, while Alex Smith recovered from his gruesome broken leg back in 2018 and was named Comeback Player of the Year before an injury just before the postseason opened the door for Heinicke's emergence. Dak Prescott also missed most of the year with a broken ankle. Aaron Rodgers' NFL MVP marked the third in his illustrious career, and he put together what really might have been the best statistical season he's ever had, leading the NFL in TD passes with 48, QBR, and completion percentage, and throwing just 5 INTs. The NFL made it work in a season many believed wasn't plausible with all the pandemic-induced obstacles, and it ended with Tom Brady putting the GOAT case to rest with the 7th ring of his career and maybe the most important one yet in his first year away from New England. We said goodbye to some legends and saw many new stars born, and left plenty to look forward to in the future as the NFL strays away from COVID life and moves towards a return to normalcy.



Best Games


1. Ravens 47, Browns 42 - Week 14

One of the best regular season games in recent memory, this one marked the first between these two in forever that felt like a pair of contending teams were doing battle. It was a Monday Night classic, the highest-scoring game of the season and one of the most memorable games of the young career of Lamar Jackson. The two offenses were trading punches the entire way, though a pair of Browns touchdowns put them ahead 35-34 and after Lamar Jackson was seen going to the locker room and no apparent reason why, Cleveland looked to be in the driver's seat. Trace McSorley came in and moved the ball a bit, but he went down with an injury right at the two-minute warning with Baltimore facing a massive 4th down, only for Jackson to return for the key play and throw a 44-yard TD to Hollywood Brown. The Browns marched right back down and tied the game at 42, and Jackson then moved the Ravens down the field and in position for Justin Tucker's game-winning 55-yard field goal. And if that wasn't enough, a last-second Ravens safety covered the spread on their last-gasp lateral attempt. It was later revealed to be cramps that briefly sent Lamar to the locker room, but it's his return that we will remember in Baltimore's crucial divisional win, making a plethora of crucial plays in a game that did wonders for the Ravens' playoff hopes.


  2. Bills 30, Cardinals 32 - Week 10

If you're looking for the very best finish of the 2020-21 season, look no further. In one of the great plays this decade, Kyler Murray just threw up a prayer in the end zone with Arizona down 30-26 in the final seconds, only for superstar WR DeAndre Hopkins to go up and make one of the most impressive catches you will ever see to win the game for the Cardinals with just two seconds left. It was an exciting back-and-forth affair the entire way, and the Bills had taken the lead on a fantastic Stefon Diggs TD just seconds before the Cardinal miracle. Things were really looking up for Arizona after that one, sending them to 6-3 with another big-time win, and the Murray-Hopkins connection looking as lethal as any in football.


3. Falcons 39, Cowboys 40 - Week 2

Sometimes it takes a little luck, maybe in the form of a bounce that goes your way, and that's exactly what the Cowboys were gifted with in their Week 2 thriller against the Falcons. Atlanta had this one, jumping out to a 20-0 lead after a quarter, leading 29-10 at the half, and staying ahead pretty much the whole rest of the way. After cutting the deficit to two with 1:49 to go and no timeouts, Dallas' only shot was through recovering an onside kick, but disaster struck for the Falcons as they stood watching the ball roll rather than just scooping it up, and C.J. Goodwin of the Cowboys pounced once it reached 10 yards to suddenly land them in excellent position. They'd move down the field with filed with ease, and Greg Zuerlein won it for Dallas as time expired from 46 yards away.


4. Rams 32, Bills 35 - Week 3

In a battle of 2-0 teams, only one looked the part for much of this one as the Bills dominated early on en route to what became a 28-3 lead just minutes into the second half. Rather than falling flat, Los Angeles slowly began to chip away, eventually making a game of it and stunningly taking the lead as a fourth consecutive touchdown put them ahead 32-28 with 4:30 to go. All of the sudden the pressure was on Buffalo, though they'd move down the field on the ensuing drive but looked to have come up short in the final minute, but a 4th down pass interference gave them gave them new life, leading to Tyler Kroft's game-winning touchdown one play later with just 15 seconds remaining. It was a terrific win for the Bills even as it ended far more stressfully than they ever could've imagined, while the Rams, albeit in a loss, deserve serious credit for climbing back and coming so close to stealing what would've been a truly improbable win.


5. Seahawks 34, Cardinals 37 OT - Week 7

This might have been the moment Kyler Murray put the league on notice, leading the Cardinals to a hard-fought statement win over the Seahawks in primetime, and doing it in thrilling fashion. Arizona was down double-digits for a lot of this game, but their offense always had an answer. Seattle was up 34-24 with under two-and-a-half minutes to go, but a Christian Kirk TD, a defensive stop, and a Zane Gonzalez field goal as time expired sending the game to overtime. Gonzalez would then miss what would've been a game-winning field goal late in OT, but Russell Wilson gave Arizona a lifeline with an interception ear midline with just over a minute to go, and this time Zane Gonzalez drilled the game-winner from 48 yards out to win it for the Cardinals. Kyler Murray had arrived, going 34/48 for 360 YDS, 3 TDs, and 1 INT plus 67 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the win. Arizona finally seemed to be putting it together with a 5-2 start after this massive victory, and between the comeback, missed game-winner, and interception to set up the actual game-winner, this was certainly one of the very best games of the year.


  6.  Raiders 31, Jets 28 - Week 13

For the 0-11 Jets, nothing was going right. A winless season seemed very much in the cards , and only three of their first eleven games were even within one possession. But they had some swagger to them in this one, and against a Raiders team in playoff contention no less, turning a 24-13 4th quarter deficit into a three-point lead with possession in the final minute. But it just wasn't meant to be for the 2020 Jets, as Derek Carr hit Henry Ruggs for a 46-yard game-winning touchdown with 5 seconds remaining, with the defense inexplicably letting Ruggs coast by everybody in a spot where all New York really had to do was guard the end zone. It was a disastrous finish for the Jets to send them to 0-12, and a stunning win for the Raiders to keep them in the playoff picture. The Jets were denied their best chance yet at a first win in rather unfathomable fashioned, though they'd build off the better showing and get the monkey off their back seven days later.


7. Lions 23, Falcons 22 - Week 7 This one delivered one of the best finishes of the year, made possible by one of the season's biggest gaffes just moments before. the Lions took a 16-14 lead with 3:16 remaining, but the Falcons were moving down the field at will on the ensuing drive needing just a field goal for the lead and likely the win. With Detroit having used all their timeouts with 1:12 to go, Atlanta could've ran the clock down and kicked the gam-e-winning chip shot as time expired. Instead, Todd Gurley, who had actually fumbled on the play before but recovered it, accidentally fell into the end zone to give the Falcons the lead but give the Lions a chance to win the game that they shouldn't have been able to have. And sure enough, that's just what they did, getting all the down the field and winning it as Matthew Stafford hit rookie T.J. Hockenson for the game-winning touchdown with no time on the clock, an improbable win for the Lions that they had no business having a chance of.



Player Rankings


1. Aaron Rodgers (QB - Packers)

Of all the great seasons 16-year veteran Aaron Rodgers has put together in his incredible career, 2020 may have been his very best yet. After another bizarre offseason Rodgers was once again back in green and white competing for a Super Bowl, and he was easily the best all-around quarterback in football this season and deservedly cruised to the 3rd MVP of his career. Rodgers completed above 70% of his passes for the first time in his career and threw for a career-high 48 TD passes compared to just 5 INTs, the best TD-INT ratio of his career and leading the league in all of those departments. The Packers' offense led the NFL in scoring, and the Rodgers-Davante Adams connection reached new heights in the 37-year-old's massive year. Through Rodgers' dominance Green Bay rolled to a 13-3 record and the NFC's top seed, and he became the second-oldest MVP ever and into a tie for second all-time in MVP awards. Without question, Rodgers was the best player in football in 2020.


2. Aaron Donald (DE - Rams)

In terms of the best overall player in football, it's probably Aaron Donald. Rodgers' unstoppable MVP season gives him a slight edge at No. 1 for the 2020 season alone, but that's not to say Donald was anything less than his dominant self this season. The attention Donald constantly requires is second to none, with offenses left with no choice but to essentially game-plan around him and put so much of their focus on the havoc he will inevitably wreak, and still none of that seems to do a thing. Donald was named Defensive Player of the Year for the third time this season, leading the league in total pressures with 13.5 sacks, 14 tackles for loss, and 45 combined tackles, dong all this while being doubled at the highest rate of anyone in football. Aside from another DPOY to his name, Donald was named to his 6th straight All-Pro 1st Team and seventh straight Pro Bowl, continuing to look like far and away the game's best defensive player.


3. Derrick Henry (RB - Titans)

When you throw the word 'unstoppable' around with offensive players, it's hard to find a more deserving candidate than Derrick Henry. He's been a force to be reckoned with for a bit now, with his freakish build making him a genuine nightmare for defenders to try and bring down, and he took that sheer dominance to a whole new level this season. Henry ran for 2,027 YDS and 17 TDs on 378 carries, leading the league in every category and most by a good margin, averaging a pretty ridiculous 126.7 yards/game on 5.4 yards/carry. His 1,490 yards after contact and 75 broken tackles also led football, a testament to no offensive player in football a more menacing force than Henry. He was named Offensive Player of the Year honors in only the 8th 2,000-yard season in league history, making the first since Adrian Peterson in 2012 and only the fourth this century, an incredible season that earns him high praise on this list with everything he accomplished.


4. Tom Brady (QB - Buccaneers)

In one of the big bombshells we've ever seen, Tom Brady left the Patrots this offseason for the Buccaneers, leaving behind the greatest dynasty the league had ever seen for a largely irrelevant franchise with no history, no culture, and and no recent success. We can argue for eternity the true motives behind the move, but the biggest thing this was for Brady, now 43 years old, was another challenge. It took some time to get it going - the Bucs were hardly a postseason lock by Thanksgiving week and were playing from behind in the NFC South the entire way - but from December and beyond it was vintage Tom Brady and nothing was stopping it. Brady finished the regular season with a bang, with 340+ passing yards in their final three games and winning four in a row to enter the postseason with some momentum, where we knew they'd be a tough out even as the No. 5 seed in the NFC forced to play on the road from the Wild Card game on. And maybe we needed one final reminder just how great Tom Brady was, and how he could do it without Belichick in a whole new city with a whole new supporting cast, as after a Wild Card win over Washington, he slayed Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Patrick Mahomes in three straight rounds to win Super Bowl LV, his seventh ring and one the football world won't soon forget in his first season outside of New England. Brady was fantastic the entire postseason, completing 58.7% of his passes for 1,061 YDS, 10 TDs, and 3 INTs and a 98.1 passer rating over the four games, getting it done once again and becoming the first player to ever win Super Bowl MVP with multiple franchises. 21 years in and 43 years young, Brady was still one of the league's very best in 2020, his best season in years in a rejuvenating first season since making the monumental move.


5. T.J. Watt (LB - Steelers)

Watt had been trending this way for awhile, but he really solidified himself as the games best edge rusher with a fantastic 2020, doing it all on Pittsburgh's front line and finishing just behind Aaron Donald in the DPOY voting. Watt led football with 15 sacks and was either in the lead or not far behind in pressures depending on who you ask, continuing his trajectory into one of the league's great defensive players with another massive year. The bottom line is Watt just makes his team better, able to interfere with every aspect of an opponent's offense with his ridiculous mix of motor, athleticism, and football IQ that opposing o-line's simply can't keep up with. With the path he's on, he'll be the best defensive player in football sooner than later, and still just 26 years old should be a regular on this list for many years to come.



Best Performances


1. Alvin Kamara - Week 16, 155 rushing yards, 6 touchdowns in Christmas Day win

There was something in the air in the SuperDome on Christmas Day, something powerful enough to incite a historically good performance from Alvin Kamara that goes down as the very best of the year. Kamara's six touchdowns, all on the ground, tied an NFL record, scoring two in the 1st quarter, another in the 2nd and 3rd, and two more in the 4th to cap off a 52-point Saints outburst. Only one of Kamara's TDs was from more than seven yards out, but he still finished with 155 yards on the ground on only 22 carries. Rarely is an offense clicking enough to give their running back that many chances and rarely is a running back that effective at converting to put together a game like this, but the stars aligned for Kamara to put up the very best individual performance of the 2020 season.


  2.  Tyreek Hill, Week 12 - 13 catches, 269 yards, 3 TDs in road win over Buccaneers

This was one of the most electrifying wide receiver performances we will ever see, and may have gone down as the greatest 1st quarter a wide receiver has ever recorded. Tyreek Hill literally wasted zero time getting it going with had a 34-yard reception on the first play from scrimmage and a 23-yard catch later in the drive, and two possessions later caught a 75-yard TD on the very first play of that drive. He was far from done, as on the Chiefs' next drive, still in the 1st quarter, he hauled in a 44-yard TD pass after already totaling 26 yards on that possession, giving him 203 yards and 2 TDs in the first quarter alone to mark the second-most receiving yards in a 1st quarter in NFL history, just two yards shy of the leader. Hill would add another 59 receiving yards and one more score, leaving him with the most single-game receiving yards since Julio Jones in 2016 and the fifth-most in the last decade. It was a truly unstoppable performance against one of the league's best secondaries, helping lead Kansas City to an impressive road win in what would end up a Super Bowl LV preview.


3. Patrick Mahomes, Week 3 - 31/42, 385 yards, 5 total TDs in statement win over Ravens

This battle between a reigning champion Mahomes and a reigning MVP Lamar Jackson couldn't have asked for much more hype going in, setting the stage for a major Mahomes statement the league wouldn't soon forget. Mahomes could do no wrong in this one, getting it started for Kansas City with a 1st quarter rushing touchdown and then tossing three 2nd quarter TD passes to put the Chiefs in firm control by halftime. Baltimore began to make it a game late, but Mahomes delivered the silencer on a touchdown pass to Eric Fisher, his fourth of the night and fifth total TD to seal the win for the Chiefs. He completed 73.8% of his passes for 385 yards and finishing with the fifth-highest passer rating of a quarterback this season, outdueling the reigning MVP on the road in primetime in convincing fashion.


4. Derrick Henry, Week 6 - 212 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns, game-winner

The pinnacle of Derrick Henry's incredible 2,000-yard season came in Week 6 against the Texans, a 212-yard, 2-TD outburst in a wild Titans overtime win that left the league just about ready to accept there would be no stopping this guy anytime soon. Henry was a workhorse all season long, but he actually did all this on only 22 carries, one of his lower totals of the regular season allowing him to accumulate a season-best 9.6 yards/carry. His first touchdown was a ridiculous 94-yard TD to give Tennessee the lead back early in the 4th quarter, and his second won it for the Titans in overtime to finish off a game-winning drive which he totaled 63 of the 82 yards on as Tennessee remained undefeated.


5. Haason Reddick, Week 14 - 5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles vs. Giants

Agains a reeling Giants offense with a helpless offensive line, Haason Reddick struck while the was hot and put together a career game in Arizona's dominant win. Reddick recorded five sacks, the most of any player this season, and forced three Giants fumbles in a game-changing performance for Arizona. His five sacks accumulated a total of 43 lost yards while he forced a fumble on the first drive of the game, set Arizona up at the goal line with the second, and had one more on the final drive just for good measure to cap off his phenomenal showing. No defensive player had a better individual game this season than Reddick here in Week 14, and he set the franchise record in both categories, doing so after entering this one with no sacks over his last five contests.




Best Moment - De'Andre Hopkins Game-Winning Hail Mary Catch

With 11 seconds on the clock facing a 30-26 deficit at the Bills' 43-yard line with no timeouts, it would require a miracle if the Arizona Cardinals wanted to leave State Farm Stadium with a win. The Bills brought pressure, forcing Kyler Murray to scramble out left right he received the snap, and he was lucky to just get a back-foot heave off with any chance of reaching the end zone. Luckily for him, the Cardinal in the area was DeAndre Hopkins, but three Bills defenders were right there with him. It didn't matter. With three defenders leaping with him, Hopkins somehow pulled it down in extremely heavy traffic, making the game-winning catch to win it for Arizona with just two seconds to go. It was one of the great game-winners the NFL has seen in recent memory, the type of finish that seems more likely to be seen in a video game than an actual game. With the incredible level of difficulty all around and the stakes of the remarkable Hopkins grab, this is my No. 1 moment of the 2020 season.

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