1. Of the 20 non-playoff teams, which is most likely to be a Super Bowl contender in 2011?
Sam Monson: San Diego. I'm tempted to pick the Rams here, I like what they're doing and they are better than they showed vs Seattle, but San Diego should have been there this season. Their roster doesn't have many holes and they just need to stop digging themselves a hole to start the season.
Khaled Elsayed: You could make a case that a more disciplined Dallas Cowboys with Tony Romo at QB are real a threat. Romo was playing exceptionally well before injury, and considering how they played with Jon Kitna that should give teams plenty of food for thought.
Neil Hornsby: The Chargers – They’ve got some problems to sort out on their O-line and special teams but their defense came on a lot this year. Any team with Philip Rivers is going to be a threat.
Ben Stockwell: There's a long off-season ahead, but in spite of Norv Turner's rep of not being able to win the big one as the HC, the Chargers have just about everything you need to be a competitor. If they can get away from these slow starts of the last couple of seasons they should be right in the mix next season.
2. Of the coaches who have been either fired or are rumored to be fired, which impressed you most in 2010 and should have been safe?
Sam: Talk is swirling about Tony Sparano after the kicking they were handed by the Patriots. I think he's done far too much good for that Miami side to be axed, but the way his team just rolled over and died against a Patriot team with nothing to play for was a real concern, and possibly the thing that would cost him his job.
Khaled: It seems like Tom Cable is a goner, and that's frankly ridiculous. The progress that franchise has made means getting rid of him is a huge backward step. Safe to say a lot of head coaches earned their firings this year.
Neil: None of them – they all deserve the push. That said, if Jeff Fisher gets his marching orders in Tennessee I’d pick him up in a heartbeat.
Ben: The rumors around Tom Cable seem the most harsh of the lot. The Raiders haven't looked like a competent football team for the majority of this decade, but this year Cable finally got them moving in the right direction and their 6-0 record in the AFC West shows that they have the measure of their divisional opponents. Seems a waste of the momentum Cable has built, if it holds true.
3. Biggest surprise player of 2010 on the good side:
Khaled: I'd be surprised if anyone answered anything but Brandon Lloyd. Not just a great year on the stat sheet, but Lloyd made a number of highlight reel plays and was as good a receiver as there was in the league. Did anyone really see that happening?
Sam: No surprises here: Lloyd. He was always a player who showed with regularity he had talent by making circus catches, but he'd then follow that up by dropping three easy ones. I never could have predicted that he would put it all together and be arguably the league's best receiver over the season.
Neil: It’s got to be Lloyd at the top of a short list – nearly all the rest (Cameron Wake, Kyle Williams, Andrew Whitworth, etc.) have shown something previously to suggest it was only a matter of time. Other players on that list might be Antonio Garay and Fred Robbins. Robbins was my personal regret, as I resigned him to the scrap heap well before time – apologies.
Ben: The emergence of running backs like Peyton Hillis and LeGarrette Blount was really great to see this season; old-school power running backs who are going to look to run over you (either physically or literally by hurdling) rather than around you.
4. Biggest surprise player of 2010 on the bad side:
Sam: Jahri Evans. Last season's best guard got a healthy payday and this season he's ranked 32nd. Now I'm not saying one necessarily caused the other, but it doesn't do much to dispel the idea that guys don't have the same hunger after getting the big contract dollars sometimes. Been shown up by teammate Carl Nicks at LG.
Khaled: I was a big fan of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and felt he was ready to join the elite cornerbacks in the league. Instead he gave up penalties, plays and put forth an effort that looked less than 100 percent at times.
Neil: Tennessee Center Eugene Amano. I boldly predicted another 2K for Chris Johnson because I felt Amano would be a big upgrade on the over the hill Kevin Mawae on the back of a solid (not great) 2009 season at LG. Well, the problems of moving to center were too much as he was (by far) our worst-rated center. It didn’t help that Dave Stewart, Michael Roos and Jake Scott also nose-dived.
Ben: Ahtyba Rubin's performance has been disappointing at nose tackle for Cleveland this year. A year ago, he looked stout against the run and the perfect player to start on the nose for the Browns — this would free up Shaun Rogers to be deployed all along the Browns' D-line. But that simply hasn't continued this year. Rubin has faced a lot of good centers this season but his performances have been beyond disappointing, at times he looks like he wants to back off of the line and play like a linebacker.
5. What was the story of the regular season in your eyes?
Sam: The Patriots playing better than they have any right to. Nobody gave the Patriots much of a chance preseason looking at their roster, but they've managed to get impressive performances on both sides of the ball; nobody's play is torpedoing their chances. They're the true definition of greater than the sum of their parts.
Ben: Once we got past the early season story of the capitulations in Minnesota and Dallas, I'd have to go with the abundance of top-level QB play this year. There were up to ten guys playing at a very good level this season, most of whom will be playing playoff football. Makes for an intriguing postseason.
Khaled: Considering how even all the teams looked over the first half of the season, it was probably the reinvention of the Patriots' offense and dominance they then exhibited for the remainder.
Neil: The Patriots proved that playing brilliantly executed, conservative football in all facets of the game can beat just about anything. If they win it all, watch for a copy-cat league to run even more screens, blitz less, tackle better and put more emphasis on special teams.
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