1- Detroit Lions Making It to the Playoffs for the First Time in 30 Years

• The Detroit Lions haven’t been too successful in past years since they have never competed in the Super Bowl let alone won one. They haven’t even made it to the playoffs in 30 years until this year thanks to the leadership of their quarterback Jared Goff. The Lions have turned over a new leaf this year and clinched the third seed in the NFC, ending with a 12-5 season, and advancing to the NFC championship. Lions fans were beyond excited to see their favorite team finally having success such as famous rapper Eminem saying he will write a diss track if they lose their game. Another dedicated Lions fan is Benjamin Cap who is 89 years old and has been a season ticket holder for 66 years (since 1958). Not only were Lions fans rooting for them, but lots of other football fans were too since they were the true underdog and it’s hard to imagine them making it this far again soon. It was very unfortunate to see them lose the NFC championship by only 3 points, especially when their coach Dan Campbell kept going for it on fourth down rather than settling for the field goals which would have easily tied up the score. Hopefully, next year is another successful season for the Detroit Lions and they eventually make it to the Super Bowl!

2- Buffalo Bills Comeback from 6-6 to 12-6 due to a 6 Game Win Streak

• Towards the middle of the season, it didn’t seem possible that the Bills would make it to the playoffs. They had 6 wins and 6 losses, so to contend for the playoffs they would need to win every game scheduled for the rest of the regular season … and that’s exactly what they did! This team came back from not qualifying for the playoffs, to beat their rival the Dolphins in the fight for the AFC East divisional winner. They secured the second seed in the AFC which gave them a home-field advantage for their first playoff game which they successfully made it through, but they unfortunately lost the second round due to a missed kick by Tyler Bass. This team is amazing to watch and very underestimated since they, unfortunately, haven’t made it to the Super Bowl since the incident of losing 4 years in a row in the ’90s. They have never won a superbowl before, but hopefully that can change next year led by their quarterback Josh Allen.

3- Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift

• This season a player on the Kansas City Chiefs named Travis Kelce started dating successful popstar Taylor Swift. This was super big news since Travis Kelce is a very impressive player who is known as the second-best tight-end ever and Taylor Swift is one of the most famous singers. They both have won countless awards for their talent in their profession. Travis has been looking for the right person for a while since he had his reality dating show called “Catching Kelce” and Taylor has had the same issue shown by her numerous albums about exes. Most of the fans are very excited to see them happy together, but certain football fans oppose this relationship and get frustrated seeing her attend Chiefs games. The NFL is trying to capitalize off this relationship since Taylor Swift’s dedicated fans will be interested in whatever the popstar is interested in, which is why the NFL shares posts about her and flashes the camera at her during games. This strategy is effective since this recent Super Bowl was the most viewed ever due to not only football fans, but Swifties watching also. Taylor Swift’s attracting a new audience to football is also causing a lot of daughters and fathers to watch the games together, which is very cutely shown in a recent Cetaphil commercial. Overall, this relationship is successful in making both Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift, and the NFL all very happy, while also making them much more money. Fans were hoping to see Travis Kelce propose after the big game with his Super Bowl ring, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. It’ll still be exciting to see how their relationship plays out!

4- Crazy Amount of Quarterback Injuries

• This 2023 season there were a total of 16 quarterbacks who had injuries that caused them to be out for the season. It felt like every week a new successful quarterback would be reported out for the season. Some famous quarterbacks who suffered from season-ending injuries include Joe Burrow with a wrist injury, Kirk Cousins with an Achilles injury, Kenny Pickett with an ankle injury, and Aaron Rodgers also with an Achilles injury. Everyone was very excited to see these popular players have a great season, so it was disappointing not only for the fans but also their teammates who were counting on them to lead them to victory. Another notable quarterback who got injured was Deshaun Watson. He got hurt only after the first few games, but the Cleveland Browns already guaranteed 230 million dollars in his contract which he received anyway. Many believe this was a huge waste of money leaving the Browns stranded. While these injuries had mostly negative effects, the bright side is they also created opportunities for some other quarterbacks to show off their talent. An example is the Giants were originally doing poorly with Daniel Jones, but after his injury, the young undrafted rookie quarterback Tommy DeVito tied the NFL record for most victories and got Giants fans excited again. I will be excited to see these quarterbacks hopefully make a full recovery in the off-season and be back next year!

5- Joe Flacco – Comeback Player of the Year

• The Cleveland Browns selected Deshaun Watson and he was the 12th pick in the first round of the NFL draft. As stated before, the Browns spent a very large amount of money on him, just for Watson to receive a season-ending shoulder injury during just the sixth game. After this unexpected incident, they last minute signed Joe Flacco to come back with the Browns. This 38-year-old quarterback went from spending the past weeks at home on the couch to being the Browns Quarterback. Flacco previously was a Baltimore Ravens starting quarterback from 2008-2018 and helped them go to the playoffs six times, win the AFC North twice, appear in three AFC Championship Games, and win Super Bowl XLVII. He spent a little non-notable time with the Broncos and Jets until this year he had success again when he got signed to the Browns. He led them to secure one of the AFC wildcard spots being the 5th seed in the AFC. In just two games, Flacco already beat some of Deshaun Watson’s records such as having multiple touchdown passes. It was very impressive to see how good he was since he went from not planning on playing this season to having an overall pretty successful season with the Browns considering the circumstances. I think he deserved to win the Comeback Player of the Year award and it was an interesting story to follow. Unfortunately, since Flacco is getting older we don’t know if he will be returning next season, but he was a lot of fun to watch this year and I hope he comes back again!