It’s easy to look at the stats for the top quarterbacks of the decade and know who was the most dominant. It’s clear that catches like Odell Beckham Jr.’s miraculous one-handed snag against the Cowboys will go down as one of the greatest highlights of the decade in NFL action.
But what are the themes of the decade that go beyond highlight reel plays, or Super Bowl champions, or Hall of Fame candidates? Though it’s hard to summarize an entire 10-year span in just nine categories, the following list represents the NFL’s bright spots, dark moments, and everything in between since 2010.
Bountygate
Saints LB Jonathan Vilma and DC Gregg Williams speak on the sideline in 2010.
Getty Images
We’ll start the list off with a negative… sorry. But it’s important to set a precedent for an article about a tumultuous, controversial 10 years with an event that was ongoing at the start of the decade. The New Orleans Saints were one of the best teams (if not the best team) entering the 2010 season. They were Super Bowl champions. They had Drew Brees at the helm, coming off what was perhaps the best season of his career. Their offense scored the most points in the NFL and their defense limited opponents to a bottom-five touchdown total.
But then, scandal struck.
A lengthy investigation of the team revealed that defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, head coach Sean Payton and defensive star Jonathan Vilma, among others, had taken part in an operation intended to target and injure other teams’ players. Payton became the first head coach ever to be suspended by the NFL, GM Mickey Loomis was suspended eight games and the Saints were fined a maximum $500,000 and had to forfeit draft picks. Spygate, the videotaping scandal of 2007 involving the Patriots, paled in comparison to the sanctions imposed by the league on the Saints.
Interestingly enough, Bountygate hardly blemished Payton's reputation. Williams, who served an indefinite suspension that lasted just a year, is the current defensive coordinator of the Jets. Vilma didn’t play again after 2012 due to injury, but has worked for ESPN as an analyst for some time now. However, the severity of the suspensions, fines, and other punishments were enough to dissuade any other organization from deploying a bounty scheme since then. Bountygate additionally set a basis for several other defining themes of the decade that we’ll get into below, mainly player safety and other team scandals.
More Scandal and Super Bowls for Patriots
Tom Brady hoists the Lombardi Trophy after winning the Super Bowl.
Getty Images
The Patriots are currently wrapped up in a scandal to end the decade. Spygate 2.0, though seemingly not as serious as Bountygate or the original Spygate, is attracting a ton of media attention and drawing proposed punishments ranging anywhere from a small fine to a playoff ban or a suspension of head coach Bill Belichick. It's been a theme this decade for the Patriots. There was Deflategate in 2015 — when the Indianapolis Colts accused the Patriots of deflating footballs in the AFC Championship Game to gain an advantage. This setup a showdown between Brady and the Patriots vs. Roger Goodell that spanned over two years, going all the way to the U.S. District Court of Appeals. The saga finally ended with Brady serving a four-game suspension to start the 2016 season, but raised larger questions about Goodell’s power and the Brady and Belichick legacy.
Yet Brady and Belichick seemingly got the last laugh. The franchise's more prominent theme this decade was sheer domination, winning three more Super Bowl titles and appearing in five. Their worst regular season over the past 10 years came in 2018, when they finished 11-5 (first in the AFC East) and were Super Bowl champions. That was their worst. The least successful season of the decade for the Patriots was better or equal to the best season for 10 teams around the league. An entire third of the league, in their best possible efforts, couldn’t surpass the very worst of the 2010s Patriots. The last time the Patriots recorded a season of single-digit wins -- a winning season at 9-7 -- Rich Gannon was the NFL MV, Aaron Rodgers was a freshman at Butte Community College and Lamar Jackson was five years old.
Brady now has the most Super Bowls victories by any quarterback (6) and has won 72.7% of his playoff appearances this decade, second only to Eli Manning (who has played in five postseason games as opposed to Brady’s 22). The combination of unmatched success, established figures, and a tendency to get tied up in controversial storylines have established the Patriots as the unofficial, yet undisputed villain of the NFL.
Antonio Brown and Social Media Drama
Antonio Brown looks on at Raiders practice.
Getty Images
Another event that brought more short-lived off-the-field attention to New England was its signing of Antonio Brown after he was cut by the Raiders for multiple reasons, including a conflict involving his helmet, a fight with general manager Mike Mayock and some truly bizarre behavior on social media. And though the predominant story coming out of Brown’s 2019 involves an entirely different conflict (more on that below), his interactions with the NFL universe on social media may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back during his brief Oakland tenure.
An example of this was when Brown created an Instagram story displaying the Raiders’ letter punishing him for missing practices and other team activities, adding his own comments in a small caption that read “When your own team want to hate but there’s no stopping me now devil is a lie. Everyone got to pay this year so we clear.” Or when he demanded his release from the Raiders in an Instagram post as well as sharing a phone call with head coach Jon Gruden. Or when he posted a video after finding out he was released, showing an overwhelming display of joy and attracting a lot of media attention and criticism.
It’s not only AB who has taken to social media and created headlines. Players have been exposed on social media by others, such as when Rob Gronkowski was featured in a post with an adult film actress. A locker room was exposed through social media a few times, most recently in 2019 when Tarik Cohen live streamed from the Chicago Bears’ facility. And as social media continues to grow, so too should the number of consequent stories that arise out of player interaction with these platforms.
Ray Rice and Domestic Violence
Ray Rice looks on from the Ravens sideline.
Getty Images
After Brown’s social media saga concluded in Oakland, it carried over to New England and developed a whole new tier to it: domestic violence allegations. Domestic violence has been an issue at the forefront of the NFL throughout the decade that has severely tarnished the reputation of some of the league’s top players.
Ray Rice had gotten off to a superb start to his career in Baltimore, surpassing 1000 yards on the ground from 2009 to 2012, capping off that run with a Super Bowl ring. But after TMZ released an incriminating video of Rice and his unconscious fiancee, he was suspended by the NFL and released from the Ravens, and he ultimately never played another snap.
Tyreek Hill, LeSean McCoy, Greg Hardy, Joe Mixon, Kareem Hunt and Ezekiel Elliott are just some of the names that have been tied up in domestic violence scandals. All five of those guys, plus others, are active in the league and got away with minimal punishment. The league’s domestic violence policy will continue to be highly scrutinized into further decades until a more concrete punishment system is put in place.
What Is a Catch?
Dez Bryant appears to make a catch before the call is overturned.
Getty Images
Speaking of concrete, there seemingly should be nothing more concrete in football than a catch. Yet, the 2010s turned something so simple on the surface into a more complicated and debated aspect of the game than previously imaginable.
An apparent catch in the NFC divisional playoff game between the Cowboys and the Packers was eventually overturned after the replay showed that Dez Bryant did not complete a “football move” before losing possession of the football as he fell toward the ground and reached out for the goal line. The Cowboys lost the game, and the play lives on in infamy. It wasn’t until three years after the controversial play that the league admitted that it was a catch.
But even after clarifying the rules and rewriting the book, it’s still not completely clear to the casual observer, or even the hardened fanatic, as to what technically counts as a catch. The confusion returned in the 2018 Super Bowl when Zach Ertz’s touchdown was confirmed despite it looking eerily similar to some plays that had been overturned earlier in the season. Even now, it’s baffling how you’ll still hear tenured announcers sound confused and need to depend on the official ruling from the field when a play like this occurs.
Replacement Referees and Pass Interference
Tommylee Lewis of the Saints can't make the catch as pass interference is not called.
Getty Images
Although the Packers were on the better side of the Dez Bryant catch, they were on the losing side of a different controversial call that occurred in 2012 against the Seahawks in a game officiated by replacement refs while the regular referees were on strike. Known colloquially as the “Fail Mary,” one referee ruled Russell Wilson’s deep ball in the end zone a touchdown to Golden Tate, while the other simultaneously ruled it an interception by M.D. Jennings. After further deliberation, the play was ruled a touchdown and Seattle walked off winners against Green Bay. And after even further deliberation, pretty much everyone agreed that the call made by the replacement refs was incorrect due to an uncalled pass interference.
While changes were put into effect in order to minimize the chances of further officiating confusion, such as the end of the referee lockout, there are still plenty of instances where officiating is highly contestable. For instance, the 2019 NFC Championship between the Rams and the Saints was swung by a very questionable no-call, spurring the league to change the rules once again and allow teams the opportunity to challenge pass interference. However, the tape has shown that pass interference decisions will often stand no matter how obvious it may seem that the wrong call was made. Through Week 12, 15 of 77 pass interference reviews were successful in causing an overturned ruling, good for about a 19% success rate. Many plays that would have been challenged in Week 1 seem to no longer be challenged by NFL coaching staffs, and that may be due to the fact that no one is quite sure what is enough to cause a play to get overturned. The referee debacle continues.
Concussions and Rule Changes
Broncos safety David Bruton is evaluated for a concussion.
Getty Images
Another type of penalty that is disputed among fans are those that are meant to help control player safety. Unnecessary roughness, roughing the passer and hits to a defenseless player are all game-changing calls that can fall anywhere on a massive spectrum. The most ticky-tack hit to a quarterback like Tom Brady could result in the same on-field ruling as a devastating blow to the head and neck of an unsuspecting receiver.
Awareness for player safety and concussion prevention has increased dramatically this decade. “Concussion,” the movie starring Will Smith as neuropathologist Bennet Omalu, dramatized the violent nature of the game and the life-altering effects of repeated blows to the head after retirement, including the neurodegenerative disease CTE. Heavy fines and punishments have been imposed on players who endanger other players with reckless behavior. The most extreme example of this occurred this year after Myles Garrett swung a helmet at a helmetless Mason Rudolph and was suspended indefinitely. But even after the public portrayal of the dangers of the NFL and the potential consequences of playing dangerously, concussions and other injuries continue to plague the NFL at a concerning rate.
Colin Kaepernick and Player Protests
Colin Kaepernick kneels in protest during the national anthem.
Getty Images
Perhaps no other figure in sports history has been the center of the news after a long period of inactivity from their respective sport. Colin Kaepernick decided to kneel during the national anthem and sent waves through the NFL fan base, some agreeing and supporting his decision to do so, and others wholeheartedly opposing the quarterback’s stance. It became political, it became a social issue, and it grew to be something much larger than football.
Perhaps no other figure in sports history has been the center of the news after a long period of inactivity from their respective sport. Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem to protest social injustice sent waves through the NFL fan base and beyond, some agreeing and supporting his decision to do so, and others wholeheartedly opposing the quarterback’s stance. It was a political and social stance, and it was a debate that was much larger than football but the NFL was right in the middle of it.
NFL owners got involved, huge media personalities weighed in and even the president of the United States had his say in the matter. It raised questions as to the power structure of the NFL and the real ability for players to express themselves. And, most recently, it brought to question whether or not player talent is the most important aspect in scouting a player after Kaepernick’s tumultuous time out of the league finally resulted in a “combine” filled with just as much scrutiny and controversy as we could have imagined.
The Rise of the Dual-Threat QB
Lamar Jackson rushes with the ball for the Ravens.
Getty Images
What Kaepernick was known for before his protests was his impressive dual-threat ability as a passer and as a rusher. The idea of the running quarterback exploded this decade. There are certainly mobile quarterbacks that come to mind throughout NFL history, including greats like Randall Cunningham and Michael Vick, but the presence of mobile quarterbacks in the NFL today far surpasses other generations of football and shows that the league is rapidly evolving to fit that blueprint.
Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson, 2019’s leading MVP candidates, both fit the bill. Jackson, in particular, is taking this play style to new heights, as he has broken the single-season QB rushing record and is up there with the best running backs in the league with his yardage total. Deshaun Watson, Josh Allen, Kyler Murray and more build the list of quarterbacks who defenses have to gameplan around differently. The RPO scheme has unlocked various new levels of offensive play-calling, and the entire league is working to adapt to the rapid new changes.
Mobile quarterbacks may very well define the next decade, as well. What we can be sure of is that there will be a whole new set of topics and categories that we will be able to look back on ten years from now, when the social media sagas, officiating controversies, and dominant New England empire are a thing of the past.
LISTEN NOW on the RADIO.COM App
Follow RADIO.COM Sports
Twitter
