As the 51st Super Bowl draws closer, football fans look back at the season’s top teams. With the Carolina Panthers not even making the playoffs after making it to the big game last year, fans are forced to find another team to root for. There were some unsurprising leaders, such as the New England Patriots, and some underdogs that emerged, such as the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions (the latter of which has never even been to a Super Bowl). But being a top team does not necessarily mean the best players, but more of an overall team effort. Regardless, there have been some obviously stand-out players this season.

 Football games can be misleading. One might watch a game and think they know which quarterback had the better game, but a lot of the times the stats tell a different story. On the other side of the coin, stats are not the end-all be-all. For example, Drew Brees, quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, threw for the most yards in the regular season – a whopping 5,208 yards. Only 5 quarterbacks have ever thrown over 5,000 yards in the regular season, and Brees has done so 5 times.  But this does not always account for everything, as the Saints did not even make the playoffs this season. The same goes with Matthew Stafford, quarterback for the Lions, who is one of the 5,000 yard season holders, but he has never won or been to a Super Bowl. When someone looks at the straight up stats, focusing on, say, overall quarterback rating (QBR) for the season, most people might guess Tom Brady to have the highest overall. But it was in fact the Falcons quarterback, Matt Ryan, who had the highest with a 83.1 QBR for the regular season. Brady came in a close second, however, with an 82.8 QBR.

 When it comes to running backs, stats are more cut and dry. The more rushing yards a player has, the better the running back. A running back can have a great season even if his team may not. This season, it was obvious that Ezekiel Elliott dominated for the Dallas Cowboys. He ran for a total of 1,631 yards in the regular season, giving him the 47th highest rushing yards in NFL history, and the highest for the season; not bad for a rookie. “Ezekiel Elliott was obviously one of the top running backs of the year,” senior Torrey Salas said, “He gave the Cowboys back their running game.” Jordan Howard, running back for the Bears, and DeMarco Murray, running back for the Titans, also had solid seasons. Respectively, they came in second and third for the most rushing yards despite neither of their teams making the playoffs.

 A wide receiver’s main statistic is their receiving yards. In the regular season, Colts’ wide receiver T.Y. Hilton lead the league with 1,448 yards – again, without his team making the playoffs. Julio Jones from the Falcons, unsurprisingly, also comes in at the top at #2 with 1,409 receiving yards. Jones holds the second highest record for receiving yards in a season, as well, with 1,871 yards and only coming in behind Calvin Johnson, who once had 1,964 receiving yards. All in all, it has been a good season in the NFL, and will only continue on in the Super Bowl.