2019 American Football Season

The 2019 American football season was a historic milestone across all levels of the sport. Marking both the 100th season of the National Football League (NFL) and the 150th anniversary of college football (CFB150), the year was defined by record-shattering offensive performances, the rise of a new NFL powerhouse, and what is widely considered one of the greatest collegiate teams of all time.

The NFL’s 100th Season and a Kingdom Restored

The 2019 NFL season saw a generational shift at the quarterback position. While established veterans continued to play at a high level, young, highly mobile, and creative quarterbacks took center stage and dominated the league’s narrative.

• Regular Season MVP: Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson took the league by storm, orchestrating a high-powered rushing attack and leading the Ravens to a league-best 14–2 regular-season record. Jackson won the MVP award unanimously after throwing for 36 touchdowns and rushing for over 1,200 yards.
• Super Bowl LIV: The season culminated on February 2, 2020, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The Kansas City Chiefs, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, faced off against the defensively dominant San Francisco 49ers.
• The Champions: Despite trailing by double digits in the fourth quarter, Mahomes sparked a thrilling comeback, leading the Chiefs to a 31–20 victory. The win secured Patrick Mahomes the Super Bowl MVP honors and gave the Kansas City franchise its first Lombardi Trophy in 50 years.

College Football’s Supposed 150th Anniversary and the LSU Juggernaut

The 2019 collegiate season was a masterclass in offensive firepower, culminating in an unblemished run by a team from the SEC.

• The LSU Tigers: Led by head coach Ed Orgeron and an innovative passing attack, LSU became just the second team in FBS history to finish a perfect 15–0. Their schedule was a gauntlet; they defeated seven top-10 ranked opponents along the way, the most by any team in college football history.
• The National Championship: LSU claimed the College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship by dismantling the defending champion Clemson Tigers 42–25 in New Orleans.
• Heisman Trophy: LSU quarterback Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy in a landslide. He compiled one of the most statistically magnificent seasons ever recorded, passing for an NCAA-record 60 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions while completing 76 percent of his throws.

More 2019 Gridiron Milestone Moments

Beyond the respective championship games, the 2019 season featured remarkable individual feats and memorable milestones:

• Michael Thomas’s Record: New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas set a new single-season NFL record by hauling in an astonishing 149 receptions, racking up over 1,700 receiving yards.
• Burrow’s Title Game Masterpiece: In the CFP National Championship game, Joe Burrow cemented his legacy by passing for 463 yards and 5 touchdowns, while also rushing for another score to total 6 touchdowns on college football’s biggest stage.
• The CFB150 Celebration: During halftime of the CFP title game, college football honored the top 11 players from the “150 Greatest Players” list—including legends like Jim Brown, Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson, and Archie Griffin—as part of a nationwide celebration of the sport’s sesquicentennial.
• New England’s Last Dance: The 2019 season effectively marked the end of the New England Patriots’ two-decade dynasty with Tom Brady under center. Despite a strong regular-season start, the defending champions were upset at home by the Tennessee Titans in the Wild Card round, which would be Brady’s final game in a Patriots uniform.

A Deep Dive into 2019 Football History and Highlights

• January 1, 2019 – The Rose Bowl game featured #6 Ohio State battling #9 Washington in the Grand Daddy of bowl games. The Buckeyes held on for a 28- 23 victory as QB Dwayne Haskins passed for 251 yards and 3 touchdowns, earning Player of the Game honors alongside teammate Safety Brendon White.
• January 7, 2019 – Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California – The National Championship pitted the top two teams in the country once again as #2 Clemson took on #1 Alabama. CBSSports.com reports that with strong defense and on the arm of the Tigers’ sensational freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who tossed for 347 yards and three touchdowns, led Clemson to a dominating claim to the title in a 44-16 victory.
• January 20, 2019 – Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans – At the NFC Championship game, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com, the Los Angeles Rams outlasted the New Orleans Saints, 26-23, in overtime. The infamous “Pass Interference No-Call” stunned the NFL fan base. According to an article on Ringer.com, with less than two minutes remaining in the game and the score tied at 20, the Saints were well within field-goal range at the Rams’ 13-yard line. Three plays later, the Saints faced a third-and-10, and a conversion would’ve meant that they’d be able to work the clock to mere seconds and attempt a chip-shot field goal that would’ve basically punched their tickets to the Super Bowl. Drew Brees dropped back and looked for receiver Tommylee Lewis, but the wideout got basically destroyed by Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman prior to the ball getting to him. No yellow laundry was tossed onto the field, so the Saints were forced to kick earlier than they should have had to, leaving the Rams 1:41 to mount a comeback. And that they did, kicking the tying score in regulation and the game winner in overtime to have the opportunity to go to Super Bowl LIII.
• January 20, 2019 – Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City – What a game and what storylines it had. The main one being the greatest Quarterback of all time, Tom Brady, leading his team against the new gunslinger in the NFL, Patrick Mahomes. During the 2018 AFC Championship Game, each QB legend had their bright spots in the contest, but none was any bigger than Mahomes putting the Chiefs on his back and scoring 24 points in the fourth, including a game-tying field goal with just 8 seconds left in regulation, Pro-Football-Reference.com. It was Brady and the Patriots, though, that had a drive of their own in the extra session that finished the game with a 2-yard Rex Burkhead touchdown. The New England Patriots outlasted the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime 37-31 to face the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
• January 27, 2019 – Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida – Newcomers Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and safety Jamal Adams of the New York Jets claimed co-MVP honors as the AFC surged past the NFC 26-7 in the 2018 NFL Pro Bowl, per the OnthisDay.com website.
• February 3, 2019, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta. Super Bowl LIII was a defensive slugfest between the Patriots and the Rams. In sharp contrast to the earlier dynamic era of the “Greatest Show on Turf,” this matchup illustrated the evolution of football strategy, where defense took center stage. The Patriots came out victorious in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in history, defeating the Rams 13-3. Wide receiver Julian Edelman earned MVP honors with 10 catches for 141 yards, securing New England’s record-tying sixth championship.
• March 24,  2019, New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski announces retirement as a 3-time Super Bowl winner. The elite Tight End boasted postseason records in 81 receptions, 1163 receiving yards, and 12 TDs at 12 per the Pro Football Hall of Fame website.  
• April 16, 2019 – Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson became the highest-paid player in NFL history. According to an April 17, 2019, newspaper article in The Olympian, Wilson signed a 4-year, $140m extension, including a record $65m signing bonus. $107  million of the contract was guaranteed! The columnist Greg Bell of the newstribune.com wrote that the quarterback’s agent, Mark Rodgers, confirmed the contract’s figures. The amazing thing is that the Seahawks and Wilson’s reps were working on the deal into the wee hours of the night, which was finalized at 12:44 AM on April 16, 2019, and the team called a 1:30 PM press conference to formally announce it. The deal works out to approximately $35 million per year, nearly doubling his previous annual salary of $17 million.
• April 25, 2019, NFL Draft: Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray was the #1 pick by the Arizona Cardinals. For the complete story and players selected in the 2019 NFL Draft, check out our post.

Music City Magic: How the 2019 NFL Draft Rewrote the Playbook

• June 13, 2019 – Legendary Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen dies at age 75. Over his 35-year tenure, Bowlen transformed the Broncos into a premier NFL franchise, leading them to seven Super Bowl appearances and three championships while serving as a crucial architect of the league’s massive growth in television broadcasting.
• October 12, 2019 – The University of South Carolina knocks off the 3rd-ranked University of Georgia by a score of 20-17.
• October 13, 2019 – During week six of the 2019 season, a handful of exciting and close games were played. The Seahawks and the Browns traded points all day, with the Seahawks getting the better of the exchange in a 32-28 final as Chris Carson rushed for 124 yards for the Hawks, while his Browns counterpart Nick Chubb put up 122 yards on the ground himself in the close game. The Washington Redskins overcame a late Dolphins charge by the score of 17-16. Adrian Peterson ran for 118 yards to help Washington seal the victory. The Atlanta Falcons put on a late charge but fell to the upstart Cardinals of Arizona 33-34. Matt Ryan was 30 of 36 passing, throwing for 356 yards and 4 scores. Meanwhile, the Cardinals’ young gun Kyler Murray was 27 of 37 in attempts, tossing 340 yards and 3 TD passes, and rushing for another 32 yards on the ground!
• November 9, 2019, Tuscaloosa, Alabama – It was an SEC matchup of the Number 2 LSU Tigers traveling to play against the Number 3-ranked Tide of Alabama.  Joe Burrow passed for 393 yards and three touchdowns as his LSU Tigers defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide in a slugfest of heavyweights, 41-46. (source)
• November 24, 2019 – McMahon Stadium, Calgary, Alberta – The 107th Grey Cup Game was played as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats tangled with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The Bombers were the better team that day, as they dominated the T-Cats 33-12, per the CFL.ca story. Winnipeg’s Andrew Harris was honored with earning both the MVP and the Most Valuable Canadian Awards, for the first time in Cup history!
• November 25, 2019 – Quarterback Lamar Jackson, in just his second season in the League, became the first QB in NFL history to throw for at least 3,000 passing yards and rush for 1,500 yards in his first 2 NFL seasons. The Ravens flexed their muscles in a 45-6 blowout against the LA Rams.
• November 30, 2019 – it was another classic matchup between two SEC and National powerhouses when the 83rd Iron Bowl pitted the #16 Auburn Tigers against the #5-ranked Alabama. According to AuburnTigers.com, the scoring was in plentiful supply as Auburn, fueled by two pick-sixes, held on after a late missed field goal to win 48-45 over their rivals.
• December 15, 2019 – Oakland, California – The Raiders played their final NFL home game in Oakland before moving to Las Vegas. The Jon Gruden-led Raiders gave up 17 unanswered second-half points to fall at the hands of the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars, 20-16.16.
• December 16, 2019 – Drew Brees went 29 of 30 for 307 yards & 4 TDs, setting a record 96.7% completion rate against the Indianapolis Colts. In doing so, Brees also broke former Colts quarterback Peyton Manning‘s NFL record of 539 career touchdown passes as the New Orleans Saints buried the Indianapolis 34-7.
• December 22, 2019 – New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas set an NFL record for most catches in a season, according to a NewOrleansSaints.com website story.  Thomas, in the contest, raised his season total to 144 catches as the Saints knocked off the Tennessee Titans 38-28. Michael Thomas’ new milestone breaks a 17-year-old record once held by Indianapolis Colts Marvin Harrison, who posted a season total of 143.
• December 28, 2019 – At the Fiesta Bowl, which was the BCS College Football Playoff semifinal, #3 Clemson knocked off #2 Ohio State, 29-23, for the right to play for the national Championship.
• December 28, 2019 – The Peach Bowl was the other 2019 College Football Playoff semifinal; #1 LSU embarrassed #4 Oklahoma, 63-28, to advance to meet Clemson.