Ricky Williams may have retired, but he doesn't appear to be going away. AP

In our more harried moments, those of us who cover the NFL for a living like to occasionally refer to it as the NFS, as in the news Never Freakin' Stops in this league. There's always something brewing, and while the regular season lasts only 17 weeks, the other two-thirds of the year sometimes seems just as busy.

So picking our top five NFL stories of 2004 wasn't all that difficult. So many choices, so many headlines. As is always the case, there were surprises galore. Plot twists aplenty. Things we thought we knew turned out to be less than solid.

Or did you see Drew Brees and the Chargers resurgence coming? How about Quincy Carter getting cut by Bill Parcells in training camp? Raise your hand if you had Carolina's comeback charted out perfectly after that 1-7 first-half start.

And we'd be remiss if we didn't at least give one more nod of appreciation in honor of those resilient New England Patriots, whose two-season winning streak broke records and gave us at least one thing to count on in a most unpredictable NFL world.

Those are the honorable mentions. And now, the winners:

1. Ricky Williams retires -- For a guy who just wanted to disappear, this is the story that won't go away. Williams' surprise retirement broke the night of July 24 -- trust me, I know just where I was when I heard the news -- and five months later we're still getting regular Ricky updates. Ricky's on a globe-trotting tour with Lenny Kravitz. Ricky is indulging his favorite hobby (think Doobie Brothers). Ricky wants to come back and play this year. Ricky is going to holistic healing school. Ricky was seen giving Howard Hughes a ride as a hitch-hiker somewhere in northern California. OK, I made that last one up, but it could have happened.

My favorite moment of the whole bizarre saga, and there have been so many, was when Williams' agent, Leigh Steinberg, comically tried to convince everyone that Williams' passion for the game had magically returned. And it had nothing to do with owing the Dolphins millions of dollars. Honest. Swear. Cross my heart. Hope to die.

Maybe Miami was headed for its worst season since the late 1960s anyway, but Williams' bombshell reverberated long and loud. The Dolphins are ranked 31st in rushing, went through a casting call of running backs (with no one gaining 450 yards) and embattled head coach Dave Wannstedt stepped down under pressure after going 1-8. Thanks for the memories, Rick. Oh, and keep in touch. We just don't see enough of you these days.

Terrell Owens transformed the Eagles' offense with his skills and attitude. Simon Bruty/SI

2. All T.O., All the Time -- From the minute Terrell Owens found out he had his path to free agency blocked by some tardy paperwork in March, to the sickening sight of his leg being twisted like a pretzel underneath him in a Dec. 19 game against Dallas, the man they call T.O. has been in the news in 2004. In terms of over-exposure, Owens this year finished second behind only Janet Jackson.

But you have to give him this much: When he wasn't getting in trouble for swinging naked women around in the Eagles locker room, he was playing a pretty mean game of tackle football for Philadelphia. His 77 catches for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns transformed the Eagles from a fatally flawed NFC Super Bowl contender to the conference's reigning super power. Pretty much like he said he would. Ever since Joe Namath, we love it when our superstars back up their big talk.

From his ongoing and distasteful criticism of former teammate Jeff Garcia, to his hilarious end zone imitation of the Ray Lewis dance, (not to mention his demonstrative sideline stalking of Donovan McNabb in Pittsburgh), Owens has made us pay attention to him this season. In 2004, you could almost say that T.O. stood for Transcendentally Omnipresent.

Ben Roethlisberger has never lost as a starter in the NFL. Damian Strohmeyer/SI

3. Big Ben makes a big splash -- At the beginning of the year, none of us knew how to even spell Roethlisberger. Now the name is on everyone's lips. If he sits out the Steelers regular-season finale in Buffalo as expected, Pittsburgh's rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is going to have the distinction of starting a playoff game before he ever knows what it's like to lose a regular-season game. That's what happens when you win the first 13 starts of your career, making it look almost easy in the process.

Roethlisberger's rapid ascent just underlines the crap shoot that is drafting first-round quarterbacks. Taken 11th overall, behind Eli Manning (No. 1) and Philip Rivers (No. 4), he has 13 wins to his credit already. Manning and Rivers have combined for zero in 2004. With Roethlisberger and a stout running game, the Steelers (14-1) have woken up the echoes of the 1970s in Pittsburgh, and seem well positioned to make their first Super Bowl appearance in nine years.

4. Say it ain't so, Joe -- I live not too far from Washington, and in all honesty, fire-breathing Martians could have landed on the White House lawn and abducted Condoleeza Rice without generating any where near the ballyhoo that Joe Gibbs' return to the Redskins did (that's what I love about this job, you get to write sentences like that).

Joe Gibbs has had a rough adjustment after returning from an 11-year hiatus. Bob Rosato/SI

If you thought Redskins fans bought into the Steve Spurrier as Savior campaign (not to mention a few NFL media types), that little bit of premature celebration paled in comparison to the dawn of the second Gibbs era. Once Gibbs was hired in January, there were rational, thoughtful people who immediately predicted the Redskins would make the playoffs this year. And let's face it, if you couldn't make the playoffs in the sad-sack NFC this year, well, you were a really, really bad football team.

For all the fuss, Gibbs is going to win either five or six games in his first season back on the sideline after an 11-year hiatus from coaching. Spurrier went 5-11 in his second of two seasons, and then resigned by cell phone from a golf course somewhere in Florida. Just saying.

Peyton Manning's 49 TDs are the most ever in a single season. Bob Rosato/SI

5. Peyton breaks Dan's heart -- We in the media simply can't resist those "on-pace'' stories, and that's why we turned Peyton Manning's quest to break Dan Marino's 1984 league record of 48 touchdown passes into a hype-fest worthy of Roger Maris chasing the Babe and Pete Rose taking down Ty Cobb -- only bigger. Without a doubt, Manning has been amazing. At the top of his game in his seventh NFL season, he is a coolly efficient touchdown machine and the game's most gifted and complete quarterback.

But he's also aided by perhaps the perfect storm of supporting factors, such as playing in the same offense as Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Edgerrin James, with 10 of his 16 games indoors, and the defensive rule changes all but outlawing pass coverage. Some times it's even hard to accurately gauge Manning's greatness because he has all those things going for him.

This much we know: Throwing the 49th touchdown pass to break Marino's 20-year-old record won't mean all that much to Manning unless the Colts go at least one step further than they did last season, when they lost at New England in the AFC Championship Game. A record and a ring? Now that's a season that deserves being put into historical perspective.

Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com.