Yesterday, one of our esteemed writers Alex Hamel wrote an article titled “The AFC Sucks and Won't Get Better Soon.” The general premise of his piece was exactly that--the AFC is really bad--but I think his notion is a bit of an exaggeration.
Of course, I agree that the NFC is the better of the two conferences. There’s no doubt about that, but the gap is not as wide as you might imagine, and I think it’s actually closing.
Right now, this is what I think the playoff picture looks like for the two conferences:
AFC:
Patriots
Jaguars
Steelers
Chargers
Chiefs
Texans
On the bubble: Titans, Ravens, Colts
NFC:
Rams
Eagles
Vikings
Saints
Falcons
Packers
On the bubble: 49ers, Giants, Panthers
Now, looking at those teams, the best in their respective conferences, it’s clear that the NFC is quite stacked, but is the AFC really that bad?
The Patriots are as good as any team in the NFC with Tom Brady still at QB, and despite the fact that Alex says, “I will never consider Jacksonville an elite team as long as Blake Bortles is the quarterback,” the Jaguars are an elite team. I know Blake Bortles isn’t anything special, but we all (rightly) viewed the Vikings as an elite team last year despite them having Case Keenum under center. The Jags have an incredible defense, one that stifled Tom Brady for much of the AFC Championship Game last January. The Jaguars have the talent to beat any team in the NFC this year.
Meanwhile, the Steelers still have a scary offense, and although I don’t think they’ll be anywhere near the Lombardi Trophy come February 2019, they can definitely compete with the top NFC teams this season.
Now, the final three teams I have on there are also pretty solid.
The Chargers have a stacked offense and have finally given Philip Rivers (specifically with their recent draft pick) the necessary talent on defense. The Bolts are one of the most underrated teams in the NFL and are a dark horse that could give any of the NFC’s best a run for their money.
The Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes will be solid (at least in the regular season), and the Texans absolutely have the talent to make it to Super Bowl LIII.
Again, I want to reiterate that I completely agree with Alex’s opinion that the NFC is better right now, but to say that the AFC sucks is a massive overstatement, and to suggest that the AFC-NFC gap won’t close is, I believe, severely misguided.
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