Who's coming out of the AFC?

[Southieinnc]

I’m done betting against New England.

Patriots are starting a 42 year old 6th round draft pick against 3 1st round quarterbacks. They'll be lucky to win their division.....

 

[Brees#1]

NE
KC
Indy
SD
Jax
Pitt

I feel one of these six have the best chance

Pittsburgh I feel can't win more than 11. And until they can win in NE, I won't pick them to beat them and if they went on a road run, they would have to go through NE. I see 2 losses in division along with NE, one of the West road games at Ari/SF, and Ind/LAR (both b2b). And as I brought up before, Jets at home have always been a problem for Pittsburgh. I think Indy, NE, and KC will all be better if they win the North.

As for the Chargers, same deal as Pittsburgh. They can't beat NE. And KC should be the favorite to win the division.

Jacksonville....good defense, but we'll see. Who are Foles' weapons?

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

Pittsburgh I feel can't win more than 11. And until they can win in NE, I won't pick them to beat them and if they went on a road run, they would have to go through NE. I see 2 losses in division along with NE, one of the West road games at Ari/SF, and Ind/LAR (both b2b). And as I brought up before, Jets at home have always been a problem for Pittsburgh. I think Indy, NE, and KC will all be better if they win the North.

As for the Chargers, same deal as Pittsburgh. They can't beat NE. And KC should be the favorite to win the division.

Jacksonville....good defense, but we'll see. Who are Foles' weapons?

Yes NE is the front runner for the top seed but I don't have a crystal ball on the rest of the teams. Just going with the early preseason gut feeling.

 

[BostonBlackie]

Patriots are starting a 42 year old 6th round draft pick against 3 1st round quarterbacks....

Sounds like a fair fight.

 

[Brees#1]

That's pretty much my thoughts as well. Not too high on the Steelers but they have the pedigree and a QB who has been there so can't totally count them out.
While the Browns are a hot take, history shows that QB's in their first playoff appearance rarely make it to the big game. A lot of young and hungry guys there though.
OP appears to be pretty high on the Ravens.. I don't think Lamar can carry that team to the playoffs with his legs. He will either get pulverized at some point or will have to win with his arm when defenses shut down the run. He just isn't a good enough passer imo.

It's their schedule. I don't think they are coming out of the AFC but with the right matchups they could. However, if they win the home games they are supposed to win, beat NE at home, and sweep Cincinnati they may win the division. LAC beat them because of the rematch and the team refusing to put Flacco in. Baltimore put a beatdown on them two weeks earlier, right after LAC beat KC to tie for the division. Baltimore could win at home against KC and Indy. And maybe Cleveland because they go to Cleveland week 16. NE and Pit most likely no. LAC will have no rematch advantage.

 

[Brees#1]

That would just be the ultimate cruelty to that fan base

The only way that happens is if Mayfield has a season ending injury.

This can't be refuted, they beat Atlanta when Atlanta was coming off three straight wins (of course you had to know they were losing a back to back). They then sweep the Bengals and beat Carolina. Though if Mayfield was not so bent on paying back the Bengals, he could have used that energy to send a statement by beating the Texans, someone who was actually contending. That Bengals win hurt them against Houston.

 

[Brees#1]

Im gonna say this and deal with whatever comes my way.

The Patriots are still the team to beat in the AFC, they have been to Superbowls before with a missing or at 30% Gronk so that loss is not as big as people want it to be. They are loaded at the RB position and have a top 10 O-line to support that run game. They got bigger a WR and did a lot to improve the D. There were guys drafted lasted year that were injured that should have a positive impact. And they have Belichick.

But the Pats are dealing with a improving AFC. Yes they were making SBs left and right contending against green teams and those that were on too big of a high. I mean when you are playing Osweiller, Mariotta, and Bortles it's kind of hard to lose your stranglehold over the AFC. Mahomes, Luck, Mayfield are not going away though and that's going to be something NE hasn't had to deal with since Manning.

One last thing, NE has never gone to a SB as a non-bye team with this regime. If they had to go on the road against two teams in January, we'll see what they are made of then. KC forced them to go to OT. If there's a January rematch they could do better and KC goes to NE in December. There's major same-season rematch implications here.

 

[BostonBlackie]

One last thing, NE has never gone to a SB as a non-bye team with this regime. If they had to go on the road against two teams in January, we'll see what they are made of then. KC forced them to go to OT. If there's a January rematch they could do better and KC goes to NE in December. There's major same-season rematch implications here.

Yeah, but they went into Arrowhead and won.

 

[Brees#1]

I'm not buying any team. Indy - they can't beat NE. KC - probably had the best chance but they lost some key pieces. CLE - inexperienced even though they gained easily the most in the offseason. LAC - they have a ton of talent but Rivers just can't get his team over the hump.

NE - never has an issues and if they do they fix them in time for the playoffs so they would be my pick. I am hoping it doesn't happen but they prove it year after year.

Indy hasn't had a fair chance. All of their playoff games have been in NE with Luck. When the media says this team owns you because they have now included playoff wins as part of that, it can become eaten up and affect the team. The media has a lot to do today with how teams play. Luck had only lost two regular season and two postseason games to Brady and it's all of a sudden NE owns Luck after three years. He was not supposed to beat Brady those years because the one home game they had was the year NE was loaded on defense.

 

[Brees#1]

Yeah, but they went into Arrowhead and won.

Mahomes still had no experience. KC's defense was bad and the team just started to break through by winning a playoff game against a legit team and not that backing in Texans team in 2015.

 

[Brees#1]

If I had to make a pick now, I would say Indianapolis. But I don't want to be screwed like I was in 2015 when I made that prediction. I picked Indy to beat Seattle in the 2015 SB. That didn't pan out well. Kc is my backup. I am mostly concerned on whether KC will go 2-2 or 4-0 against the NFC North, which will determine if they win their division and/or have a high seed. I'm also starting to question week 1 at Jacksonville.

 

[BostonBlackie]

I don't get into predictions. The fun is in watching the season unfold.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Mahomes still had no experience. KC's defense was bad and the team just started to break through by winning a playoff game against a legit team and not that backing in Texans team in 2015.

Bruh, we’re a KC D not being awful away or even a coinflip away from the Chiefs making the SB. Experience had very little to do with the Pats games unless you think the Chiefs so badly out-talent the Pats D they should drop 50 on them. They were close games the Chiefs came up short in. Not much more to read into there- it wasn’t a pantsing by either team.