NFL
Predictions - AFC Analysis
Breakdown of the NFL Power Conference, the AFC
With the NFL season approaching fast, here we are once again making
our little predictions and trying to guess which teams will make
it to the Super Bowl – a fundamentally futile, yet so pleasant
an activity…
Anyway, even if our mere human intelligence is hardly capable of
truly accurate predictions, we can make a few educated guesses about
the 2007-2008 season, especially in light of what we know about
the teams poised to get rolling soon.
First off: let’s take a look at the power conference of the
NFL, the AFC. The big question here is, which division will yield
the AFC Super Bowl representative for 2008? Will it be AFC East,
with the New England Pats and the New York Jets, or will it be AFC
South, with the defending champions, The Indianapolis Colts?
The Pats sure look like they are well capable of taking on the
task, with their newly bolstered receiving corps, (Randy Moss and
Donte Stallworth) and with improvements on the defensive end too,
through the signing of LB Adalius Thomas.
The Jets shouldn’t be swept aside while handicapping either.
They acquired Thomas Jones from the Bears, who is bound to help
on Chad Pennington’s game big time. If only the Jets could
whip their defense into shape too, they’d be right up there
with the best of them, the only issue is though, that that particular
problem largely rests on the shoulders of Andre Wadsworth, whose
reliability is somewhat questionable.
The Dolphins and the Bills give us a few very good reasons not
to hold them among the league’s top contenders for next season,
but enough said about that.
AFC South is clearly dominated by the Indianapolis Colts, who –
despite losing both their cornerback starters – look in good-enough
shape to take down another championship. Their defensive improvement
depends largely on Joseph Addai, and if the RB manages to pull his
act together, the Colts will probably walk away with another title.
The Titans can’t really match the talent of their QB, Vince
Young, and as a one-man act, they don’t really pose a threat
to anyone let alone the defending champions.
Other than that, the Colts are fairly unchallenged in their division.
North is the contested territory of the AFC. There are three teams
battling it out in AFC North, and because of this dog-eat-dog situation,
probably none of them will make it to the Super Bowl. The Pittsburg
Steelers look to bounce back this year, and their coach, Mike Tomlin
might just be the key piece in their comeback.
The Cincinnati Bengals will work their awesome offense next season
too, but the loss of Kevin Kaesviharn and Brian Simmons might spell
doom for their defense. In that case, the only option for them is
to outscore AFC teams, and quite frankly, I don’t like the
odds of that happening too often…
The Ravens look like they’ll be one of the strongest teams
in the first half of the season, in theory, they might even make
it to the Super Bowl. The fact that Steve McNair isn’t getting
any younger though, might have a few words to say in that…
AFC West is Chargers territory. There’s really no other team
here that could challenge San Diego for the division-title. No,
the Broncos won’t do it either, even though they have Champ
Bailey and Jay Cutler.
About the Raiders and the Chiefs: what about them?
Bottom line: division champions will probably be the Pats, the
Chargers, the Steelers and the Colts, with the Colts going up against
the Chargers for the conference title. Indianapolis will probably
represent AFC in the Super Bowl, against New Orleans.
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