As the season winds down and the excitement begins, it'd be nice to hear a little more about some of the other teams in the league. For someone like me who's a bit more casual of a fan, you can learn a lot through a balanced thread discussion.
I think this year is more up in the air than most years. The more dominant teams have a lot of injuries.
AFC
NE...They are getting hit with injury after injury. They seem to survive injuries better than most teams because they have less stars than most teams. They have a team full of good players who play the system perfectly so any one player is replaceable (besides Brady and Gronkowski). If they dont get a few players back by playoff time (mainly Edelman), they will be vulnerable. The WRs are pretty bad. LaFell couldnt catch a cold.
Cincinnati..They just lost their QB at least for the rest of the regular season and maybe for part of the playoffs. They have chronically lost in big games and in the playoffs anyway and I expect the same this year.
Denver..Their defense is the best in the league. Offense is a mess. Manning is hurt and old. Oswieler is getting sacked at double the pace that Manning was. He obviously cant make decisions fast enough due to inexperience. They play Pittsburgh this week and they are 5th in the league in sacks. Osweiler may spend a lot of time on his back this week. It will be interesting to see if Manning comes back or not.
Indy...Train wreck. Weak team in a weak division. No defense and the offense is down to a 3rd string QB.
Houston...Inconsistent but showing potential. Any team with a solid defense has a chance, but no team can survive 9 QB changes during a season and now Hoyer has concussion problems.
KC...They are kind of boring but very well coached and well balanced. Thats a typical Andy Reid team. They've won 7 games in a row so they have to be taken seriously. People underestimate how much turnovers affect a game and KC is 2nd in the league in turnover ratio.
Pittsburgh...They have the most explosive offense in the league but the pass defense has more holes than swiss cheese. Theyve played the toughest schedule in the league and beaten some good teams but also lost a couple games they shouldve won. If they beat Denver this week, they will all but seal a wild card spot.
Jets...Tough team to read. They are top 10 in offense AND defense but dont seem to scare a whole lot of teams. Maybe because they have a journeyman QB but he can really wing the ball all over the field. Their remaining schedule (Dallas, NE and Buffalo) is the toughest of the teams fighting for a wild card spot and I expect them to be the odd man out.
Honestly, I dont see any team other than NE, Cincinnati, or Pittsburgh winning the AFC.
