NFL Week 12: The Thanksgiving Blues

My only question about the weak AFC comment is I don't see how the NFC is any stronger. The Patriots are doing what they do, getting better and better as the season goes on. For all their flaws, the Steelers are 8-2 and they head into the Sunday night game on a five-game winning streak. Those eight wins include 26-9 victory over the Vikings, who look like the second-best team in the NFC.

That isn't so much a defense of the AFC as it is a question over whether the NFC is any better. After the Eagles and Patriots, how much faith do you have in anybody?

Of course, after I post that, the Steelers will probably find a way to play another stinker against a battered Packers team Sunday night. A true contender should beat the Packers without Rodgers, but the Steelers have a long history of playing down to crappy competition and they are now down four starters for that one with Gilbert's suspension and JuJu Smith-Schuster's hamstring injury. (He was declared out for the game today.)

 

I think the NFC is deeper not necessarily better at the top.

 

Really? The top three teams have all won at least seven straight games. Saints have their best running game ever under Payton and have turned Brees into a pretty fucking good game manager. Vikings look legit with Case Keenum having one of those magical seasons. And Wentz is the real deal (though I'm convinced Philly will find a way to screw it up in the playoffs). Only weak link amongst the likely division winner is L.A,, and it's hard to knock the Rams for all the strides they've made.

AFC is Belichick & Brady toying with the league and the Steelers ekeing out wins in spite of Rapey McRapist's rapid decline. Maybe four wins by a TD or less means they'll be battle-tested for the playoffs, or maybe they're gonna bust after continually hitting on 18. Andy Reid is turning into Andy Reid and it's glorious in KC. If not for the presence of the Patriots, and the fact their QB is Blake freaking Bortles, I'd really like the Jaguars' chances of making a deep run.

NFC playoffs are going to be great. AFC playoffs are going to be a boring march toward Brady-Ben in the title game.

 

The Saints are looking like they're legit, and winning with a formula that's tried and true for January. Carolina and Atlanta are solid and experienced. And then the Seahawks and Lions are capable of beating anyone on the right day. You basically go eight-deep in the NFC before you look at a team and say, "Yeah, I just can't see them putting it together at all."
In the AFC, the Jaguars and Chiefs are the 3 and 4 seeds right now. The Titans and Ravens are 5 and 6.
I can see the Chiefs getting their act together, and maybe the Chargers pulling together a surprise run, but the rest of the AFC seems to have serious flaws. The Jags are a nice story, but Blake Bortles having to win in Foxborough in January? Really?
The Patriots and the Steelers are favorites to win it all, as always, but the roster doesn't run nearly as deep in the AFC as it does in the NFC. More importantly, there's not as sharp a dividing line between those top eight NFC teams as there is between the Patriots, Steelers, and every other AFC team.

 

I still can't let myself believe that Case fucking Keenum is even a decent QB but he's showing he is. I put the Pats, Eagles and Pats as my top 3 teams and I think KC will rebound. The depth of the NFC is far superior to the AFC which should make the playoffs and the stretch run far more entertaining.

 

"You said the Pats twice."
"I like the Pats."

 

I'm not even drunk yet. I meant Steelers.

 

When the top teams from the AFC have played the top ones from the NFC this season, the AFC teams won. The Patriots crushed the Saints. The Steelers won handily against the Vikings. The Chiefs beat the Eagles.

The top three in the AFC have all won at least four in a row, for what it's worth. At this point, I would rather look at overall resume and see how the teams finish. Again, the AFC contenders have their flaws, but I'm not sold on the big boys in the NFC, either.

 

Yet.

I'm still not sure what to make of the Steelers. The pass defense that was so good early on is faltering, only partly due to the loss of Joe Haden. But really, it comes down to Roethlisberger. He finally looked like a quality quarterback last week. If that player shows up the rest of the way, they are a real threat in the AFC.

I know some power rankings have the Vikings higher. Maybe a rematch with the Steelers goes better for them, but the first go-round was not impressive for Minnesota. I really haven't seen much of the Saints except for the one they were lucky to win last week against a crappy Redskins team.

 

Those results are all two-plus months old, though. YOUR METRICS ARE FLAWED!!!!!!

 

The Steelers and Patriots have both won five in a row. The Jaguars have won four in a row. You wanted to talk about winning streaks by the NFC's top contenders, but that includes results from over a month ago!

But hey, if you want to go with the most recent, the Saints needed a furious comeback and a bad call to beat a Redskins team with a losing record last week. That same week, the Steelers blew a playoff-bound Titans team off the field, 40-17.

 

The Titans are a playoff team because they play in the AFC. Better teams than them and the Ravens will miss the playoffs in the NFC.