The two most feared teams in the AFC that may not make the playoffs
December 25, 2009 by Staff
Filed under All Sports
It’s that time of year again in the NFL when your record doesn’t matter as much as how well you’re playing. For the Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos and 6 teams with a record of 7-7, their records may or may not prevent them from making the postseason, but for the right team, their level of play at this point in the year could be the makings of a Super Bowl run.
Of course, we already consider the Indianapolis Colts, the San Diego Chargers, and perhaps the Cincinnati Bengals as potential AFC representatives in the Super Bowl, because they have been winning consistently to this point in the NFL season. But what about those other 8 teams I mentioned? Which of them is a legitimate Super Bowl contender come January?
I have two potential wildcard teams that, assuming they make the playoffs, could be a real threat to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, the same way the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers did a few seasons ago.
Tennessee Titans
I am slightly concerned about making the Titans a Super Bowl worthy team since they have to get every break in the world to make the postseason. Not to mention, they just lost two starting linebackers on defense, and I’m not sure how capable they are of replacing them this late in the season. But for the sake of this argument, I’m going to assume they don’t fall off too much on defense and that they cover up any holes those losses might have caused. And with Vince Young and Chris Johnson leading their offense, there’s no reason to believe that the two of them can’t muster up enough points to make that team a viable threat to just about every team in the AFC. In fact, the Titans have already beaten some worthy opponents in the AFC during their stretch of 7 wins in 8 games, including the Jaguars and Dolphins. If they can knock off the Chargers on Christmas Night, the rest of the AFC better be looking over their shoulders.
Miami Dolphins
I was thinking about going with the Baltimore Ravens here, but they just haven’t shown me enough consistency on either side of the ball to this point in the season. Thus, I like the Dolphins, who unlike last year, are a lot more imperfect. A season ago, the Dolphins got into the playoffs by essentially never making mistakes and breaking the NFL record for the best turnover differential in the history of the league. But this year, they make mistakes on par with the rest of the league, but now they are more equipped to deal with them. Chad Henne throws an interception, the defense plays great sudden change defense. Ricky Williams puts the ball on the ground; the defense gets it back for the offense. The Dolphins fall behind, and Henne has the arm power to pass them back into the game. This is a team that is ready to take on any situation they encounter, and that’s a good recipe for the postseason when you never know what position your team is going to be in.
