The AFC is very... unexpected

After a crazy weekend in the NFL, I was planning on giving people a more neutral stance on the issues that were at hand, however, I am sick of seeing politics mixed in with sports. All I want to do is just watch sports, so I decided against adding to the pot full of articles about the mess that has been going on; instead I have decided to write about how happy I am that the AFC seems more balanced than it ever has.

            Generally, the AFC has only about two or three good teams and one of those teams is ALWAYS the Patriots but now? The AFC has the Raiders, Chiefs, Texans, Steelers, Broncos and yes still the Patriots. The AFC is also home to a few up and coming teams that should be good within the next few years with the Titans, Jags, and even the Browns should be good soon – you would have to go out of your way to still suck after 11 draft picks over two years – which means that the already interesting AFC is only going to get better. I would go off on a tangent about how good some of these teams are and will be but I would rather keep these posts relatively short so maybe another day. It is revitalizing to see the AFC so balances in comparison to past years. I’m still sticking with my pick for the Raiders, however, with every week showing me new things that I really did not expect out of some of these teams, it is becoming less and less clear as to who really will come out of that division. If I am wrong about the Raiders coming out AFC champions, that is completely okay with me because of how much more exciting it is to watch these teams when anyone has a chance to lose.

Andrew Luck Needs to Bounce

Andrew Luck is one of the best QBs in the NFL when he is healthy. He has a career passer rating of 87.3 and his lowest passer ratings were 76.5 and 74.9, one of which was his rookie season and the other was 2015, when he spent a lot of time hurt, and dealing with that atrocious offensive line which the Colts still have not addressed. If Andrew Luck stays with the Colts he will see no success and only continue to get hurt since the Colts front office continues to not draft correctly. Offensive line should have been priority #1 and they did not draft an offensive lineman until the 4^th round. The 4^th round. Andrew Luck was sacked 41 times in 2016! He has currently missed the first two games of 2017 and is currently ruled out of game 3 as well. The face of your franchise who is a 3x pro bowler and led your team to 3 playoff runs and to the AFC championship gets sacked 41 times and you draft a safety in the first round? Andrew Luck needs to get out of Indianapolis as soon as he can. He has the potential to bring teams to the Super Bowl and his talent is being wasted with the colts who seem to have no interest in protecting him.

Andrew Luck should go to the Jaguars. They have built their defense in free agency and have provide weapons on the offense, including drafting a very promising Leonard Fournette to aid in the run game. The only thing they are missing to start really winning games is a great QB to pull it all together. Andrew Luck is that man. Do I think it will happen? Probably not, however, as a fan of Andrew Luck I want him out of there because I do not want to see such a special talent wasted with a team that doesn’t care about his wellbeing. 

Gabe's Personal NFL Power Rankings (1-5)

1.      Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs offense was firing on all cylinders against a team that many people expected to cruise to a win. It was a highly contested game up until the fourth when the Chief’s offense exploded with 21 points to seal up a nice victory. Their defense was never something that people were worried about and it seems as if their offense has answered a few questions as well.

2.      The Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys biggest question mark was the defense and say what you want about how OBJ was not on the field this last Sunday but let’s not act like the rest of the giants receiving corps isn’t good, with Sterling Shepard and newly signed Brandon Marshall. An offense with the weapons that the giants have regardless of OBJ being on the field or not would not be held to only 3 points by just any defense. The Cowboys defense has definitely made improvements in all categories especially pass rush, tallying 3 sacks on Eli Manning, and I know it is only one game, but this was a game against a team that some analysts had winning the East and even making a SB run.

3.      The Green Bay Packers

Aaron Rodgers is something very special. He took a defense that ranked in the bottom 10 of NFL defenses in 2016 to the NFC Championship. When I saw them play against the Seahawks I saw a defense that was much better in every category. Receivers couldn’t get open and the defensive line was in Russel Wilsons face all day. They held the Seahawks to zero touchdowns, and if you’re a fan of the NFL you know it is hard to stop Russel Wilson. The Packers are looking much better on the defensive side this year; however, the Seahawks offensive line is probably one of the worst in the league so I will need to see them against a better offense to put them any higher on the power rankings. Packer fans, I would not be worried about a thing.

4.      The Oakland Raiders

The Raiders cruised to a nice little victory against the Titans (26-16), who are definitely a team to watch the next few years. Derrick Carr did his thing and threw for 262 yards and 2 TDs. Beast Mode is back, and their defense let up a lot of yards but held up in the redzone. The Titans had 350 offensive yards but only let up one TD. The redzone defense on top of the offense that was clicking nicely and you’ve got yourself the best Raiders team we’ve seen in years.

5.      The New England Patriots

The Patriots are going to look a lot like the Packers did last year; great offense, great QB but no defense, but with a much better coach. I personally never had them in my top 4 anyways because I knew their defense wouldn’t be good enough but leaving them out of the top 5 would be foolish. They played well up until the 4^th quarter so tbere’s still hope for this team. The offense will always be great; against a great defense they still put up 371 total yards. 

The Patriots Will not be Winning the Super Bowl this Year

 That’s right, I said it; The Patriots will not win it all this year.  Tom Brady will do Tom Brady things and that offense wont struggle too much through the season, however, the offense is not their problem, it is their defense. This is something that I knew would be a problem before the disaster of a first game happened. Alex Smith and Kareem Hunt diced them up with 537 in total offense and 42 points, I was surprised but at the same time, I was not.

            The Patriots defense lacks any sort of pass rushing, Alex Smith had more than enough time to throw the ball and you cannot give an experienced QB such a Alex Smith time to throw because he will expose your DBs. The worst part about them not being able to get pressure is; The Chiefs offensive line isn’t anything great. I have no doubt that the coaching staff in New England can figure something out to help out the pass rush, but they will still struggle immensely against great offensive lines such as The Raiders. Even if the Patriots had great DBs they still wouldn’t be able to get any stops because no one can cover a receiver forever.

            Now on to the DBs, they don’t really have any. Malcom Butler is above average and Devon McCourty is pretty good, but beyond that, there really isn’t anyone else. The DBs are probably going to get a harsher wrap than they should because of the non-existent pass rush, but they still weren’t very good. Players were missing tackles, getting burned on simple routes, it was just too easy to dissect coverages.

            I think that Tom Brady can win two more, at the most, but I think it can happen. Bill Belichick is the greatest coach of all time, do not debate me on this because this is not an opinion it is a fact. So Patriots fans do not fret, you guys will be fine, but this year is just not your year.

            

SuperBowl Prediction

Let’s Get This Kicked Off

            Football has finally arrived my friends. The greatest time of the year, the time of year when fans of teams with no chance at the SuperBowl get tattoos, “____ 2018 SuperBowl champs!!” on their calves and everyone else kind of just laughs at them together. It is safe to say there is not a single sad football fan right now… until the season starts and 9ers and jets fans realize that they won’t be good for a very long time. But enough of that, time for me to start this season off with my SuperBowl prediction.

Raiders vs Falcons

            Now, my choice for the team that was coming out of the AFC was much easier than picking a team to come out of the NFC. The NFC every year is a tossup, there are always way too many good NFC teams for me to ever confidently pick one of those teams, however, this year is different and here’s why:

Falcons

            The Falcons offense was pretty close to unstoppable last season. Matt Ryan has proven to be a solid QB after having an MVP season last year, and he is still at the helm of that stacked offense. I am aware of Kyle Shanahan departing and that undoubtedly will make an impact, however, Dan Quinn is an excellent head coach and Falcons fans shouldn’t be too worried. There is one, fairly large, question mark here; their front office hired Steve Sarkisian, who has only ever called one game in his career – Alabama’s loss to Clemson in the most recent championship game – after being fired by USC in the middle of their 2015 season. Now I know that seems bad but the Falcons offense has enough weapons and experience to outplay any defense in the NFL, only time will tell how that will affect their offense. Did I mention they have the best receiver in the NFL?

            Their defense was the weak point in that team last year and it still was not that bad. Vic Beasley was nothing short of a monster last year, combine that with Dontari Poe, another solid DT in Jack Crawford and on top of that, they just drafted one of the best pass-rushing linebackers in this year’s draft class, Takkarist Mckinley. The Falcons should have a front that’s miles ahead of last year’s. Keanu Neal, Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford are all great DBs that can hold it down in the passing game, at least long enough for their pass rush to get to the QB.

Raiders

The Raiders are another team whose offense can be nothing short of dominant. That offensive line might be better than the cowboys this coming season. Put Beast Mode behind a line like that? They also have Derrick Carr at the helm of that offense, who has proven to be one of the best QBs in the league, and they gave him another weapon in Cordarrelle Patterson. Patterson being added to a receiving core that already included Michael Crabtree, Amari Cooper and Seth Roberts gives the Raiders an offense to be feared.

The Raiders DBs are stacked this year, Karl Joseph has proven to be a safety that plays a lot bigger than his size, Reggie Nelson has always been a great safety and Sean Smith is a lock down corner who comes up with a lot of pass deflections and can tackle fairly well. With the draft, the Raiders added a freak of nature, Obi Melifonwu, who had an insane NFL combine, and Gareon Conley who was one of the best corners in this year’s draft. Safe to say receivers are going to have a frustrating day when having to play against that secondary. Khalil Mack is probably the second-best pass-rushing linebackers in the NFL and if you made an argument that he is better than Von Miller I’d have a hard time disagreeing. On the other OLB position Bruce Irvin is always a great defender. The only real weakness that I can see in that defense is their middle front and that is only because they drafted and have chosen to let rookies take the helm of the nose tackle and middle linebacker position. So only time will tell how those players develop through the season.

Winner

The Raiders and Falcons, in my opinion, have the most talent and are the best prepared to make a SB run this year and I am a fan of how both coaches rebuilt these teams from the ground up, however, someone must win. I have the Raiders winning it all this year. The raiders defense is extremely talented in the secondary and will be one of the only defenses that can match up with the receiving core that the Falcons have and the Falcons don’t win games by running the ball. Both offenses are great but the Raiders defense is much better where it needs to be for this game. Raiders 31-21.