How The AFC Will Look Like In 2018?

  In all my previous posts, I have repeatedly said that the NFL is a very competitive league. It is hard to repeat as Super Bowl Champs in professional football. NFL, unlike the NBA, doesn't allow two teams to dominate their conferences for four straight years. However, there is one team in the American Football Conference (AFC) that has dominated its conference for the majority of the last fifteen years. Since 2010, the Patriots have either finished as the number one seed or as the number two seed. That means for eight straight years they have had a bye week in the first-round of the playoffs. In the same time-span, the Patriots have been to seven AFC-Title games, four Super Bowls and won two of them. They, in such a competitive league, have pretty much controlled the AFC. Now with all the tension going on within the organization and the rise of the Jacksonville Jaguars, has given hope to all the non-Patriots' fans that they will see someone else control the playoffs in the AFC. Some believe that the Patriots will finish at the top of the conference again, and some believe that they will collapse and might not even win their division. So who is going to win the conference? Which six teams will go to the playoffs? Which two AFC teams are going to struggle the most in 2018?

AFC division winners in 2018.

Los Angeles Chargers - AFC West is one of the toughest division in the league, maybe the toughest, but the LA Chargers are going to run it. They were pretty close to running it last year. The Chargers started off slow as they went 0-4 in the first month of the season. Of those four games, they could have easily won two of them. After their bad start to the 2017 season, they got on a winning streak. However, as the season was coming to an end, the Chargers lost crucial games which they could have won. They had the talent to win last year, but their coaches didn't do good late in games with the use of their schemes and game-plan. This season, the head coach Anthony Lynn will do his best to not repeat his mistakes from last year. The Chargers' roster is one of the most complete rosters in the NFL today. They have Philip Rivers, Melvin Gordon, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and a decent o-line for the offense, and on defense, they have Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, Jason Verrett, Derwin James, Casey Hayward, and much more. I have the Chargers going 11-5 with losses to Bills, 49ers, Seahawks, Raiders, and Chiefs.

Pittsburgh Steelers - I don't see a good season for this club. I'm not completely sold that this team will be a contender and even get to win a game in the playoffs this year. First, with all the drama going on with Le'Veon Bell and his contract, and how Mike Tomlin's coaching has been questioned by the media repeatedly, I thought to myself that the Steelers might even miss the playoffs in 2018. Then I looked up their division from up close and came to a conclusion that, there is no threat they are going to face from the three other teams in the division. Cincinnati Bengals have good players, but they still have Marvin Lewis as their head coach. Baltimore Ravens are pretty respectable, but they still have Joe Flacco as their starter, and even if the Ravens do they decide to go to Lamar Jackson later in the season, they will still struggle to win games, as Lamar is still a rookie quarterback. Then there are the Cleveland Browns. They have gotten better with the free-agency and the draft this off-season so far, but they are still a young team and still have holes to fill. So by default, the Steelers will make it to the playoffs. I have them going 9-7 this season with losses to Buccaneers, Falcons, Jaguars, Broncos, Chargers, Saints, and the Patriots.

Jacksonville Jaguars - They are going to be dangerous this year. The Jaguars are set to do great things this year. Last year, they fell short of dethroning Tom Brady and the Patriots in the AFC Title game. This year they have the talent and experience to dethrone them. They have an excellent running game, an experienced quarterback, solid offensive line, and a top-two defense in the league. Everybody has high expectations for the Jaguars and so do I. In my opinion, if the Jaguars keep their head straight, they will finish second in the AFC standings. I have the Jaguars going 11-5 with five losses to Chiefs, Eagles, Titans, Texans, and the Colts.

New England Patriots - All great teams have to face an end. So will the New England Patriots. I believe 2018 is going to be their last great year with Tom Brady as their quarterback. Most of you will say that their dominance should end this year because of the current tension going on between Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft, Tom Brady, and Rob Gronkowski. According to some ESPN reports, Belichick wanted to keep Jimmy Garaopplo and trade away Brady. Then Pats' owner, Robert Kraft interfered and told Belichick not to do it. After that, there was some speculation that Brady is extremely upset with Belichick. Gronk, on the other hand, isn't happy with Belichick and the management because he wants more money and they are not giving it to him. You all will also point out that the Patriots lost several of their key players in the offseason, as they lost Danny Amendola, Dion Lewis, Nate Solder, Brandin Cooks, and Malcolm Butler. Finally, some of you will also bring up that Brady will turn 41 before the start of the 2018 season. You know what I think of the ESPN reports and you all hoping for an end to the Patriots' run? I think Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Patriots, are going to use all this to fuel themselves up and go on to win another Super Bowl. I have the Patriots finishing first in the AFC for the third straight year and going 14-2, with their losses coming against the Jaguars and the Lions.

AFC Wild Cards for 2018.

  More than likely, there will be only four teams competing for the two wild-card spots in the NFC. As for the AFC, wild-card is wide open. Any team in the AFC, besides the Miami Dolphins and the Cleveland Browns, can snag the fifth and sixth seeds to enter the playoffs as the wild-cards. I think even the New York Jets have a shot to enter the playoffs as the sixth seed since they finally got their man at the quarterback with Sam Darnold. I do have four favorites to enter the AFC playoffs as wild card teams. Houston Texans, Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Tennesse Titans have the best chance of snagging the final two AFC playoff slots.

  Of the four, I believe the Texans and the Raiders will make it to the playoffs. I have the Texans finishing as the fifth seed and the Raiders finishing as the sixth seed. So why these two teams? Both the Texans and the Raiders have their franchise quarterbacks. Deshaun Watson of the Texans took over the league in his rookie season last year and proved that he is the real deal before he got hurt. Derek Carr is the reason why the Raiders are on the map again. Both Watson and Carr have the capability of leading their teams to regular and postseason success. The two teams don't only have good quarterbacks on their roster! Both have playmakers all across their rosters. The Texans have players like Deandre Hopkins, Will Fuller, Lamar Miller, JJ Watt, Jadeveon Clowney, Whitney Mercilus, and Tyrann Mathieu to dominate games on offense and on defense. The Raiders have studs like Amari Cooper, Jordy Nelson, Martavis Bryant, Donald Penn, Khalil Mack, Bruce Irvin, Karl Joseph, Maurice Hurst Jr, and others who can help them win games. Sure these two teams are not perfect and they both missed the playoffs last year, but they have enough talent to get right back into the playoffs in 2018.

 How could the Kansas City Chiefs make the playoffs this year when they don't have their starting quarterback from last year? Alex Smith played well for the Chiefs in his five years with the club, but he wasn't good enough to help them succeed in the playoffs. Now the team will turn to the second-year man Patrick Mahomes. He has a great arm and has a lot of potentials to succeed. I don't think he's on Deshaun Watson or Derek Carr's level yet, but he can do great things in Andy Reid's system. Andy Reid is a genius on offense and with his system, he was able to give three quarterbacks a ton of success. Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, and Alex Smith all put up great numbers in Reid's system. Patrick Mahomes should have no problem playing for Andy Reid's offense, especially the one that features Kareem Hunt as your running back, Tyreke Hill and Sammy Watkins as your top two receivers, and Travis Kelce as your tight-end. The Chiefs this year may not be as good as they were in the last two years, but they still have enough talent to win nine or more games.

  Can the Tennesse Titans have back to back seasons with playoff appearances? Why not? Marcus Mariota, who I like, is going to have a better year in 2018 than he did last year. The Titans made it to the playoffs last year with Mariota playing awful as he threw more interceptions than touchdowns. Mariota is a playmaker and he is going to have a lot of other playmakers on offense to help him out. Titans are going to have a good running game with Derrick Henry and Dion Lewis. The two running backs will do great for the Titans, not just because of their talent, but also because the Titans have one of the best offensive lines in the league. Mariota has playmakers like Delanie Walker, Corey Davis, and Rishard Mattews to throw the ball to in the passing game. Defense of the Titans is not that bad either, as it features players like Malcolm Butler, Kevin Byrd, Kevin Dodd, Rashaan Evans, Jurrell Casey, and others. Plus, in my opinion, the Titans did an upgrade with their coaching by letting go of Mike Mularkey and bringing in Mike Vrabel. The new head coach Vrabel, will bring in lots of energy and excitement to the Titans team. I see potential in this team of winning ten games this season.

Two teams who will finish at the bottom of the AFC.

  For the last three years, the Cleveland Browns have finished at the bottom of the American Football Conference. They have finished at the very bottom of the league for the last two years, as they managed to go only 1-31 in thirty-two possible games. Are they going to be the worst team in the AFC again this year? Or someone else has a shot to be worse than them? I see the Browns improving this year and one team from the AFC East finishing two to three games behind them.

  Cleveland Browns have been awful for a while, but the last two years have been simply atrocious. How could a team manage to only win one game out of thirty-two games in a two-year span? I just can't imagine how rough it must have been for the Browns' fans to go to the stadium and root for their team. Starting from this year, things will get a lot better for the Browns' nation. Browns should win at least four more games in 2018 than they did in the past two years combined. They do have talent all over the roster, but I just don't see Hue Jackson as an inspiring coach. If he was that good of a coach he could have helped them win more than one game in two years. The Browns under Jackson lost a lot of close games. They lost a couple of them in overtime. If the Browns hadn't traded for quarterback Tyrod Taylor and just drafted Baker Mayfield to be their starting quarterback for the season, I think they would have had a better shot of winning more than five games in this upcoming season. They just created a quarterback controversy by bringing in Taylor and drafting Baker. All in all, the Browns should have a respectable season this year, but they will finish second to last in AFC. They will go 5-11 for 2018.

So who will finish the year with a record worse than the Cleveland Browns in the AFC? Miami Dolphins! Besides the Dolphins, all other NFL teams have a direction. They are either rebuilding for the next two years or they are contending for a Super Bowl. Dolphins, however, don't really know what they are doing. They have Ryan Tannehill as their starting quarterback. He missed all of last year and only been able to take his Dolphins to the playoffs just once in six years. If a quarterback can't give you ten plus wins for a season more than once in six years, it means that he is not made of the right stuff. Quarterback isn't the only position where the Dolphins have issues. Last year, during the middle of the season, they traded away their starting running back Jay Ajayi. Then this year in the free agency, they got rid of their number one receiver in Jarvis Landry and their best defensive player in Ndamukong Suh. No one knows who is the leader on offense and on the defense of the team. When a team doesn't have a plan for the season, they are going to have a hard time winning games. I have the Dolphins going 3-13 and finish at the very bottom of AFC. They are definitely going to have the number one or number two pick in the 2019 draft.