AFC contenders gear up for next season

Let me just start out by saying this: The collection of championships played over the last 12 months is the greatest I have ever seen. The bar was set from the start with the NCAA College Basketball Championships and the Villanova Wildcats’ buzzer-beater victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels in April. In the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ epic comeback against the Golden State Warriors followed in June.

In the MLB in November, the Chicago Cubs had an unbelievable comeback of their own, which culminated into a nail-biting game seven victory. That set the stage for this winter’s football championships, which closed out the 12-month cycle in an outstanding fashion.

The Clemson University Tigers put on a show in the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship against the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in January, leaving Super Bowl LI as the final piece of the puzzle. I think it is fair to say that the New England Patriots did their part and then some, with a historic, come-from-behind victory over the Atlanta Falcons in quite possibly the greatest Super Bowl that has ever been played.

For the most part, this NFL season was an entertaining one. There was no shortage of surprises, from the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders blossoming under the wings of their young quarterbacks to the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers failing to rekindle their magic from the previous season.

Odell Beckham Jr.’s ongoing antics, the Los Angeles Rams’ almost immediate decline in relevance and the Cleveland Browns’ absolutely shameful campaign provided interesting storylines throughout the season.

As for the playoffs, the early rounds were certainly uninspiring, but the Super Bowl more than made up for them.

Now, with the NFL season behind us, let’s take a look into the crystal ball and make some predictions for next season. Though any predictions might be premature, this week I will explore the American Football Conference (AFC).

Let’s start with the AFC East, where the defending champions, the New England Patriots, should have no reason for concern. Their path to the division title should be a relatively easy one, just as it has been for 13 of the past 14 seasons.

As the best 21st century football team, led by the greatest quarterback and coach of all time, the Patriots are good enough to win any division in football. However, the weakness of their division foes will make their chances of winning the division in 2017 almost a given.

The Patriots’ only conceivable adversary within the division will be the Miami Dolphins, who just reached the playoffs for the first time since 2008. However, Miami’s tough schedule in the coming season will hinder its ability to continue its newfound success going forward.

The Buffalo Bills, under new coach Sean McDermott, face uncertainty at quarterback, with Tyrod Taylor’s return to the team looking increasingly unlikely. The New York Jets are in disarray, as they try to sort out what went wrong in a season that saw their win total drop from 10 games in 2015 to five games in 2016.

The bottom line is that this is the Patriots’ division to win, and as they have proven again and again during the past several decades, they rarely cease to take what is theirs.

Up north, the picture is a bit hazier. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens are perennial contenders. Until this past season, the Cincinnati Bengals had been enjoying a lengthy period of success as well.

The Cleveland Browns, on the other hand, are several seasons away from any sort of contention. Regardless of who Cleveland selects in the first overall pick in the draft, it will presumably finish in the cellar of the AFC North yet again.

In Cincinnati, the Bengals seem destined to have another mediocre season due to several doubts that have recently arisen on their defensive side. They can no longer be associated with the talented Steelers and Ravens, two teams that will inevitably slug it out all the way through week 17.

In recent years, the AFC North has been defined by its parity. No team has won the division in consecutive years since the Ravens in 2011 and 2012. Expect the trend to continue and for Baltimore to improve enough to hold off the Steelers from atop the division.

The Steelers, who won the AFC North this season, have a lot of work to do after being embarrassed by the Patriots in the AFC Championship game. Their offense is solid, but their defense needs major improvements.

The defense’s leader, veteran James Harrison, is continuing to age and may potentially not even return to play next season. Building a Super Bowl-caliber defense will be difficult, and until I see a clear difference on the field, I cannot pick the Steelers to come out on top of the division. However, they should play well enough to claim a wild card spot.

The AFC South is up for grabs, as none of the four teams should be counted out. The Houston Texans have won the division each of the past two years essentially by default. However, the Texans have a glaring hole at quarterback and they will no longer be able to rely on the ineptitude of their division mates to find relative success.

The Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars both still have numerous issues to sort out, but the Tennessee Titans have finally arrived, following a rebuild that lasted much longer than expected.

After years of searching for a competent play caller, Tennessee finally found its man at quarterback in Marcus Mariota. The former Heisman winner showed considerable improvement in his second season as a pro. Accordingly, the team saw its win total increase from three to nine. Mariota suffered a major fibula injury in week 16, but he is expected to be back at full strength in time for the start of next season.

With DeMarco Murray, Derrick Henry, Delanie Walker and Rishard Matthews complementing Mariota on the offensive side of the ball and an adequate set of players on defense, the Titans are trending upwards. They should be the clear-cut favorites to come out of the wide open AFC South division next season. Additionally, look for Tennessee to further solidify its roster with its two first round selections in the upcoming draft.

The West is the AFC’s best division from top to bottom. This makes predicting its hierarchy a difficult task. The Oakland Raiders are coming off their best season in over a decade, in large part due to the emergence of Derek Carr, who is making his case to be considered one of the League’s elite quarterbacks.

The Denver Broncos are one year removed from a Super Bowl crown, and they still have many of the pieces intact from the star-studded defensive unit that carried them to that championship.

Even the Los Angeles Chargers have a chance to claim a division title. With a fresh start in Los Angeles under new head coach Anthony Lynn and a handful of playmakers on both sides of the ball, there are plenty of reasons for the League’s most recently relocated franchise to be optimistic.

However, the Kansas City Chiefs are the cream of the crop out West. Under Andy Reid, Kansas City continues to fly under the radar year after year, despite having accumulated a 43-21 record during Reid’s tenure.

The Chiefs are not flashy, but they limit their mistakes and therefore are very well balanced. Nevertheless, don’t expect them to make a deep run once they reach the playoffs, as more skilled quarterbacks tend to outplay Alex Smith when it matters most.

As for the other three teams in the division, one should be able to seize one of the Conference’s two wild card spots. While it is very tempting to pick the Raiders to return to the playoffs, their ineffective defense, aside from Khalil Mack, is a major issue that will hold them back from building upon their success last season.

The Denver Broncos are also a solid pick to reach the playoffs, but unlike the other teams that I predict will reach the playoffs, they do not have a stable quarterback. I am going to go out on a limb and pick the Chargers, a team under the leadership of veteran Pro Bowler Philip Rivers, to sneak into the playoffs for the first time since the 2013 season.

A year from now, when all is said and done, I see the Baltimore Ravens coming out on top in the AFC, but expect the Conference to be highly competitive.