Anybody realize how much better the AFC has gotten lately?

[Ralphy Boy]

And for that matter how much harder it will be for us to make the playoffs this season.
McNair goes to Baltimore giving an otherwise good team a real shot at the playoffs.
Culpepper goes to Miami and apparently is looking like he was never injured.

That's two QB's, who've shown that they can get it done in the past, going to teams that have a lot of talent & good coaching and were basically a QB shy of making the playoffs last season.

Miami finished the season with a 6 game win streak and was already in the top 14 in offense before adding Culpepper. If Ronnie Brown doesn't get hurt, his second season without having to split time with Williams should be solid.

Granted Baltimore finished 6 & 10, but Boller couldn't hold a healthy McNair's jockstrap and they added Mike Anderson to shore up their running game.

I suppose you could argue that we have a better chance of winning our division this year with Brees leaving San Diego, but Denver didn't exactly get worse this off season. Yeah they lost Kubiak, but Shannahanagain can take up the slack and Driver is probably an improvement over Lelie.

Basically we had one team potentially get worse in the AFC this offseason and two get better. You could also make an arguement that we got worse losing Saunders & DV, especially considering Roaf & Shields are another year older.

[cdcox]

Vegas thinks the NFC has completely closed the gap with the AFC. They have the two conferences winning the same number of games next season.

[Basileus777]

Vegas thinks the NFC has completely closed the gap with the AFC. They have the two conferences winning the same number of games next season.

The thing is that the NFC has all their good teams concentrated in two divisons. The NFC North and West are still garbage except for Seattle and Chicago. In the AFC there are at least two good teams in each division.

[ChiefFripp]

I think McNair will blow it in Baltimore. His best days are behind him.

[Basileus777]

I think McNair will blow it in Baltimore. His best days are behind him.

It will probably depend on how much portection he gets. If Baltimore's oline plays as terrible as they did last year than he won't play well. If the oline holds its own and the running game improves McNair could play good enough to get them into the playoffs. Their defense should still be great if they can stay healthy this year.

[blueballs]

Dolphins over achieved
Saban will turn them
into the Raiders East

[donkhater]

Yeah, but I see at least two or three teams that may take a step back.

Cincinnati-I don't care how Palmer is progressing, there is NO WAY that he will play the entire season on that knee much less be ready for the season opener. Add into that their schedule (AFC West, NFC South, Balt(2), Pitt (2)) and they will be lucky to get to .500 IMO.

Jacksonville-12-4 last season, but got ALL the breaks with their schedule. They really aren't too bad, but I'm still not impressed with Fat Albert (Leftwich). 9-7 at best IMO.

SD-A good tough team with a first year starter at QB. I like Rivers and I suppose he'll end up doing fine, but that offense was clicking under Brees, so I can't see how they've improved. Probably a team that will be tougher the second half of the season than the first. Maybe the only team with crappier recievers than KC.

The playoff contenders:

NE--I see them coming back pretty strong.

Miami--Culpepper may not be as far along but their backups are better than Cincy's

Pitt--Lost Randle-el and Bettis. Should still be a tough win.

Baltimore--McNair? eh. That O-line sucks which isn't good for a fragile QB that lost his mobility. After his magic with Cunningham in '98 Billick has become the QB killer. Oddly enough, Boller actually played pretty well the second half of last season.

Indy--Still tough

Denver--ditto

KC--Need another stelllar season from the offense while Herm and the D play catch up. Should that happen, the schedule will likely allow KC to get to the dance. This day and age of NFL mediocrity, that's all you can ask for.

[Ralphy Boy]

Vegas thinks the NFC has completely closed the gap with the AFC. They have the two conferences winning the same number of games next season.


I can see that. Arizona got a lot better when they added Edge and their offense wasn't bad as it was (8th overall, 1st in passing, last in rushing). New Orleans adding Brees & Bush (not to mention The White Ninja - Scott Fujita and The Little White Hope Chris Horn) gives their offense immediate respect.
Minnesota had line issues but adding Steve Hutchinson to play next to Bryant McKinnie should be a serious upgrade & their center...whatshisname should be back after getting hurt. Plus it looks like Koren Robinson has finally got his act together. I don't expect much from them this offseason and the whole NFC North is weak with the Lions & Packers not doing much to improve. Chicago was lucky last season IMO.
Either way, the East got a lot better as did the South & West.

[Ralphy Boy]

The thing is that the NFC has all their good teams concentrated in two divisons. The NFC North and West are still garbage except for Seattle and Chicago. In the AFC there are at least two good teams in each division.

Chicago might be the best in the North but that isn't saying much and they benefited from an easy schedule last year. They'd be smart to make Griese their starter because he's better than Grossman.

I think the NFC West is better than the AFC West.

On a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being best.
Denver (lost Anderson but gains Walker=worse) 4
KC (lost Saunders = worse) 3
Oakland (lost Collins gained Brooks = better but they still suck) 1
SanDiego (lost Brees = worse) 3
Total 11

Seattle (lost Hutchinson & Dyson but gained Burleson & Julian Peterson = worse) but still a 5
Arizona (gained Edge lost McCown = better) 4
St Louis (lost Martz & changed offense, upgraded defense-Chavous, Glover & Witherspoon = worse) 3
San Fran (their just as bad as last year) 1
Total 13

[Basileus777]

Chicago might be the best in the North but that isn't saying much and they benefited from an easy schedule last year. They'd be smart to make Griese their starter because he's better than Grossman.

I think the NFC West is better than the AFC West.

On a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being best.
Denver (lost Anderson but gains Walker=worse) 4
KC (lost Saunders = worse) 3
Oakland (lost Collins gained Brooks = better but they still suck) 1
SanDiego (lost Brees = worse) 3
Total 11

Seattle (lost Hutchinson & Dyson but gained Burleson & Julian Peterson = worse) but still a 5
Arizona (gained Edge lost McCown = better) 4
St Louis (lost Martz & changed offense, upgraded defense-Chavous, Glover & Witherspoon = worse) 3
San Fran (their just as bad as last year) 1
Total 13

No way is Arizona better than KC or equal with Denver. It doesn't matter how many weapons their offense have if their oline is garbage. Arizona will be better than last year, but they need to prove something before I can name them contenders. Every year the Cards are picked as a surpise team.

St. Louis will get better eventually but with a new coaching staff they need a year.

The 49ers are the worse team in the NFL.

The Chargers may have question marks at qb, oline, and wr, but their defense alone should prevent them from sucking. The Raiders will be better, and last year they were already better than half of the NFC West.

I would call it like this:

Denver: 5
KC: 4
San Diego: 3
Oakland: 2

Seattle: 5
Arizona: 3.5
St. Louis: 3
49ers: 1

[Psyko Tek]

C
I think the NFC West is better than the AFC West.




no way do I buy that
and since the wests play head to head we shall see

I can't beleive az will be good...
but that's a prejudice the Cards have and always will suck

niner's no chance

St Louis can't see them as much of a threat

only seattle is good outta that division

while the AFC west has KC Denver and maybe San Diego

the RAiders have and always will suck

and that's not prejudice justa fact

[BucEyedPea]

Past two seasons afc has definitely been stronger than nfc...but we'll see.
I think next seasons is going to see some surprises. Don't know where yet.

[Valiant]

And for that matter how much harder it will be for us to make the playoffs this season.
McNair goes to Baltimore giving an otherwise good team a real shot at the playoffs.
Culpepper goes to Miami and apparently is looking like he was never injured.

That's two QB's, who've shown that they can get it done in the past, going to teams that have a lot of talent & good coaching and were basically a QB shy of making the playoffs last season.

Miami finished the season with a 6 game win streak and was already in the top 14 in offense before adding Culpepper. If Ronnie Brown doesn't get hurt, his second season without having to split time with Williams should be solid.

Granted Baltimore finished 6 & 10, but Boller couldn't hold a healthy McNair's jockstrap and they added Mike Anderson to shore up their running game.

I suppose you could argue that we have a better chance of winning our division this year with Brees leaving San Diego, but Denver didn't exactly get worse this off season. Yeah they lost Kubiak, but Shannahanagain can take up the slack and Driver is probably an improvement over Lelie.

Basically we had one team potentially get worse in the AFC this offseason and two get better. You could also make an arguement that we got worse losing Saunders & DV, especially considering Roaf & Shields are another year older.


I could have swore they got Walker not Driver..

[Valiant]

Yeah, but I see at least two or three teams that may take a step back.

Cincinnati-I don't care how Palmer is progressing, there is NO WAY that he will play the entire season on that knee much less be ready for the season opener. Add into that their schedule (AFC West, NFC South, Balt(2), Pitt (2)) and they will be lucky to get to .500 IMO.

Jacksonville-12-4 last season, but got ALL the breaks with their schedule. They really aren't too bad, but I'm still not impressed with Fat Albert (Leftwich). 9-7 at best IMO.

SD-A good tough team with a first year starter at QB. I like Rivers and I suppose he'll end up doing fine, but that offense was clicking under Brees, so I can't see how they've improved. Probably a team that will be tougher the second half of the season than the first. Maybe the only team with crappier recievers than KC.

The playoff contenders:

NE--I see them coming back pretty strong.

Miami--Culpepper may not be as far along but their backups are better than Cincy's

Pitt--Lost Randle-el and Bettis. Should still be a tough win.

Baltimore--McNair? eh. That O-line sucks which isn't good for a fragile QB that lost his mobility. After his magic with Cunningham in '98 Billick has become the QB killer. Oddly enough, Boller actually played pretty well the second half of last season.

Indy--Still tough

Denver--ditto

KC--Need another stelllar season from the offense while Herm and the D play catch up. Should that happen, the schedule will likely allow KC to get to the dance. This day and age of NFL mediocrity, that's all you can ask for.


Pittsburg should be a way better team this year, they upgraded Randal El with a faster version of himself in the draft, and the Bus didnt play that much last year, Parker and thier other back that got hurt should do just fine..

[Basileus777]

Pittsburg should be a way better team this year, they upgraded Randal El with a faster version of himself in the draft, and the Bus didnt play that much last year, Parker and thier other back that got hurt should do just fine..

The Steelers haven't really changed much from last year, if they get better it will be because of Roethlisberger being healthy and more experienced. Holmes is a rookie, he won't be better than Randel El this year. Cedrick Wilson should do well though. The Bus was a major factor at the goaline and short yardage situations. Willie Parker is too small to be an everydown back for a team like Pittburgh and who knows if Staley or Haynes will be a factor. The Steelers also lost Hope but replaced him with Ryan Clark, not much of a downgrade.

[Mile High Mania]

I could have swore they got Walker not Driver..

They did.

[RedandGold]

Back on the subject of Baltimore, I still don't think that McNair will be enough to push them into the playoffs. Just looking around the AFC, I don't see them being a better team than New England, Miami, Cincinnati, Indy, Jacksonville, Denver, Kansas City, or San Diego. That's 8 teams, and only 6 of those teams will make the playoffs.

There's no doubt that McNair is an upgrade from Boller, but has Baltimore seriously done enough to give them an extra 4 or 5 wins?

Here's their schedule:

Sep 10 @Tampa Bay 1:00pm
Sep 17 Oakland 1:00pm
Sep 24 @Cleveland 4:05pm
Oct 1 San Diego 1:00pm
Oct 9 @Denver 8:30pm
Oct 15 Carolina 1:00pm
Week 7 BYE
Oct 29 @New Orleans 1:00pm
Nov 5 Cincinnati 1:00pm
Nov 12 @Tennessee 1:00pm
Nov 19 Atlanta 1:00pm
Nov 26 Pittsburgh 1:00pm
Nov 30 @Cincinnati 8:00pm
Dec 10 @Kansas City 1:00pm
Dec 17 Cleveland 1:00pm
Dec 24 @Pittsburgh 1:00pm
Dec 31 Buffalo 1:00pm

Where are they going to get 10 or 11 wins with that schedule? I can see 7 wins, and if they get lucky, they might get 8. That's not going to be enough to get them into the postseason.

[Mile High Mania]

Lemme give it a whirl...

Sep 10 @Tampa Bay 1:00pm
Sep 17 Oakland 1:00pm WIN
Sep 24 @Cleveland 4:05pm WIN
Oct 1 San Diego 1:00pm
Oct 9 @Denver 8:30pm
Oct 15 Carolina 1:00pm
Week 7 BYE
Oct 29 @New Orleans 1:00pm WIN
Nov 5 Cincinnati 1:00pm
Nov 12 @Tennessee 1:00pm WIN
Nov 19 Atlanta 1:00pm
Nov 26 Pittsburgh 1:00pm
Nov 30 @Cincinnati 8:00pm
Dec 10 @Kansas City 1:00pm
Dec 17 Cleveland 1:00pm WIN
Dec 24 @Pittsburgh 1:00pm
Dec 31 Buffalo 1:00pm WIN

I see 6 ... like every team, they'll lose one or two they should win and vice versa...

If Lewis/Anderson dominate and McNair could stay healthy... I could see a 3 game swing. My guess would be 8-9 wins.

[tk13]

Well with the AFC, there was a huge divide, you were either really good or really bad last year. There wasn't much middle ground. Probably part of the reason so many coaches were fired. Be interesting to see if that gap closes some this year.