Was listening to NFL network where they had a piece on the top 4 teams in the Division and it got me legit mad. They were listing the top 4 teams and even those on the bubble and Miami wasn’t listed or talked about. Here is their top 4 in order 1. KC 2. Bengals 3. Ravens 4. Jets They mentioned the Bills as 5. Look I’m not saying we’re the best and I still think we need a better OLINE. However we’re on paper better than the Ravens and the Jests. All of this is on paper but they believe Aaron rodgers alone puts them in top 4. What a crock of camel ***. I can’t wait for Farve part 2.. And the ravens haven’t really improved at all except they signed Jackson to a higher contract. He’s been there for years and they can’t get it done. Miami deserves like all these on paper to be top 5 for sure. No teams matches our offense in terms of speed and talent. KC is my default -#1 but after that I don’t see the speed talent and coaching that is better than us. we will have to see how this goes but I’d say my top 5 are. 1. KC 2. Bills 3. Miami 4. Bengals 5. Chargers what are your top 5 AFC teams??
All rankings assume health of QBs etc. #1 chiefs #2 daylight. #3, 4 Bills, Dolphins # 5 Bengals - Maybe I should rate them higher, but I can’t bring myself to do that. After that you’ve got a bunch of teams I don’t really believe in. Jets, Ravens and Chargers all have QBs that I feel are overhyped. The Steelers and Pats don’t have a QB. Titans are realizing just how stupid it was to let AJ Brown walk. The Broncos have a QB but have to work out WTF went wrong in 2022 and fix it - and I don’t think the problem was with the players on the field which is why they may be able to turn it around quickly. Then there’s a bunch of scrubs, one of whom is likely to put together a cinderella run.
1a. Chiefs 1b. Dolphins 2. Jets 3. Bengals 4. Ravens I think the Bills take a step back this year. Josh Allen has some bad baby momma drama incoming after getting a bartender pregnant. Damar Hamlin returning will be more of a distraction than inspiration. If Tua can stay on the field we win the AFC.
I think there is one great team in the AFC and a bunch of good teams. In the NFC I think there is one good team and a bunch of average teams. You're not the only one who thinks Cincinnati is terribly overrated. They should have lost in the playoffs to Baltimore. They got so lucky.
Miami should definitely be ranked top 5 in the AFC, definitely above the Jets, definitely above the Ravens and definitely above the Bengals. That’s ok though that the Dolphins are ranked so low preseason. I like it actually. The utter disrespect for this team will be its own motivation for them to come out and open a can of whoop a$$ on everyone. Let’s see what time they’re singing come November…December. I’m actually higher on the Dolphins this upcoming season than I was last season.
Cinci is overrated? They've been in the AFC Championship two years in a row and Burrow is probably the second best QB in the league right now. Anyone rating them below us right now? Crazy. Chiefs clear number 1. Bengals clear number 2. A hodgepodge of teams in no particular order 3-8: Buffalo, Miami, Jets, Ravens, Bolts and Jags. Then trash.
Tier 1: Chiefs, Bills, Bengals We aren't there yet. If everything possible goes well this season, then we have the potential to end the year in the conversation, but for now its TBD. Tier 2: Dolphins, Chargers, Ravens. All three have proven that if they can stay healthy, they're legit challengers to the top tier. Tier 3: Jets, Jaguars, Steelers. Tier 4: Patriots, Broncos, Raiders, Browns, Colts, Titans Tier 5: Texans
1. Kansas City is the most well-rounded, dominant team in the AFC. 2. Miami and Buffalo are even in my book, it's a coin toss which is better today. With huge defensive upgrades, I think we're the better team in 2023 though so Miami goes here by just a hair. 3. Buffalo for the reasons above. 4. Bengals are dominant and I think Burrow is a top-2 QB in the entire league (Mahommes is #1 since he's not actually human). Could they sweep the top 3 next year? Yeah, because the competition and talent is really that close. 5. Baltimore is clearly the worst of the bunch due to their heads-up matches the past few seasons. Still a dominant, elite team by any regards...the AFC is just super loaded and the Ravens are better than most. 9. Jets. I'd put Jax, Chargers, and Pitt all above NY....and that's giving the Jets a ton of props for Rodgers when he hasn't actually proven a thing yet. I think they'll be around a 9-8 team overall and that definitely won't be enough to make the playoffs. Cleveland has a ton of potential as well, but we're not giving them pretend all-star rankings before they prove anything....so let's not do it for NY either, LOL.
I just don’t believe their defense was “all that” last season. Even in some of their wins against underwhelming teams, the defense sure let them keep the games close. With the loss of some of their defensive players, there’s a legitimate question about their defense.
I think the Bengal’s DC has quietly been one of the better DCs over the last 2 seasons, definitely in the line for a HC spot if they perform well again this year. But you need straw, to make bricks, and I wonder how good he will be at getting new players to perform well. On offense Burrow is covering up for Zac Taylor’s lack of acumen and uninspiring schemes. I see some similarities to Denver when they had John Elway carrying Dan Reeves for all those years. I have faith in Burrow/Chase but it’s pretty hard to win a SB on player talent alone.
Once you get out of the Dolphins bubble, it's hard to find rankings that have the Dolphins over Jets after they added Rodgers. https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-power-rankings-post-2023-nfl-free-agency https://www.foxsports.com/stories/n...-edition-chiefs-stay-on-top-ravens-jets-climb https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...rs-chiefs-eagles-still-top-2-patriots-plunge/
The media, at large, is very wrongly propping up the Jets, yes. They want the team in the biggest market to be good so that ratings go up, and in general they discount the Fins because they don't get ratings generally.
That's nonsense. The Bengals, Chiefs, Bills, Jaguars, Ravens all have smaller markets, and are ranked higher. Meaningless rankings have absolutely no impact on whether a team is good.
If you go by Vegas odds it's currently (averaged across sites): 1. Chiefs 2. Bills 3. Bengals 4. Jets 5. Dolphins 6. Ravens 7. Chargers 8. Jaguars That actually sounds about right IMO.
The only “expert” I give credence to is Vegas. 1) They have real money riding on the outcome. 2) They have a very good record of being generally right. 3) If there was an expert out there who consistently did better than Vegas the last thing they’re doing is publishing their opinions, they’re keeping quiet and making bank.
Tough thing about ranking the Dolphins is how many games does Armstead and Tua miss? If they can play a full season, assuming defense gets better with Ramsey/Fangio and healthy Ogbah/Howard/Jones, 3rd or 4th. If they miss their usual 3-5 games, 5th-7th.
Sure but At this point you don’t put the jets in front because you project Tua and armstead to get injured Only fools or trolls would do that
Well Vegas did it and I think they are neither trolls nor fools. The chance that Tua and Armstead are playing all games next season are slim if you look at what history shows us.
Betting odds are just that…gambling. If you watched the Kentucky Derby yesterday, there was NO WAY Mage was going to win. The betting odds were against it. Same thing with here. Aaron Rodgers is a great quarterback. Brett Favre was a great quarterback but at the end of the day we’re still talking about the New York Jets. The Jets are to the East what the Raiders are to the west…overhyped by the media with the occasional flash in the pan. I’m not taking anything away from Aaron Rodgers but can we be a bit realistic here? In the NFC, 2 games a year against the Bear, the Lions and the Vikings…with Minnesota providing the only competition for the Packers. But now with Rodgers in the AFC East? Now he has to play the Dolphins, the Bills and the Patriots twice a year…not to mention this season the Jets will have the face the Chiefs, the Chargers, the Broncos and the Raiders…not to mention all of the other offenses and stout defenses in the AFC. Now I could as wrong as two teenaged boys tongue kissing in a cold shower, but I really don’t see the stinking New York Jets fairing much better than they historically have…even with Aaron Rodgers. The Dolphins have their own issues, I’m not overlooking any of them, but it would sure be nice if some of the alleged fans here would place more stock in the powerhouse we do have and not nearly as much as the few faults we do have.
Jets lost 6 in a row to end the season, not 8. We weren't that much better: Dolphins lost 5 in a row before winning their last game against the Jets. Reasons were varied, but in both cases the QB was a key reason. Jets had 4 QBs combining for 2 TDs and 6 INTs across their last 6 games with a combined rating of 65.6!! Over the entire season their team passer rating was 75, which was dead last in the NFL. Statistically, 1 team passer rating point improvement translates to a 1.08 percentage point increase in win%, so even if Rodgers' 91.1 rating (i.e., close to league average) is a sign of age-related decline that's a realistic expectation of at least 17 percentage point increase in win%, which over 17 games is about 3 extra wins!! THAT is what bettors are looking at (at least the ones using statistical analysis). Jets are very likely a minimum 10+ win team next season with that increasing by 1-3 games depending on Rodgers' going back to previous performance levels. Regarding the Dolphins, bettors are obviously worried about Tua's health and whether the offense can produce again at a top level next season, but the biggest discrepancy between what people here think and what I think bettors are looking at is what to expect from the defense next year. Fangio is a very good DC, but realistically you should expect an average to slightly above average defense next year, not an elite one. This is what Fangio has done his first season at a new team: 1995 Carolina: 1st season for franchise 1999 Indy: 12 point improvement in points allowed ranking, from 29 to 17 2002 Houston: 1st season for franchise 2011: SF: 14 point improvement in points allowed ranking, from 16 to 2 2015: Chicago: 11 point improvement, from 31 to 20 2019: Denver (as HC): 3 point improvement, from 13 to 10 That's an average of 10 point improvement in points allowed ranking his first year. We were ranked 24 last year, so realistically we should expect an average to slightly above average ranking for the defense. That means that expected wins with last year's team passer rating of 95 (which includes Tua missing games) would be a bit under 10 wins, with that increasing to 12 wins if Tua stays healthy. In other words, Dolphins look good on paper, but like the Jets there are significant uncertainties. Neither team belongs with Buffalo or Cinci since both teams have already proven top-level performance multiple years, and of course KC is in a league by themselves (and they're SB champs).
Not as a sophisticated answer as cbrads, but I already said last year that the Jetst are a good team sadly. They draft well in the last couple of years and their coach seems like no slouch either. I hate seeing Rodgers on that team and I hope it turns on them just like Favre but for now I couldn't say wich team is the favorite to win the AFC East. If Tua and Armstead and the rest of the team stay healthy we have a chance next year (and even a better one if we land Cook) to win it all but so do the Jetst and the Bill.
I'm having visions of Mike White getting crushed behind the Jets OL except he's really old, sassy, and wearing #8.