The AFC is Gonna Be Tough | Page 4 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

The AFC is Gonna Be Tough

Fred Bear said:
I'm just glad we didn't wait another year after that 7 game losing streak to make a change. No way that was acceptable.
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Seriously, all the people saying "How can you fire a coach when they win 7 straight?!". Maybe cuz he lost 7 straight first? The first Bills debacle should've been a huge red flag.
 
Nugtron said:
Seriously, all the people saying "How can you fire a coach when they win 7 straight?!". Maybe cuz he lost 7 straight first? The first Bills debacle should've been a huge red flag.
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We did play the Bills better the 2nd time but that was after the trade deadline
 
Nugtron said:
Seriously, all the people saying "How can you fire a coach when they win 7 straight?!". Maybe cuz he lost 7 straight first? The first Bills debacle should've been a huge red flag.
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One problem is all the 'source' giving conflicting views. who's fault was the OL? Poor talent, coaching, both? What's the REAL story behind TT and Flo and the DW adventure? Who called plays the 1st 8 games and the last 9? How much input did Flo have (this is easy - a LOT)? what about the rumors Flo didn't talk to assts late in the season and/or the 'tension?'

No one can honestly say they know - what we have is people taking 2-3 facts and manufacturing a conclusion. The only thing known for sure is Flo was fired at end of season and doing that after a good end of season record is unusual.
 
AFC should be awesome but I like Miami’s home schedule. If Rodgers ends up in Denver the west will be brutal. 11-6 might get the #1 seed. Beating Buffalo is the only thing that matters to me at this point.
 
kastofsna said:
Yes, it is tough to make the playoffs when there isn't much separation between the top teams and everyone else. This thread isn't to say the AFC looks to be some mega amazing conference this year, but rather VERY competitive. Only 2.5 games separated the 1 seed from the 7 seed
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It took a 9-7-1 record to get a wild card whereas 10-6 missed it the year before. I don’t see how that is tough to make the playoffs. The dolphins lost 7 in a row last year and 7 weeks later controlled their own destiny.
 
BUMP!!!

Well a lot has changed in just ONE month. Let's see how my OP is looking now

AFC EAST
Buffalo Bills - They've added Von Miller to the best defense in football. Ouch
New England Patriots - Have they done ANYthing?
Miami Dolphins - Suddenly we have the fastest most exciting WR duo possibly in NFL history??? Plus a legit top 5 LT???? What the hell is happening?!
New York Jets - They have improved quite a bit in free agency...but is Wilson the guy?

AFC WEST
Kansas City Chiefs - Their #1 receiver is now JuJu Smith-Schuster
Oakland Raiders - Davante Adams will make this offense a lot scarier
Los Angeles Chargers - They shored up the defense with the addition of Khalil Mack and we can only assume Herbert will take that next step towards greatness
Denver Broncos - Russell Wilson is there. This is now the hardest division in football

AFC NORTH
Cincinnati Bengals - They helped the o-line a LOT so far, which was their one undeniable weakness
Pittsburgh Steelers - Mitch Trubisky!!!!
Cleveland Browns - They have Deshaun Watson and Amari Cooper now. How much does Watson play?
Baltimore Ravens - If Lamar Jackson stays healthy, watch out, they can still win this conference easily

AFC SOUTH
Tennessee Titans - Gotta feel this window is closing somewhat soon? They did get Robert Woods though, that'll help the passing game
Indianapolis Colts - Matt Ryan still has plenty in the tank. This team is hell-bent on winning ASAP
Houston Texans - They acquired a massive amount of picks for Watson and things only look bright from here on out
Jacksonville Jaguars - Pederson is there and Urban Meyer is not, plus they have the top pick in the draft
 
It will be interesting to see if Miami bridged the gap with the additions of Hill and Armstead.

Hill is a nightmare matchup and will keep defensive coordinators up at night. I'm not sure how you defend Hill and Waddle, plus slow down the Dolphins running game.

Buffalo is still the team to beat IMO, but Tua now has the opportunity to take a major leap (not step) forward.
 
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Mike McDaniel said:
BUMP!!!

Well a lot has changed in just ONE month. Let's see how my OP is looking now

AFC EAST
Buffalo Bills - They've added Von Miller to the best defense in football. Ouch
New England Patriots - Have they done ANYthing?
Miami Dolphins - Suddenly we have the fastest most exciting WR duo possibly in NFL history??? Plus a legit top 5 LT???? What the hell is happening?!
New York Jets - They have improved quite a bit in free agency...but is Wilson the guy?

AFC WEST
Kansas City Chiefs - Their #1 receiver is now JuJu Smith-Schuster
Oakland Raiders - Davante Adams will make this offense a lot scarier
Los Angeles Chargers - They shored up the defense with the addition of Khalil Mack and we can only assume Herbert will take that next step towards greatness
Denver Broncos - Russell Wilson is there. This is now the hardest division in football

AFC NORTH
Cincinnati Bengals - They helped the o-line a LOT so far, which was their one undeniable weakness
Pittsburgh Steelers - Mitch Trubisky!!!!
Cleveland Browns - They have Deshaun Watson and Amari Cooper now. How much does Watson play?
Baltimore Ravens - If Lamar Jackson stays healthy, watch out, they can still win this conference easily

AFC SOUTH
Tennessee Titans - Gotta feel this window is closing somewhat soon? They did get Robert Woods though, that'll help the passing game
Indianapolis Colts - Matt Ryan still has plenty in the tank. This team is hell-bent on winning ASAP
Houston Texans - They acquired a massive amount of picks for Watson and things only look bright from here on out
Jacksonville Jaguars - Pederson is there and Urban Meyer is not, plus they have the top pick in the draft
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If I had to rank the AFC teams on paper right now?

1. Buffalo Bills
2. Los Angeles Chargers
3. Kansas City Chiefs
4. Cincinnati Bengals
5. Miami Dolphins
6. Los Angeles Raiders
7. Tennessee Titans
8. Denver Broncos
9. Indianapolis Colts
10. Cleveland Browns
11. New England Patriots
12. Baltimore Ravens
13. New York Jets
14. Pittsburgh Steelers
15. Jacksonville Jaguars
16. Houston Texans

The top 7-12 teams in the AFC are totally interchangeable, IMO. There's so much talent in the Conference right now.
 
bdizzle00 said:
If I had to rank the AFC teams on paper right now?

1. Buffalo Bills
2. Los Angeles Chargers
3. Kansas City Chiefs
4. Cincinnati Bengals
5. Miami Dolphins
6. Los Angeles Raiders
7. Tennessee Titans
8. Denver Broncos
9. Indianapolis Colts
10. Cleveland Browns
11. New England Patriots
12. Baltimore Ravens
13. New York Jets
14. Pittsburgh Steelers
15. Jacksonville Jaguars
16. Houston Texans

The top 7-12 teams in the AFC are totally interchangeable, IMO. There's so much talent in the Conference right now.
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Come on now. The Chiefs, Dolphins and Raiders are too high, as are the Colts and probably the Titans. The Browns and especially the Ravens are way too low. The Chiefs have no defense and just traded away half their offense. The Raiders? Why? Because they traded for Adams and signed a declining Chandler Jones? Bad secondary. Dolphins have better rosters than either.

The Browns and Ravens are better than all three of them. Those teams were decimated by injuries last year. The Ravens won 8 games with like 22 guys on IR and their QB missing 4 games. Lost 4 games by 2 points or less, an NFL record. Superior coaching. The Browns roster might be the best in the league and now they have Watson. They were in the playoffs with bad injuries and Baker Mayfield.
 
Alex Trevelyan said:
Come on now. The Chiefs, Dolphins and Raiders are too high, as are the Colts and probably the Titans. The Browns and especially the Ravens are way too low. The Chiefs have no defense and just traded away half their offense. The Raiders? Why? Because they traded for Adams and signed a declining Chandler Jones? Bad secondary. Dolphins have better rosters than either.

The Browns and Ravens are better than all three of them. Those teams were decimated by injuries last year. The Ravens won 8 games with like 22 guys on IR and their QB missing 4 games. Lost 4 games by 2 points or less, an NFL record. Superior coaching. The Browns roster might be the best in the league and now they have Watson. They were in the playoffs with bad injuries and Baker Mayfield.
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Maybe you're right. Those are just my rankings. I'm no expert. What are yours?
 
Mike McDaniel said:
As we saw in 2021, the AFC is a brutal conference with the regular season's "best" team, the Tennessee Titans, looking like one of the weakest #1 seeds in a long time. But were they really that weak, or did they just by chance get the #1 seed because...well...somebody has to get it.

Looking forward to 2022, it's looking like it might be even more of a dogfight. If we break down each team right now, it doesn't look like there will be many teams getting markedly worse, barring drastic free agency losses, injuries, etc. It's probably too early to examine this but it's February, who cares :)

AFC EAST
Buffalo Bills - I don't think anyone expects Josh Allen to regress anytime soon, and the defense was 1st in the league last year
New England Patriots - Was Mac Jones a fluke? Maybe...but I expect Belichick to push him to be better. Oh yeah, and their defense was ranked 2nd in the league
Miami Dolphins - I think pretty much everyone here thinks the team will be better on offense. But what about defense?
New York Jets - Zach Wilson can only play better in his 2nd year with the coaching staff. They have a lot of cap space, too

AFC WEST
Kansas City Chiefs - Eventually the window will start closing for this phase of the Mahomes Era, but it doesn't look to be anytime soon
Oakland Raiders - Josh McDaniels has potential to push this team over the edge--either in a positive or negative way
Los Angeles Chargers - They have a lot of cap space and a superstar QB on a rookie contract. I imagine every pundit this offseason will be choosing the Chargers as their "dark horse" pick to win the conference. We nabbed one of their best coaches though...how will that affect things?
Denver Broncos - If they add Aaron Rodgers, there's a guaranteed playoff spot. If they don't, they could go any direction

AFC NORTH
Cincinnati Bengals - Cinderella story or the beginning of dominance? They need to fix that o-line if they want the latter, or Joe Burrow will be Theisman'd soon
Pittsburgh Steelers - This is the first team on the list that looks to have no immediate positive future. Who will play QB? Garoppolo maybe? Watson? Rodgers? A rookie? With Tomlin as coach, we know they will battle hard in every game no matter who is QB
Cleveland Browns - A make or break year for Baker Mayfield. He didn't look so hot in '21 but he was injured. If he does well, he gets the contract extension and the Browns likely nab a playoff spot
Baltimore Ravens - Lamar Jackson was hurt a lot. If he's healthy, the team is going to win a lot of games

AFC SOUTH
Tennessee Titans - How much longer does Derrick Henry have? Does it matter? The Titans were still a top 5 rushing team even with Henry missing more than half the games, and the defense was great. All this despite constant injuries. Vrabel will have his team playing hard no matter what
Indianapolis Colts - Despite the epic meltdown against Jacksonville, this was basically a playoff team. But, what's going on at QB? Like the Steelers, there is a very murky future here unless they nab a Rodgers/Watson/Garoppolo type
Houston Texans - Is Davis Mills going to be a consistent NFL starter? He looked very good at times last year. Hard to imagine the team getting worse...
Jacksonville Jaguars - They hired a Super Bowl winning coach and their 1st pick QB can only get better, plus tons of cap space and 12 picks in the draft

So what happens in 2022? I think like last year, it's gonna be a dogfight. No one will run away with the conference (or any division for that matter), and whoever gets into the playoffs will have as good a shot as any at getting to the Super Bowl. There were only two AFC teams who were totally annihilated in the playoffs (Patriots and Steelers) and most pundits expect neither one to make it back in 2022. Whoever makes it is going to have to be 1) well-coached, 2) lucky as hell, and 3) relatively healthy

Did I miss anything? Am I way off? Sound off!
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There's literally only 3 bad teams.

This is like the NBA Western Conference of the 2000s
 
Alex Trevelyan said:
Come on now. The Chiefs, Dolphins and Raiders are too high, as are the Colts and probably the Titans. The Browns and especially the Ravens are way too low. The Chiefs have no defense and just traded away half their offense. The Raiders? Why? Because they traded for Adams and signed a declining Chandler Jones? Bad secondary. Dolphins have better rosters than either.

The Browns and Ravens are better than all three of them. Those teams were decimated by injuries last year. The Ravens won 8 games with like 22 guys on IR and their QB missing 4 games. Lost 4 games by 2 points or less, an NFL record. Superior coaching. The Browns roster might be the best in the league and now they have Watson. They were in the playoffs with bad injuries and Baker Mayfield.
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We will know for sure around December - LOL
 
AFC is ridiculously stacked. But based on how the offseason has gone for us I'm confident we should be able to compete with the best of em.

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