NFL 2017-18: Watch athletes destroy their brains

The Patriots hugely benefit from having a mostly weak conference. How long has the AFC been irrelevant outside of the Pats and Steelers? For the most part, they get to cruise on easier wins in easier divisions compared to the meat grinders that are the NFC South, East, and West, with 2+ teams in each division being about the same power level on any given year for the last decade at least.

Are the Patriots that much better than say Atlanta or the Saints? Yeah, Atlanta lost last year in the SB to them, but that game could have easily gone the other way. I doubt anyone can claim that the Patriots soundly defeated Atlanta - that game was close until the very end.

The Patriots have never had a dominating game, let alone dominating win, against an NFC team in all of their Superbowl (7) appearances since 2001.

Even if the Patriots get to the Superbowl, there's a good chance that an NFC team can win - there's hope still!

Zajeer said:

Yeah, Atlanta lost last year in the SB to them, but that game could have easily gone the other way. I doubt anyone can claim that the Patriots soundly defeated Atlanta - that game was close until the very end.

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This is just false. That game was only close 2 times. The starting kickoff and the last go-ahead touchdown by the Pats. In between it was the Falcons blowing out the Pats, then the Falcons just blowing the Pats.

I think that's a solid hire.

Zajeer said:

How long has the AFC been irrelevant outside of the Pats and Steelers?

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Maybe two years? It wasn't even that long ago that the Broncos were a fucking powerhouse. And the Ravens have almost always been relevant. Colts were good before Luck died. Shit even last year the Raiders looked truly legit until Carr went down. Pats benefit from a shit division more than anything else. The division record works wonders in tie breakers when it comes to seeding.

Alex said:

Maybe two years? It wasn't even that long ago that the Broncos were a fucking powerhouse. And the Ravens have almost always been relevant. Colts were good before Luck died. Shit even last year the Raiders looked truly legit until Carr went down. Pats benefit from a shit division more than anything else. The division record works wonders in tie breakers when it comes to seeding.

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Ravens haven't really been relevant since they won the SB in 2012. Only 1 playoff appearance since, although they did give the Pats all they could handle in divisional round...but the Pats won, and they haven't been heard from since. Colts with Luck were honestly never a threat to Patriots or Bronocos when Manning was healthy. In fact, the last time the Ravens made the playoffs was year Colts made the AFC title game and Pats clearly had a tougher game against Ravens in divisional round than with Colts in AFC Championship game (only reason they got there was because Manning was playing on one leg anyways).

Agreed on the Carr thing. Raiders kind of like the Eagles this year in that they didn't get to see what their full potential was last year (and somewhat this year too). AFC West since Broncos died can't seem to put together a real contender to challenge come playoff time. Chargers kill themselves before the playoffs, Chiefs kill themselves in the playoffs.

He said "relevant". I would say making the AFCCG makes you relevant. Prior to last year it had been almost 10 years since the Steelers were in the conference championship. I'm just saying that "no teams outside of Steelers or Pats has been relevant in years" is flat out wrong.

So what you're saying is that the Steelers are roughly the same power level as the Broncos and Ravens over that same time span? I've felt that any given year, Pittsburgh has always felt like they've had a chance to go to the Superbowl because they've always had an average to great defense over that period, plus Ben and various extremely good offensive pieces (Like having the best RB in the league and likely the best WR in the league)

While the Steelers have had various reasons that they missed the conference championship, I doubt you could say they weren't a contender every year, which is nowhere near what you can say about the Ravens or Broncos

Edit - and to caveat this, I'm a Bucs fan and don't really care about the Steelers except for the Mike Tomlin connection. But you can't deny that team feels perenially good to great, which I can't say the same for any other AFC team besides the Patriots

Over that time span, who in the NFC would be those perennial contenders? The list is as short. Seahawks and Packers. That's it. 49ers were good for three years, Saints go from god awful to great every other year, Panthers are horribly inconsistent year to year, the NFCE rarely produces a dominant team, Falcons didn't reach that level until last year. People complain about parity and how it's always the Pats, but the NFL really has the best parity. The Falcons are the only NFC team to make playoffs this year that made playoffs last year.

Zajeer said:

The Patriots have never had a dominating game, let alone dominating win, against an NFC team in all of their Superbowl (7) appearances since 2001.

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Good Guy Patriots keep the Superbowls close to entertain the fans!

Guy was an Intern coach in 2009 and now hes a head coach after spending only 6 weeks as a fully powered coordinator.

This is going to go poorly for the bears.

WHen will teams stop hiring Andy Reid disciples?

Zajeer said:

So what you're saying is that the Steelers are roughly the same power level as the Broncos and Ravens over that same time span? I've felt that any given year, Pittsburgh has always felt like they've had a chance to go to the Superbowl because they've always had an average to great defense over that period, plus Ben and various extremely good offensive pieces (Like having the best RB in the league and likely the best WR in the league)

While the Steelers have had various reasons that they missed the conference championship, I doubt you could say they weren't a contender every year, which is nowhere near what you can say about the Ravens or Broncos

Edit - and to caveat this, I'm a Bucs fan and don't really care about the Steelers except for the Mike Tomlin connection. But you can't deny that team feels perenially good to great, which I can't say the same for any other AFC team besides the Patriots

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What time span are you talking about? Colts were a threat to go 16-0 every year with Manning, and probably would have if they didn't rest their starters when everything was locked up. Broncos were then the best team in the AFC for all but 2014.

No clue where this idea that it's only been Patriots and Steelers in the AFC forever, but it's just wrong.

Plus, no team in the NFC have been dominant for more than a couple years at a time. Packers are probably the closest thing you'll find to that and they have 1 whole Super Bowl appearance/win to show for it.

Alex said:

Over that time span, who in the NFC would be those perennial contenders? The list is as short. Seahawks and Packers. That's it. 49ers were good for three years, Saints go from god awful to great every other year, Panthers are horribly inconsistent year to year, the NFCE rarely produces a dominant team, Falcons didn't reach that level until last year. People complain about parity and how it's always the Pats, but the NFL really has the best parity. The Falcons are the only NFC team to make playoffs this year that made playoffs last year.

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My argument is this - the Patriots get to feast on a weaker conference every year for the last 17 years, with only really the Steelers as competition. The NFC generally fields Steelers/Patriots level of contenders each year, but instead of the AFC only having generally 2, maybe 3 of them per year, the NFC has generally 4-6 of them each year. And not only that, I feel like average NFC teams are generally stronger than most AFC teams.

Just look at the playoff landscape this year. The Steelers and Patriots are heavy favorites, but I'd bet most people on this board would split 50/50 on each of the NFC teams because they are all about the same power level. The NFC has to beat itself up harder just to get to the Superbowl IMO, and all the Patriots have done each year they've been in the SB has either closely won or lost. Now they've won more than they've lost, and have been perennial which makes them the greatest NFL team I've ever seen, but they look very beatable by any of the 4 NFC teams this year and most years

Zajeer said:

My argument is this - the Patriots get to feast on a weaker conference every year for the last 17 years, with only really the Steelers as competition. The NFC generally fields Steelers/Patriots level of contenders each year, but instead of the AFC only having generally 2, maybe 3 of them per year, the NFC has generally 4-6 of them each year. And not only that, I feel like average NFC teams are generally stronger than most AFC teams.

Just look at the playoff landscape this year. The Steelers and Patriots are heavy favorites, but I'd bet most people on this board would split 50/50 on each of the NFC teams because they are all about the same power level. The NFC has to beat itself up harder just to get to the Superbowl IMO, and all the Patriots have done each year they've been in the SB has either closely won or lost. Now they've won more than they've lost, and have been perennial which makes them the greatest NFL team I've ever seen, but they look very beatable by any of the 4 NFC teams this year and most years

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I actually think the "better conference" only shifted to the NFC very recently. As others have mentioned, there hasn't been solid "contenders" for the last 5-10 years like there have been in the AFC over in the NFC. Ambi is right that while the Packers have almost always been in the playoffs, they haven't tended to go as far.

Blitz and I got into it about the NFC this year a couple of weeks before the playoffs started (and before wentz got hurt). NFC strongest its been in awhile this year. If Wentz was healthy, shit would have been a bloodbath. Imagine healthy Wentz and Eagles playing Falcons and Vikes/Saints match up this weekend? Would be awesome. Still have 3 strong teams, and half of one with Eagles but lack of QB.

The main benefit the Pats always have is that they do have that weaker division, and basically always end up with a 1st round bye/and home field. When you only have to win 1 game to get to the Conference title game every year, and you're always getting to play the lowest seed in the divisional round, it creates a much easier path. Lets be honest, the 4 seed can often be one of the weakest teams in either bracket the way the league is set up. Often there's one weak division where the division winner just isn't very strong...or they get to host a wild card team that won on the road in the wild card round.

Is someone really saying the NFC was better when they were sending a 7-9 team in as a division winner?