State of the AFC after 7 weeks: 4 division titles already wrapped up?
The Chiefs, Bills, Texans, and Ravens all look to have locked up titles, but who will be the wild card teams?
Seven weeks into the 18-week National Football League season, and the AFC division races are anything BUT that.
If the playoffs started today, the four division winners would be the Buffalo Bills (East), Houston Texans (South), Baltimore Ravens (North) and Kansas City Chiefs (West).
Guess what?
In 10 weeks when the playoffs really do start, it will still be the Bills, Texans, Ravens and Chiefs.
Buffalo (5-2) has a two-and-a-half game lead on the Miami Dolphins (2-4) and a three-game lead on the New York Jets (2-5) in the East. The Bills have also beaten both of those teams head-to-head. It’s only a matter of time before Sean McDermott’s team clinches its fifth consecutive division crown.
Houston (5-2) only has a one-game lead over the second-place Indianapolis Colts (4-3), but also has a head-to-head win over the Colts. There’s a chance the Colts can catch the Texans, but it’s not a very good one. Look for DeMeco Ryans to win his second division title in his second year as head coach.
Baltimore (5-2) is actually tied with Pittsburgh (5-2) atop the North. But the Ravens after losing by a toe to Kansas City in the season opener and somehow losing to the Las Vegas Raiders in week two have looked like the best team in the league. Pittsburgh has been winning but two of their wins came with it scoring just one touchdown and there are two ugly losses to Indianapolis and Dallas. The Steelers and Ravens meet for the first time Nov. 17 in Pittsburgh.
Kansas City (6-0) has a two-and-a-half game lead on Denver (4-3) and a three-game lead on the Los Angeles Chargers (3-3) in the West. The Chiefs have already beaten the Chargers and have not faced the Broncos yet. But do you really think either of those teams are going to catch KC? Didn’t think so. The Chiefs roll to their ninth straight division title.
Where the intrigue in the AFC comes is in who will earn the three wild-card berths.
Denver picked up a huge win on the road Thursday night, with Head Coach Sean Payton returning to New Orleans. Payton won the Super Bowl XLIV with the Saints, but wanted to make sure his old team was on the short end of the stick in Week 7.
“Everything matters,” Payton said. “How we traveled. How we celebrated in the locker room. We brought a $30,000-dollar stereo system—Club Dub. We thought it was important, especially on the road, that everyone could hear our locker room celebrating”
Right now it would be Pittsburgh (5-2), Indianapolis (4-3) and Denver (4-3). And it could stay that way, although watch out for Cincinnati (3-4) and maybe Miami (2-4).
The Bengals, after an awful start to the season where they lost their opener to New England — the Patriots only win — have begun to play better. Cincinnati still possesses one of the best passing games in the league with quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receivers Ja’Mar Chase and Tee Higgins. If the defense can play the way it has the past two weeks, the Bengals might have a chance.
Miami is hoping to get quarterback Tua Tagovailoa back maybe as soon as this week when it hosts Arizona. A healthy Tua, if he remains healthy, could go a long way for a Dolphins team that plays just three teams with a winning record the rest of the way.
