Patriots have a tough hill to conquer in the AFC
The Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl 57…. cool.
The Chiefs Kingdom is sitting on the cups of a dynasty (takes 3 wins to be consider a dynasty) and at the top of the AFC. With Patrick Mahomes only 27 and locked up in KC till after 2030 (that feels gross to write and makes me feel old as shit) Mahomes will be fighting for a AFC Championship birth every year, he’s that good. So, for us Patriots fans that haven’t seen a playoff victory or Super Bowl since 2018, how do we fare against the AFC.
Kansas City Chiefs- Mahomes just showed us he’s the one you got to beat. With Andy Reid not retiring anytime soon and winning without Tyreek Hill, something I didn’t think they could, the Chiefs proved they are legit and will be for years to come.
Cincinnati Bengals- They have the 3rd best QB in the league in Joe Burrow. They almost went to back to back Super Bowls with almost all backups playing offensive line for him and Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are a tandem that will give every defense in the league headaches for years to come. That is if Higgins stays, which he has come out and said he wants to and Joe Burrow may take a similar deal like Mahomes so he can get paid and let the organization have money to sign talent around him.
Buffalo Bills-The god damn Bills. Yes, the Buffalo Bills will be better than us as long as Josh Allen is behind center for them. He may never win them a Super Bowl due to his bone headed plays in the post season but in the regular season, he owns us now. It would take us to get a lock down corner to stop Stefan Diggs lighting us up twice a year.
Las Vegas Raiders/New York Jets. I put these both here because if Aaron Rodgers comes out of his darkness retreat and wants to play football still, then one of these teams will have him as their QB, and with that make them significantly better in 2023. Jets defense ranked 4th in the NFL at the end of the season, something Aaron Rodgers hasn’t had in Green Bay in a long time. Something that he says interests him if he were to keep playing, also throw in the offensive rookie of the year in Garrett Wilson and nice pieces with him in Elijah Moore and Denzel Mims. The Jets are that QB a way from making noise in the AFC. The Flip Side you put him the Raiders with an offensive genius that is Josh McDaniels and the man he great chemistry with in Green Bay, Devante Adams and they could be one of the highest scoring offenses in the AFC, especially in a climate controlled dome in Las Vegas. The only problem in Vegas is Rodgers wouldn’t have a defense to help him since Vegas ranked 30th last season.
Then you have those teams that could be the Eagles of this year and shock the AFC.
Denver Broncos- They were the laughing stock but are bringing in a Super Bowl winning coach in Sean Payton. Can he make Russ cook again and make Denver a destination. The owners have made it clear they want to win and don’t care about price tags. They want a winning product and so doesn’t Payton
LA Chargers- a team in 2022 thought they would be a team that could contend but with bone headed coaching and Justin Herbert not having the MVP caliber season analyst projected him to have could they finally put it all together?
Jacksonville Jaguars- Played the Chiefs tough and with Trevor Lawrence not having any real talent to throw to, will he now have the respect of the league for people to come down to the arm pit of America and play with him?
Lamar Jackson- he will either stay with the Ravens with a franchise tag or force his way out of town. One of those teams being rumored to want him is the Miami Dolphins. When healthy he is that good and will catapult either team to be contenders in the AFC. As a Patriots fan I don’t want to see him come to an AFC EAST team that had a great defense and has two speed demons in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Dolphins finished in front of us last year with Tua in and out of action due to concussions. If Lamar came to the Dolphins he would be working with the most talented wide receiving core he’s had since coming in to the NFL, he could become that MVP player he once was.
The way I look at it, we are at least 2 - 4 years away from building something to compete with the above mentioned players. In that time Bill Belichick could be gone and we could be in a rebuild and looking like the early 90’s Patriots or we could be on to something kind of like when Pete Carrol took over after Parcells.