Race to the Playoffs
As we enter into the final quarter of the season and Super Bowl LII gets closer and closer, only a few teams have asserted themselves as true contenders for the Lombardi. This leaves plenty of franchises vying for a position in the playoffs, in fact mathematically only 8 teams are out of the running. That leaves 24 teams (and I bet a few of those are fuming about it #tankgate), who could make the playoffs.
Let’s take a closer look at the divisions to see who will walk away with the title, who’ll snatch a wildcard spot and those who will fall by the wayside
AFC
AFC East
This division has played out completely different compared to how we thought it would at the beginning of the year. Kadeem has silenced his trade critics, TO’s bounced back from 0-3 to 6-6 (Jeez I bet whoever has his 1st and 2nd round picks is pissed……… Oh!), the Jets have actually managed to win a couple of games. Yet there has been one constant throughout, DJ has reigned supreme and with 4 games left and a four game advantage, it’s hard to look past the Patriots to win this division.
Prediction
Winner: Patriots
AFC South
In what will be a recurring theme in this blog this is a close division. It was looking good for Andre and VFJ at the start of the season. However after making a good start both have started to wobble as of late and this division is wide open. Although they’re back in the 1 and a half hands of Ben, the Texans still pose a threat as divisional winners and this one is likely to go down the wire.
Prediction
Winner: Titans
AFC North
Since the team draw, the main headline for this division was that SC and Rob were going to square off twice a season at least. Michael and James are almost the forgotten men of the North as they struggled to impose themselves early in the season, however both have bounced back and shown great improvement in the past few weeks. That said, and as predicted, it’s a two horse race to the divisional title. The Browns currently have a 1 game advantage over the Ravens, but with injuries mounting, that could easily change. We’ll get to see another SC vs Rob showdown in two weeks’ time, can SC clinch the divisional title or will Rob pull level?
Prediction
Winner: Ravens
Wildcard: Browns
AFC West
It’s impossible to look beyond the Chiefs as divisional winner this season, they’ve been superb on both sides of the ball and have managed to keep a healthy roster for most of the season. Unfortunately the Madden gods cursed the Broncos with injury after injury and they’ve struggled all season. The Raiders kept it close but a decimated Oline and injuries to key players meant they lost pace with the Chiefs, a team they beat early in the season. Having lost 3 in a row it’s going to be difficult for them to scrape back into contention for the playoffs. The final week of the season see’s the Raiders and Chargers face off for what I think will be the final wildcard spot.
Prediction
Winner: Chiefs
Wildcard: Chargers