2020 AFC Preview

Congratulations everyone, you’ve made it to September. In the sports world, that means we’ve reached the time of year with meaningful football. Yes, the preseason begins in August, but you only see the stars play for maybe a small portion of the game and the final scores don’t mean anything. This year, preseason games were not played due to the current pandemic. When all the sports were brought to a screeching halt, football continued with free agency and appeared largely unaffected due to the shutdown beginning during the NFL offseason. Now, the season is starting and the league hasn’t issued a mandate on whether or not fans will be allowed in the stands, leaving teams to make those decisions. No matter the circumstance, fans will be glad to see their favorite football stars lace up and take the field every Sunday. How will this season play out? Let’s take a look at each division in the AFC today.

AFC West

It feels appropriate to start with the division that has the reigning World Champion Kansas City Chiefs. With most of the team intact, I find it hard to believe anyone will overtake them in both the division and conference. However, as hard as it is to win a Super Bowl, it appears even harder to return and repeat unless you’re the New England Patriots. Barring a possible Super Bowl hangover, the Chiefs are likely the class of the AFC. As for who will follow? That’s where it gets interesting. Denver lost many close games last year but seemed to find a rhythm towards the end of the year, due to having a good defense and possibly finding a quarterback in Drew Lock. Then came the unfortunate news that Von Miller will be out for the season due to an injury sustained in practice which devastated any chance the Broncos had at making any noise. Both the Raiders and Chargers are moving into new stadiums. For the Raiders, it’ll still be some time before I get used to saying Las Vegas instead of Oakland, but I’m glad they moved out of the dump that is the Oakland Coliseum. Question in Vegas is: will Marcus Mariota put pressure on Derek Carr to perform? How often do you have a team with two quarterbacks that were at one point seen as franchise QBs? As for Los Angeles (still getting used to saying that instead of San Diego), they now begin the Justin Herbert era as they moved on from Philip Rivers. Tyrod Taylor will start the season as quarterback, but you figure he’s a bad game away from getting pulled for the rookie. The Chargers actually caught a break with no fans being allowed in the stands because I think I speak for many, when I say they weren’t expected to sell out any home games.

AFC East

For the first time since 2000, Tom Brady isn’t a New England Patriot. If this team had any coach other than Bill Belichick, I’d say there’s no way this team has a chance not only to make the playoffs, but to be competitive. However, Belichick won 11 games with Tom Cassel as a starter in 2008, so you’d think he’ll be fine with former MVP Cam Newton now under center in Foxborough. These may not be the same Patriots, but Belichick will have them ready. If any team will overtake them in the division, it’s the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are solid on defense and quarterback Josh Allen now has another weapon on offense in Stefon Diggs. This division is really a two-horse race as the other teams in the East still have a ways to go. The New York Jets had to deal with disgruntled star Jamal Adams demanding a trade. However, general manager Joe Douglas was able to get back safety Bradley McDougald, first- and third-round picks in the 2021 NFL Draft, and a first-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft. Douglas has done a good job building this roster without making too many splashes, but they’re a still a year or two from making noise. A lot of that will depend on whether quarterback Sam Darnold can stay healthy, and if head coach Adam Gase can properly utilize having a weapon like Le’Veon Bell in the backfield. Tanking for Tua worked for the Dolphins as they drafted the quarterback from Alabama. Head coach Brian Flores had this squad playing hard and they improved towards the end of the season last year, highlighted by a win against the Patriots in New England that spoiled their chances to finish as the top seed in the conference. The Dolphins should be competitive, a lot more than they were in the first couple of weeks last year, but they will still finish below .500. However, they have stacked up many high draft years in the coming years, so some good times might be in the picture soon in Miami.

AFC South

Every once in a while, you’ll see teams making head scratching moves. The title of biggest head scratching move belongs to the Houston Texans. Yes, they did right and extended quarterback Deshaun Watson, but before that, they took away his greatest asset by trading DeAndre Hopkins. Trading away a star receiver? It makes sense when you get something worthwhile in return or if he is a problem. Hopkins wasn’t a problem despite playing with subpar quarterbacks until Watson came into the picture, and what they got in return aside from some draft picks, but no first rounders, was running back David Johnson. This was a good trade if it happened after 2016, but aside from 2018, Johnson has been a shell of himself since then due to injuries. Despite this, Houston is still the best team in this division and should win. The Indianapolis Colts now have Philip Rivers under center. If Rivers cuts down on all the interceptions, the Colts have a chance to challenge for the division title. They were in the mix last year until they lost 5 of their last 6 games. The Titans are coming off a surprising run to the AFC Championship that resulted in Ryan Tannehill overtaking Marcus Mariota as the starting quarterback. With Tannehill being more familiar with the offense and Derrick Henry in the backfield, this team will look to improve on their 9–7 record from last year. While the Texans are the best team in the division, the Titans will be their biggest challenger for the AFC South crown. As for the Jaguars, they took a page from the Florida Marlins by trading away all the stars. After narrowly losing in the 2017 AFC Championship Game, Jacksonville appeared to be a team on the rise with a stout defense and an offense that was improving with quarterback Blake Bortles. Bortles lost his job the next season and the mass exodus began with star cornerback Jalen Ramsey getting traded away last year. Forget being competitive, will the Jaguars win at all this year? Head coach Doug Marrone has a tough job this year but at least he still has the charismatic Gardner Minshew at quarterback. Maybe that mustache will be a good luck charm and get the Jaguars a couple wins this season.

AFC North

Lastly, we come to the division with the most exciting player in the league in Lamar Jackson. After a spectacular regular season, Jackson had a disappointing game in the playoffs vs the Titans. I feel the Ravens are the team best suited to challenge the Chiefs for AFC supremacy, but after two underwhelming playoff eliminations at home in consecutive seasons, Jackson will look to hush his critics that he can’t win the big games. Head coach John Harbaugh rightly won the Coach of the Year award last season, but another deserving coach was his division counterpart Mike Tomlin. Despite losing franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers were in prime position to make the playoffs last year, despite having to use their third string QB and losing star receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell in the offseason. With Big Ben back under center, Pittsburgh will challenge Baltimore for the division title and should make the playoffs again. Chaos has been the norm in Cleveland ever since the Browns returned in 1999, but even last year seemed too much. Head coach Freddie Kitchens was fired after only one year and general manager John Dorsey followed him on the way out. The offense is still pretty much intact and unless quarterback Baker Mayfield regresses, there’s no way this unit can be as disappointing as they were last year given all the talent they have. Defensive star Myles Garrett will look to redeem himself after an ugly altercation with Mason Rudolph caused him to rightly be suspended. For the first time since 2011, Andy Dalton won’t be starting quarterback in Cincinnati. Joe Burrow is now under center for the Bengals and while the team should improve with him at the helm, they will probably be in position to have a high draft pick next season.