Through six weeks, the New England Patriots have been the class of the AFC.
The Patriots carry a conference-best 5-1 record into Sunday’s showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and while the playoffs still are a long ways away, it’s not too early to start examining who might challenge New England for AFC supremacy.
We’ll start with the six two-loss teams:
Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2)
This weekend’s Patriots-Steelers matchup lost a great deal of its luster following the announcement this week that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would not play after undergoing surgery on a torn meniscus. Landry Jones is no Big Ben, and even though Pittsburgh’s offense still is stacked at the running back and wide receiver positions, losing Roethlisberger is a huge blow. The Steelers also have two very bad losses on their record already (34-3 to the Philadelphia Eagles and 30-15 to the Miami Dolphins), and while they still should contend for a first-round bye, it’s hard to imagine them surpassing the Patriots if Roethlisberger misses anything more than a couple of games.
Denver Broncos (4-2)
The deepest of the AFC’s four divisions this season clearly is the West, with the defending Super Bowl champion Broncos facing some legitimate competition from both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders. (The last-place San Diego Chargers also aren’t nearly as bad as their 2-4 record would indicate.) Denver, which has won each of the last five AFC West titles, has the conference’s best defense but a big ol’ question mark at quarterback, as Trevor Siemian has battled injury and inconsistency in his first season as an NFL starter.
Oakland Raiders (4-2)
The Raiders are an intriguing team. They’re led by one of the NFL’s most promising young quarterbacks in Derek Carr, have the ability to score points by the boatload and play a lot of close games. Their defense, however, has been a massive disappointment. Oakland has allowed 26 or more points in five of its six games, and All-Pro defensive end/linebacker Khalil Mack seems to have taken a step back in his third professional season. The Raiders no longer are the bottom-feeders they were for the last decade but they don’t look like true contenders just yet.
Kansas City Chiefs (3-2)
Through five games, it’s hard to get a read on the Chiefs, who’ve beaten the Chargers, Raiders and New York Jets but lost an ugly game to the Houston Texans and were blown out by the Steelers. Kansas City’s defense — which ranks 10th in the league in points allowed per game — also recently lost two starters to injury in inside linebacker Justin March-Lillard and defensive tackle Allen Bailey. That unit should receive a boost, however, when former All-Pro linebacker Justin Houston, who practiced this week for the first time all season, is healthy enough to return.
Houston Texans (4-2)
Houston is 4-2 and in the driver’s seat in the AFC South. But the AFC South might be the worst division in football, and if the Texans’ Week 3 trip to Foxboro was any indication, a playoff rematch would result in a bloodbath a la the Patriots’ 41-28 beatdown in the 2008 divisional round. So to answer the question posed in the headline, no, the Texans are not a viable contender for the AFC crown.
Buffalo Bills (4-2)
Ah, the Bills. Buffalo is the only team to beat New England so far this season, and it’s used that 16-0 shutout as a springboard for the AFC’s longest active winning streak, which currently sits at four games. At 4-2, Rex Ryan’s boys need to be taken seriously. But are they a legitimate contender? Let’s wait a few more weeks before we say that. Their win over the Patriots came with an injured Jacoby Brissett under center for the Pats, and the rest of their wins have come over mediocre to bad teams (Arizona, Los Angeles and San Francisco). The Bills also allowed 37 points in a loss to the lowly Jets, who’ve scored 36 total points in the four games since.
Thumbnail photo via Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports Images