No The league sells parity, just like the NFL: it's the entire brand. But 10 weeks into this season, this league will not have the same balance of good, bad and mediocre. This is a case where most of the league just Great.
NFC at least has some clarity. The Rams and Seahawks (both 7-2) look like the deepest teams in football and won in convincing fashion on Sunday. The 6-2 Eagles, despite their struggles, still have one of the most talented rosters in the league, as do the Packers (5-2-1). Even the Lions (6-3), who were inconsistent on both lines of scrimmage and had a strained coaching staff, proved they can beat good teams. With all five, you can still easily put together a path to the Super Bowl.
In the AFC, however, the playoff picture is a mess. Your four division leaders through ten weeks: Colts, Patriots, Broncos (all 8-2) and Steelers (5-4). Read this again. Not the Chiefs. Not Billy. Not the Ravens or Bengals. The traditional powers, bolstered by the league's best defensemen, either have glaring weaknesses in their lineup or are plagued by injuries.
In some ways, this is the ideal of the league; The parity mechanic works as intended. But watching the top four AFC division leaders this year still feels strange. Each team's zones go through the smell championship, but not completely. If you were asked to lock in your AFC Championship picks today, would you be confident in picking any of the top four in the division?
Starting out in Indianapolis, Daniel Jones has yet to reach pumpkin status. But the last two weeks have been worrying. He turns the ball over again and fights the pressure. He had seven sacks Sunday against the Falcons and had a five-minute stretch in which he threw an interception and fumbled three times. That's a week after he turned the ball over five times against the Steelers.
The Colts' offense thrived early in the season because Jones avoided disastrous plays. Jonathan Taylor and the offensive line mean the Colts are good enough to survive some negative plays like they did in Berlin. But Jones returning to his error-prone days would end any playoff run.
The Patriots feel much the same way. A year ago they were a highlight. They are now the league's happiest surprise and the hottest team in football after seven wins in a row. If not for a disastrous game-winning performance against Pittsburgh, they would be sitting at 9–1 with the best record in the league. Last season they were old and slow. Now they are young, fast and fearless. However, it's hard to ignore how soft the Patriots' schedule has been. They faced the easiest match in the league and there were still cracks. Drake May was sacked 35 times, the second-most in football, and some of the hits he took Sunday were terrible. Over time, these beatings add up.
The Broncos are also 8-2 and still seem like they're holding their breath. Bo Nix was inconsistent, the offense moved slowly and the defense did all the heavy lifting. Without good quarterback play, the Broncos have no fears in the postseason. The Chargers also lead the AFC West standings at 7-2, but injuries to their offensive line will make it difficult to make a deep run in the postseason.
And then there's Pittsburgh, which somehow still leads the AFC North despite getting crushed 25-10 by the Chargers on Sunday night. They have a negative point differential, their defense fades too often, and Aaron Rodgers' limitations at this point in his career continue to show. They're 5-4 and holding on, but Baltimore, with Lamar Jackson healthy again and a softened schedule, is on a three-game winning streak. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the Ravens got involved in the game against the Steelers, but that it happened so quickly is an indictment of Pittsburgh's inconsistency. That the Ravens started the season 1-5 and still look like they should. Winning the division speaks volumes about the conference as a whole.
The Ravens are one of the Big Three — along with the Bills and Chiefs — thanks to their MVP quarterbacks, who will continue to be the biggest fear for opposing teams if they make the playoffs. These are the “Nobody Wants to See Them” teams, but the Chiefs and Bills can't seem to get out of their own way.
A week ago, the Bills were riding high after beating the Chiefs. On Sunday they suffered one of their most disappointing defeats of the season. They didn't just lose to the Dolphins; they were embarrassed, falling 30–13 on the road. It was Miami's first win over Buffalo in more than 1,000 days.
If you're looking for a microcosm of the day, here it is: Josh Allen turns quarterback into a 15-yard run, before hitting the ball.
In the first half of the year, bills were blocked, which led to costly turnover. Receivers struggle to separate early, forcing Allen to hold the ball and pursue an offensive approach that robs the offense of its typical tempo. There are even bigger concerns on defense. They don't have enough pass rush to consistently bother most offenses, their defense has been a sieve all year, and now their secondary has been destroyed.
The Chiefs, at 5-4, feel the same way. advanced metrics continue to be portrayed as championship contenders, thanks in large part to Patrick Mahomes and the fact that every loss was close. It's almost a complete reversal from last year, when they started 9-0 but struggled for long stretches of the series. And, at least on offense, the numbers are confirmed by an eye test. But their pass rush is hot and cold, and the offense is too dependent on Mahomes' magic to simply stay on schedule.
When you add it all up, the AFC is filled with teams that are both dangerous and flawed. The perennial contenders are still trying to find some consistency. If the Patriots continue to hum and the Chiefs fail to catch the Broncos, it will be the first time in the Allen-Mahomes era that the duo advances to the postseason in the Wildcard round. The NFC has a recent history of wild-card teams winning every tournament, but the last AFC team to do so was the 2005 Steelers.
Perhaps the Bills, Chiefs and Ravens will team up in this stretch. But it will be a very different postseason in the AFC. The Patriots are the most versatile group right now, but going from laughing stock to legitimate contender in 12 months is still a long way to go.
MVP of the week
Jonathan Taylor, RB, Colts. Take your poster. Campaign for a non-quarterback to win MVP. Taylor returned to his best form on Sunday after a below-par performance in Pittsburgh last week. He rushed for a career-high 244 yards and three touchdowns, including a field goal, as the Colts beat the Falcons 31-25 in overtime in Berlin. After taking the lead early in the first quarter, the Colts' offense stalled for two quarters. Jones was shaky under Atlanta's relentless pressure. So Shane Steichen did what good coaches do: he repeatedly put the ball in the hands of his best player. Taylor more than lived up to his end of the bargain, rushing for 228 yards after contact and forcing 11 missed tackles. It's hard for a running back to be more valuable than that.
Video of the week
Now for the last part of “Things We Don't Usually See”: Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson checked in with his coaching staff. mid game about whether it was okay for him to score a late touchdown.
With the Patriots leading by five with less than two minutes to play, they prepared to run with the ball and run out the clock. Henderson received a pass from May, waved off a would-be tackler and broke into open space along the Bucs' sideline. After breaking away from the crowd of defenders, Henderson slowed down, turned to the middle of the field and turned to Mike Vrabel on the opposite side of the field to get permission to score. The coaching staff agreed, allowing Henderson to complete the 69-yard touchdown instead of punting the ball to run out the clock.
This completed Henderson's long-awaited decisive game. He scored two long touchdowns against Tampa's superior defense and finished with 147 yards on 14 carries in a 28-23 victory.
Statistics of the week
20. That's how many touchdowns Matthew Stafford has thrown in his last six games without throwing a single interception. He also has more touchdowns this season (25) than he did in his entire last campaign (21). The 37-year-old appears to be getting better as he approaches 40, maintaining the stunning shots he's always been capable of while reducing his errors. “MVP!” Davante Adams yelled at Stafford during an interview on Fox after Sunday's 42-26 win over the 49ers. Stafford just smiled – at 7-2, the Rams look like a real Super Bowl contender.
Elsewhere in the league
— The New York Jets are undefeated in the post-Gardner-Quinnen Williams era! The Jets traded two all-pro players last week. for sending future drafts. On Sunday, they won their second game in a row – this time 27-20 over the Browns – mainly thanks to their special teams, scoring on punts and kick returns. There were questions about how motivated the Jets' roster was after the front office cut two of its best players, but they battled impressively against a strong Browns defense – many of them inspired by pregame tributes to Nick Mangold, their longtime center. died in October aged 41. “Nick was with us today,” safety Tony Adams said. “We had a backlash and a backlash [for touchdowns]. A little crazy. It is none other than God and the man himself, Nick.
— Davis Mills, who seemed poised for a quiet but well-paid life on the Texans bench after C.J. Stroud took over as the starting quarterback in Houston, had his most remarkable day as a pro on Sunday. Starting with Stroud concussed, Mills looked like he was leading the Texans to defeat when they trailed 29-10 in the fourth quarter. But the Texans scored 26 points – including a 14-yard touchdown run by Mills to give his team the lead – and pulled out a 36-29 victory to keep their playoff hopes alive.
— Following reports, Donald Trump wants commanders name your new stadium after himThe president attended the Lions' 44-22 loss on Sunday. After Trump was booed by most of the stadiumFox gave him nearly 10 minutes of air time in the broadcast booth to talk about his high school football career and the NFL in general. Those bits were fairly innocuous, but then Fox decided to give him virtually free rein to brag about his accomplishments when Jonathan Vilma asked him about the state of the country. Since Trump was decidedly not into sports, he touted a record stock market, investing in America and said he had lowered prices for Americans, something even his staunchest fans claim. I would be suspicious.
