Are these AFC Teams Contenders or Pretenders? | Ravens, Steelers, Patriots, Broncos, Colts & MORE 🏆

Are these AFC Teams Contenders or Pretenders? | Ravens, Steelers, Patriots, Broncos, Colts & MORE 🏆

Just a hundred more days to go until a new NFL champion will be crowned. Super Bowl 60. A lot closer than you think. And we’re going to take a look at the AFC right now. The seven teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. The Colts, Patriots, Broncos, Steelers, Bills, Chargers, and Chiefs. And now joining us are CBS Sports NFL analysts John Breach and Ryan Wilson. At least I thought it was fellas. But you got to help me out on these costumes here. What’s going on? Priest, go first. Well, mine’s easy, Ryan. I am a Super Bowl security guard. You can see my patch. Okay. I’ve got my vest. And we’re talking about contending teams today. So, I will decide who gets in the stadium and who doesn’t at Levi Stadium. Well done. Well done. All right, Ryan. I’m I’m dying to know what’s going on here. Step into the future with me, if you will, and see older version of Ryan. How old you might say? 67 version. What’s up? Hey, there we go. All right. Still working at CBS, so all things are going well. There we go. Our producers are kind and the hair plugs work. So, I’d have to get you out here. Yeah. Clearly, you’ve taken that that peptide UCLA is developing because you got a full head of hair. But that that’s a huge surprise. But let’s start with the biggest surprise of the season so far, guys. And that that’s the Daniel Jones led Indianapolis Colts. DJ has resurrected his career. Jonathan Taylor is an MVP candidate. Ryan, starting with you. Do the Colts sustain this to become legit contenders or are they just pretending like your wig right now? Uh, by the way, I I’ve never been more nervous to hit than I am right now because I look like this. I’m not a Halloween guy, but I’m going to embrace this and much the same with it. Daniel Jones has embraced this new home in Indianapolis. They are 100% contenders in part because of the way Daniel Jones is playing, in large part because of the way the running game is playing with MVP Jonathan Taylor. The pass game is working. The offensive line is playing out of his mind. The defense needs to step it up a little bit, but these are good problems to have for a Colts team. They didn’t know who their quarterback was going to be over the summer until they found Daniel Jones. The only concern I have, Breach, the only concern is, is Daniel Jones going to turn into Sam Darnold last year, the last two weeks when he went back to seeing Ghost? Otherwise, this team is a legit contender and can play deep into January football. Ryan, maybe one of us should have dressed up as Indiana Jones because he has been the star of the show on this comeback crusade this year, watching Daniel Jones, like Sudu said, resurrect his career. That is absolutely what has happened. This team is a contender. I think they’re one of the top two teams in the AFC right now. Uh with you can argue with the Chiefs because the Chiefs are so hot right now, but everything Indianapolis does points to a team that can play into late January, possibly into February. It is Daniel Jones. It’s the fact that Jonathan Taylor has been unstoppable, leads the AFC, leads the entire NFL in rushing yards and the defense has been playing well. The secret to winning in January, if you can run the ball and play defense, you can win playoff games. The Colts can do both of that. And I know Ryan, you are concerned of playoff Sam Darnold showing up from last year. Well, uh, the Vikings didn’t have Jonathan Taylor last year. So, if Jones starts to struggle, you just feed Jonathan Taylor and keep feeding him. So, that is one advantage Indie has. I love this team. They are absolutely contenders. All right, fellas. Let’s look at the Patriots in the Mike Vrabel era. Off to a phenomenal start. Drake May is also in the MVP conversation and just his second year in the NFL, but we know the month of November can expose teams that start the season hot. So, do we think the Pats are actually contenders or are they pretenders, Ryan? Yeah, absolutely. And by the way, uh these are my wife’s classes. I cannot see anything. So, I’m just assuming I wrote contenders down on this sheet of paper. Uh, and I guess when I turn 67, I wear bigger glasses because of my vision. Whatever. Uh, but yeah, so you talked about it. Uh, Drake May, he’s the best quarterback in last year’s draft class. Ahead of Caleb, ahead of Jaden Daniels, who’s battled injuries, ahead of Bo Knicks, who’s playing pretty well. JJ McCarthy and Michael Pennock Jr. have been inconsistent or not available. And, uh, the way that Mike Vrabel has turned this program around in literally a snap of a finger. They went from lost uh in the wilderness for the last few years to what felt like this team was supposed to be in a post Tom Brady world when they drafted M. Jones. Josh McDaniels is doing a fantastic job dialing up plays. This defense is getting better each and every week. The run game is reliable. Stefan Digs has rediscovered himself. This is a team. They’re six and two. They’re top the division, so it makes sense. But no one thought this in August, but this is a team you do not want to face in the playoffs because they have very they make very few mistakes. They rarely beat themselves outside of that Steelers game. And Drake May gets better each and every week. Ryan, I absolutely agree. This is a contending team. Drake May looks great. I don’t think he’s going to slow down because when you look at the rest of their schedule, they have nine games left. Only two of those games are against teams currently over 500. That’s the Buccaneers and the Bills. Every other opponent on their schedule is under 500. So, Drake May is just going to run through the schedule. My one concern is, are they going to be last year’s Broncos? Where you have a young quarterback, but then you get destroyed in the playoffs. We’ll see what happens in the postseason, but I don’t think there’s any stopping the Patriots for the rest of the regular season. You mentioned the Broncos. Talk about a team that’s found different ways. Oh, he’s doing the 67. Talk about a team that’s found different ways to win, right? They got blowout wins over the Bengals and Cowboys. Close wins against the Giants, Jets, and Eagles. And those two losses they have are by a combined four points. Ryan, do you believe enough in Bicks and also that Broncos pass rush to say that they are contenders? I I do and I was skeptical on Bo Knicks fitting into this offense, at least as a first round pick, but he has certainly proved that he was worthy of it. Large credit goes to him obviously, but also Shawn Peyton understanding what he could get out of Bo Knicks. Uh, and you talk about that defense being lights out. Patrick Certain the second banged up, but he’s not he’ll be back at some point. Uh, they can still get after it in the front seven. And I think Bo Knicks is so good at orchestrating this offense that they find ways to win ugly, and they’ve done that over the first two months of the season. And once they get more consistent, they’re going to be a much more formidable foe. Even though as we sit here, they have one of the best records in the NFL. Yeah. And Bo Knicks really has been the key to what that team does in offense. I know that Shawn Peyton trying to get that rushing attack going and that has kind of happened. And this team has only been getting better every single week. And when you look at their schedule, that Colts loss in week two, uh they should have won that game if they don’t get called for a bizarre leveraging penalty there on the final play and then giving the Colts almost a free field goal to win it. Uh so this team does feel like one of the best teams in the NFL. So I don’t think they’re just a contender. I think they might knock the Chiefs off that AFC West purse that Kansas has dominated for nine straight years. And if you win the division, that gives you that home game in the mile high city in January. And that’s quite the advantage. So, I think the Broncos are big-time contenders. John Breach is very popular in Denver. I just discovered. All right, let’s let’s go to the AFC North. The Steelers off to a 4-1 start with Aaron Rogers under center, but now they’ve lost back-to-back games. They have to play the Colts on Sunday. Is this team already in the process of being exposed or labeled a pretender? Yeah. No, they they’ve been exposed the last few weeks. They are pretenders. And I say this as someone who supports the Steelers. Aaron Rogers isn’t the problem. It turns out uh the offense isn’t the problem. It’s the defense which has struggled to stop anyone. If that remains the case given their schedule and the Ravens schedule, which is much easier, they’re going to be on the outside looking in when playoff time comes around. Yeah, I have the Colts or I have the Steelers on my pretender list, but I guess we’ll find out on Sunday when they face the Colts if they somehow win that game. Maybe I’ll flip them back. The only upside for the Pittsburgh Steelers is that they are in the AFC North where you could just lump everyone into the Contenders category cuz anyone could win that division right now. Uh but the Steelers just don’t have a defense that’s good enough to carry them if they somehow manage to make the playoffs. The offense is struggling a little bit. Uh if they don’t make a trade for the a receiver, it’s hard for them to match up if any of their future games turn into shootouts. Uh so yeah, I’ve got the Steelers as a pretender just like Wilson. You know, as long as Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reer and Casey, it’s really hard to discount the Chiefs as a non-contender, but we’ve certainly seen some inconsistency from the squad. Good news is they’ve won three straight. They look to be kind of revving up heading into this pivotal month. But is that enough for you to call them a contender, Ryan? Yeah, and you named it. Those four words, Andy Reid, K, Patrick Mahomes, that solves a lot of your concerns. They struggled early, but now they have the receivers back and healthy. Receiver Rice is off suspension. The defense is playing well, and they’re playing with some swagger that we hadn’t seen over the first few weeks of the season. I feel really good about this team. They are five and three. when you start look they were at one point one and two and they started 0 and2. Uh I think this team the arrow is pointing up and I think the lesson for me breach is never sleep on the Chiefs unless the aforementioned Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes are not there. Ryan I don’t sleep at all so I couldn’t possibly sleep on the Chiefs. I have two kids under five. Uh but with Kansas City I I absolutely think they’re a contender. You have Andy Reid, you have Patrick Mahomes, you are a contender. The one thing that will be interesting to watch down the stretch is whether they win that 10th straight division title because if they don’t, and there’s a chance they won’t because the Broncos Chargers both looking good, then the Chiefs go into the playoffs as a wild card team. They have to play in the they would have to play on the road in that opening round. Say they’re the five seed. Maybe they have to play the Ravens in that opening round. So, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with them in the playoffs because they don’t seem as much of a lock to win that division as they have in the past. Last night, we saw Lamar Jackson return. I mean, they look like they’ve got their juice back. a one in5 start. Everybody was freaking out, but the Ravens, they might be on the way up. Can the Ravens actually turn it around though to become contenders, Ryan? Yeah, absolutely. And you look at the schedule, it is as close to a cakewalk as you’re going to get when you get everyone back healthy. Starting with the former MVP Lamar Jackson, who could have been the MVP last year. The only concern I have, and this is a funny one if you’re a Ravens fan, the two previous games that the Ravens had played Miami prior to last night, they scored 56 points. They only managed 28 last night, so they only got halfway there. Even though it was completely and utterly dominating, this team is definitely contender as long as Lamar Jackson is on the field. Yeah, you wouldn’t think we’d be talking about a three and five team as a contender. Uh but it’s the AFC North. It feels like this is the Ravens division to lose even though they’re not in first place right now. They do have some tough games. Packers, Patriots, they lose those. Sudden you’re up to seven losses. So, it’ll be interesting to see what happens. But I do feel like the Ravens are a contender and currently the best team in the AFC North. fells, really appreciate the effort you put in today. I I I appreciate it if nobody else does. It’s It’s always a pleasure. Thank you. And taking a look at the current odds to win the AFC, the Super Bowl runnerup Chiefs, the favorites, Josh Allen and the Bills with the second best odds, followed by the Indianapolis Colts.

John Breech and Ryan Wilson joins CBS Sports HQ to discuss which AFC teams are legit contenders and which are pretenders.

(1:22) – Colts
(3:14) – Patriots
(5:04) – Broncos
(6:50) – Steelers
(7:58) – Chiefs
(9:25) – Ravens

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