AP Power Rankings: Panthers end regular season at No. 1

Look, kudos to this team for not quitting after getting blown out at Miami back in October. They aren’t stuck with a Saturday game, but it’s still kinda weak. That shouldn’t surprise you one bit. A Cardinals game would have brought a lot of interest this year and should still be a good game next year if both teams are at full strength. There is nothing good about the Pack right now. He’s a great QB, no doubt, but he can’t cover up everyone else’s faults.

No. 6 Kansas City Chiefs (11-5): Don’t laugh.

A Seattle win in Minnesota on Sunday would send the sixth seeded Seahawks to Charlotte to face the Panthers and that is not the matchup Ron Rivera, Cam Newton and Company prefer. This is rightfully so, they are by far the best team in the conference and if their defence can do their job; Brady and the offence will do theirs.

The Patriots opened at 6-1 to win the Super Bowl last January, then dropped to 8-1 during the Deflategate controversy, but have been among the favorites for the majority of the season. However, the Pats would be playing elsewhere for the rest of the postseason. They don’t have a bye this coming weekend and they must play an opening-round game on the road at Houston.

I’m not saying that Pittsburgh should be considered the favorite by any means, or a team likely to make it to the promised land, especially playing every game on the road, but nobody should take their eyes off the Steelers, because the offense is scary, and could end up doing some real damage. They will be happy to play the no respect card all the way to Super Bowl, where they may even be a dog with a better record than any AFC team. AJ McCarron is a victor, he proved that at Alabama, and he has had flashes. But with Dalton out due to injury, and an untested backup quarterback under center, not to mention that they have to face the Steelers, it’s looking like history can indeed repeat itself unless there’s some sort of miracle in Cincinnati. Then Andy Dalton got hurt, and things have been shaky since. It’s a shame, too, because I really felt like this was their year to win the AFC. “We’ve got to take advantage of it”.

“The Bengals take an AFC North crown and a 12-4 record into the playoffs”, Gosselin said. They play strong defense and need the offense to simply not make mistakes. True, they haven’t fared well at all when matched up this season against better competition.

The other wildcard team in the AFC is the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that started the season 1-5 before winning ten straight games to close out the season. And both of them are going to be at home. He led the league in Total QBR and became the first player since Tom Brady in 2007 to post an above-average QBR in each of his first 15 games. Sure, he doesn’t have Edelman out there and his O-line is pretty banged up, but he also hasn’t been almost as accurate as he was at the beginning of the season. And can they withstand and do better than they did previous year. The question though is how much Tyrann Mathieu’s absence matters.

Yes, the Seattle Seahawks are technically the lowest-seeded team in the NFC, but you won’t find anyone who believes they’re the conference’s worst team. If any team is a surefire threat, it’s these hardened players.

As I recover, it’s time for the annual SportsMix NFL playoff bracket. Rodgers probably needs to play like the Rodgers of his MVP seasons, not this season’s version, for Green Bay to advance.