Why Home Field Advantage is not as important?

 

With teams trying to compete for the first seed, many believe that the road to the Superbowl will go through the first seed’s house, which is not true because in 2011 the AFC first seed lost to the lonely Jets. As teams have shown throughout the years, you don’t need to host a playoff game in order to reach the biggest game of the year, but it helps. But if you are hosting a game against teams that are playing well all-around the field, then you probably don’t have that home-field advantage you were looking for.

The New England Patriots drew a massive setback with that loss to the 49ers, but that wont change their plans in the playoff. Yes, they most likely have lost the chance for a first round bye and yes, they almost had the first seed on lockdown with that win against Houston, but that doesn’t matter. These Patriots are the highest scoring team in the NFL and if their defense is able to play consistently, than this team will no doubt be able to beat Houston in Houston, or Denver in Denver (probably not, but you never know). This offense is also very balanced which makes Tom Brady even more dangerous because with more defenders in the box to stop the run, Brady will see a lot of man-to-man coverage.

The Green Bay Packers are the Patriots in the NFC, or the Pats are the AFC Packers, whichever one you decide they both are very good teams. With Aaron Rodgers under helm, this team has the possibility to score 30 points every game, but the offensive line is what diminishes the offensive potential this team has. This defense is young an underrated as they are much improved from last year’s worst ranked defense. If the defense can keep it close and let Aaron Rodgers do what he does best, I see this team winning in Atlanta, again, or in San Francisco. This offense can be dangerous especially after the running game has been picking up as of lately.

Russell Wilson has been everything short of remarkable this season. He’s leading all rookies in passing touchdowns and showed he can also use his legs with that great performance against Buffalo. He has a very good running back in the backfield in Beast Mode and a very good defense with arguably the two best cornerback tandems in the league (Both Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner will be back for the postseason). This team is incredibly talented and showed it can win games on the road with a bug win in Chicago, albeit one of the worst defensive play by the Seahawks in that last second Brandon Marshall catch to let them tie it up.

For the record, I don’t think any of the AFC wildcard teams have a chance to advance to the next round, Andrew Luck doesn’t perform as well on the road especially against quality teams. The Bengals are a different story because their defense has been the main reason for their success this season with racking up the most sacks this year so far at 43. I do not see Andy Dalton taking that next step in winning a playoff game but his defense may save him in the wildcard round.

Phew!!! Can’t wait for this years playoffs, a lot to prove from a Denver fan’s standpoint.

Why Denver is correctly #1

Consistency. That’s what makes a team transition from just good to great, from ordinary to elite. The Denver Broncos have been in a nine game winning streak and sure, they were against teams that the Broncos should have won but nine NFL games none-the-less. I don’t care which team you are playing but a division game is not as easy as they seem even if they are against the Chiefs and Raiders.

 

You’re telling me that the Giants couldn’t beat the Redskins last year because the Redskins are good? No, division games are extremely hard to win.

 

The three teams that Denver has lost to have all had extremely good seasons this year with all three being the best in the NFL at one point this year. The Falcons have lost to the Panthers and Saints this season with great victories over the Giants and Tampa Bay in week 12. But these are the same Falcons that lost to the Panthers, barely beat the Raiders and Cardinals. How do we not know that these Falcons will not pull another game like the ones against any of those previous three teams in the playoffs?

 

Houston was absolutely dismantled by both the Patriots as well as the Packers, both offensive juggernauts. Is Denver not an offensive juggernaut with second in the league in scoring (guess who number one is) and second in the league in touchdowns? Challenge the Houston secondary and, they will have no response, whatever happened to Matt Schaub? 

 

The Pats are a different story than those other two teams because they have lost to both good teams and bad teams or should I say team. The San Francisco game was something that will probably never happen with so many offensive fumbles by the New England running backs have not been accustomed to fumbling. The games against Baltimore and Seattle have been bad games by the defense that shows that the defense is inconsistent in a few games with making Joe Flacco and Russell Wilson look like Tom Brady.

 

The Broncos have not lost any games like those faced by those three teams and shows why the Denver Broncos are the best team in the NFL and will be the favorite to represent the AFC in the Superbowl, not saying they will win because San Francisco is a very scary team as well as the Packers.