PATRIOTSFANINPA

Here are the predicted MAIN AFC contenders and who I think is the player that NONE of these teams can lose for 3/4 of a season or more if they want to get to the super bowl....

New England - Tom Brady easily the most unreplaceable

New York Jets - tough call but I say Laverneus Coles who makes penningtons job look so easy at times

Miami - Barely makes this group but they have a good D so they are included - with the Dolphins Jason Taylor cannot be replaced

Baltimore - Ed Reed is the glue that holds that D together

Cincinnati - Carson Palmer - without his great accuracy and arm,the bengals would be toast

Indianapolis - Peyton Manning - who else?

Jacksonville - going to say last years rookie Drew is needed here although some of thier D-Line players are great too

Pittsburgh - Alan Faneca (yes he IS the best player on that team,even though its an offensive lineman,may be the most disagreed in this post)

Denver - Champ Bailey by a whisker over Cutler

San Diego - so many good players but Ladanian Tomlinson's yardage on the ground cannot be duplicated


Which ones do you agree/disagree with and why?

patriot lifer

Coles on the Jets would be a big loss, but I think that if Pennington went down they'd be sunk. I'm not sure how Clemens is doing in camp (I think I heard he's doing decent) but Pennington is good enough a passer that they'd really miss him.

PATRIOTSFANINPA

Is Patrick Ramsey still with the Jets?

I think he would be a decent backup if he still is

patriot lifer

actually he's in Denver now

PATRIOTSFANINPA

OK Didn't know that..Thanks

BTW: That makes my pick of Bailey on Denver a bit of a wider gap

Rob0729

I'll forgo the teams with obvious ones (Manning, LT, Palmer, Larry Johnson, Brady, etc.):

Baltimore: Willis McGahee. I ain't sold on the guy, but I think their defense is good enough to lose any one player and I think their passing game is so-so eventhough McNair got tons of pub.

Pittsburgh - Willie Parker. Pittsburgh is still a run first team. Roethlisberger is an efficient QB, but I don't think he can carry the team game in and game out

Jacksonville - Byron Leftwich. I think if he can keep himself together and stay healthy, the Jags have a shot to take the division.

NY Jets - Dwayne Robertson. Ok, don't laugh. He isn't a great NT in the 3-4, but who do they have behind him. The Belichick 3-4 system is built around that NT position. Without a NT to tie up blockers there are no one to make plays.

Miami - Ronnie Brown. I don't like their QB options and Ronnie Brown is going to have to carry that offense. Maybe Jason Taylor becaus he is the guy that teams have to gameplan for.

Denver - Champ Bailey. Still think he is the only CB in the league that people gameplan around.

Tennessee - Vince Young. Their options at RB are scary and not in a good way for them.

desi-patsfan

[QUOTE=Rob0729;483235]Roethlisberger is an efficient QB [QUOTE]

I have absolutely no stats to back this up but i refuse to believe that this is a true statement.

Rob0729

[QUOTE=desi-patsfan;483328][QUOTE=Rob0729;483235]Roethlisberger is an efficient QB Roethlisberger played like crap last year, but I will chock it up to his bike accident and his appedixitis. Otherwise, his other two years he completed over 62% of his passes each year and had QB ratings over 98 each year. That is efficient.

Him being a great QB is definitely debatable, but he is efficient for a run first type of offense.

stinkypete

I'm going to disagree about San Diego. LT is a beast but they could still win games with Michael Turner at RB.

I'm going to say Jamal Williams is the most irreplacable guy on the Chargers. He's the league's best NT, and depth behind him is thin. If he goes down, you can run on the Chargers. If you can run on the Chargers repeatedly, you can take Merriman out of the game.

PATRIOTSFANINPA

The homer in me say Wilfork is better