So now that Denver went the way of all the others, who's our next AFC rival?

Now that the Broncos are going the way of the Steelers and Colts and all the rest of them over the year, who do you see the Patriots really locking horns with in the next few AFC Championship games?

I've heard mixed reviews about the Ravens. I've heard they have few draft picks this year and sit 8 million over cap. (Not sure if true).

The Colts don't seem that dominant yet.

We always beat the Steelers too easily.

Are we going to have a year or two alone in the Conference or is the next 2 or 3 year Conference Rival on the brink of emerging?

Hard to be scared of Alex Smith or the Chargers.

Unless the Ravens are in a position to strengthen themselves, we might only have a pretender AFC rival for a year or two, even more than Denver was.

Thoughts?

PATS16N0 said:

Now that the Broncos are going the way of the Steelers and Colts and all the rest of them over the year, who do you see the Patriots really locking horns with in the next few AFC Championship games?

I've heard mixed reviews about the Ravens. I've heard they have few draft picks this year and sit 8 million over cap. (Not sure if true).

The Colts don't seem that dominant yet.

We always beat the Steelers too easily.

Are we going to have a year or two alone in the Conference or is the next 2 or 3 year Conference Rival on the brink of emerging?

Hard to be scared of Alex Smith or the Chargers.

Unless the Ravens are in a position to strengthen themselves, we might only have a pretender AFC rival for a year or two, even more than Denver was.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Ravens and Colts and it's not even close

Brady (and Jimmy G's) rivals: Colts and Ravens

**** Lebeau resigned, Big Ben is aging too. Not sure the Steelers will join those two.

Dolphins are tricky to figure out. Bills/Texans need QBs.

Baltimore without a doubt.

Colts and Ravens seems about right but Colts are going to need to fill some holes this off season to be a true contender, I think.

I'm curious what Baltimore's cap and contract situation is.
I thought I read earlier today that they were either probably going to lose a few people or do some renegotiation somehow. I guess they'll still be there though.

Brady, Flacco and Luck definitely the best QBs in the conference.

Ravens' schedule looks tough for next year, at least. They have to play both West divisions, and Miami on the road as well. Only easy opp are Jags and Raiders (maybe Manziel's Browns too).

Every other opp looks tough IMO.

I would first get past this AFCCG then worry about potential opponents of the future AFCCGs which also need to make first.

PATS16N0 said:

Now that the Broncos are going the way of the Steelers and Colts and all the rest of them over the year, who do you see the Patriots really locking horns with in the next few AFC Championship games?

I've heard mixed reviews about the Ravens. I've heard they have few draft picks this year and sit 8 million over cap. (Not sure if true).

The Colts don't seem that dominant yet.

We always beat the Steelers too easily.

Are we going to have a year or two alone in the Conference or is the next 2 or 3 year Conference Rival on the brink of emerging?

Hard to be scared of Alex Smith or the Chargers.

Unless the Ravens are in a position to strengthen themselves, we might only have a pretender AFC rival for a year or two, even more than Denver was.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Thoughts?? I think you're overlooking the game to be played next week!!

homergreg said:

Thoughts?? I think you're overlooking the game to be played next week!!

Click to expand...

Next week doesn't have anything to do with how a Denver blow up is going to affect he AFC.

I mean, I guess we're already a year into this anyway, since Denver was really no threat to us next week, but Manning hitting the wall has conference implications for some team that is going to take Denver's short lived place of relevance as #2

Conference `power rankings` are about to look different than they did the last 3 seasons

PATS16N0 said:

Next week doesn't have anything to do with how a Denver blow up is going to affect he AFC.

I mean, I guess we're already a year into this anyway, since Denver was really no threat to us next week, but Manning hitting the wall has conference implications for some team that is going to take Denver's short lived place of relevance as #2

Conference `power rankings` are about to look different than they did the last 3 seasons

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I'm sure Tom Brady will be happy to flash another 'power ranking' ring next season.

I never thought I would see the day with so many Patriots fans thinking like this.

Must be few of those who were fans when the Colts and Patriots sat in the old AFC East cellar together wishing there was a chance just to make the playoffs.

It's the Ravens until the Colts start beating us. Right now the Colts-Pats rivalry kind of feels like when the Colts were in the division. I think the Pats and Ravens are well matched and don't like each other much. That is the stuff rivalries are made of!

In other news, I just took a look at two Broncos forums and they're both in full meltdown modes. There's threads calling for the team to be gutted, the coaching staff to be gutted, Manning to retire, JT to be cut and it just goes on. I also had the misfortune of reading a few posts from our game yesterday about how Brady looks old, NE has the refs and how the Broncos were going to come into Gillette and hit us in the mouth. Yeah . . . about that . . .

PatsBoy12 said:

In other news, I just took a look at two Broncos forums and they're both in full meltdown modes. There's threads calling for the team to be gutted, the coaching staff to be gutted, Manning to retire, JT to be cut and it just goes on.

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Where's Patradomous when we need him to start a thread about how pathetic the Pats' investment in upgrading the team has been compared to the mighty Broncos?

mayoclinic said:

Where's Patradomous when we need him to start a thread about how pathetic the Pats' investment in upgrading the team has been compared to the mighty Broncos?

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It made me laugh seeing their off-season acquisitions fail miserably in today's game. Ware couldn't get to the QB at all and Talib played pretty poorly.

mayoclinic said:

Where's Patrodomous when we need him to start a thread about how pathetic the Pats' investment in upgrading the team has been compared to the mighty Broncos?

Click to expand...

I honestly think this season was BB's best coaching job. I know that's a huge statement, but when you look at everything that transpired in total and all of the in-season acquisitions, BB was masterful this season to this point. It's funny how the story will continue to be his spotty drafting (and I'm not saying that's totally illegitimate), but few will talk about ***ency and the guys he brought in during the season - Ayers, Branch, Casillas, Jones (though he departed). How about keeping Bolden on the team? How about bringing Chung back (who might have had his best game as a Patriot against Baltimore)?

I know some of the other seasons where he was spectacular overall. But I'll say again that I truly believe that this may have been his best job yet. If they win it all, then I don't know it'll be easy to argue against it. The man may have built his best version of the Patriots since he got here.

TBR said:

It made me laugh seeing their off-season acquisitions fail miserably in today's game. Ware couldn't get to the QB at all and Talib played pretty poorly.

Click to expand...

Ware really didn't give them anything for most of the second half of the season. The Cowboys knew that. They watched him do the same thing in his final season with them. TJ Ward gave them nothing and he can't tackle for sh*t. That's why he's always diving at peoples' legs. Sanders was their best signing and, in fairness, Talib played well almost all season. He had a tough outing today, but we know first-hand how he struggles with smaller, quicker guys.

They tried to take a shortcut to the SB. Guys, that's why we need to love and appreciate BB. He doesn't get caught up in the moment. Everyone said how the Broncos methods were better because they were maximizing Peyton's final years. People were upset and said BB didn't do enough to give Brady enough to win now. BB is always looking at the big picture, though. He's always got his eye to the present AND future. That's why he's the best in the business. That's why we contend every year. How many teams do you all know that contend every year, even when rebuilding? That's what we just did from 2008-present. This is our fourth straight AFCCG! Are you kidding me?! Look at some of the other teams around the league that are rebuilding and tell me if we aren't the luckiest fans alive!

PATS16N0 said:

Now that the Broncos are going the way of the Steelers and Colts and all the rest of them over the year, who do you see the Patriots really locking horns with in the next few AFC Championship games?

I've heard mixed reviews about the Ravens. I've heard they have few draft picks this year and sit 8 million over cap. (Not sure if true).

The Colts don't seem that dominant yet.

We always beat the Steelers too easily.

Are we going to have a year or two alone in the Conference or is the next 2 or 3 year Conference Rival on the brink of emerging?

Hard to be scared of Alex Smith or the Chargers.

Unless the Ravens are in a position to strengthen themselves, we might only have a pretender AFC rival for a year or two, even more than Denver was.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Depends on whether we trade Brady

If the Bills can get a good QB somehow then I think they and the Colts (with a couple of good drafts) could become threats.

Our biggest rival has been the same one since Sept. 1, 2006

I don't care how the Ravens do in the regular season. If they get to the playoffs and Joe Flacco is their QB, they're a force to be reckoned with!

Also, Andrew Luck is going to beat the Patriots one day... let us pray it is not next week.

This board is getting a bit full of itself. Let's win two more games first.