New England Patriots can be considered AFC favorites once again
By Stephen Ur
The New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons by a final score of 23-7 in a Super Bowl LI rematch Sunday. Should New England be considered the AFC favorite after the win?
In their win over the Atlanta Falcons, the 30th ranked New England Patriots defense showed up with one of their best games of the season. Considering the opponent, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the defense moving forward.
On offense, Tom Brady had an impressive performance. He threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns. The team as a whole looked better than they had in almost every hand this season.
The Enemy of My Enemy
As for the Kansas City Chiefs, they’ve lost two in a row after starting the season 5-0. They’ve also shown vulnerability, almost losing to the Washington Redskins and almost blowing a big lead to the Houston Texans.
Kansas City defeated New England in the 2017 season opener. That could play a factor in playoff seeding at season’s end. Still, there’s still a good possibility the Patriots beat them in the playoffs.
The only other team that appears to be Super Bowl caliber in the AFC is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh was the team that shut down the Baltimore Ravens defense who had forced 10 takeaways in their first two games.
After throwing a career-high five interceptions against the Jacksonville Jaguars, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger questioned if he still had it in him. Since then, has thrown three touchdowns in the last two games. While that is impressive, he has also thrown three interceptions in that span.
New England’s defense has had success against Roethlisberger in the past and if they can do it again when they meet in Pittsburgh on Nov. 25, they’ll show that they should be the favorite in the AFC.
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There’s still much work to be done for New England, mainly on defense. However, if they could figure it out, they will be considered to once again be the favorite to represent the AFC in the big game. For now, the AFC is wide open and it could remain that way until the end of the regular season.