This Narrative that the NFC is down/wide open

[75boyz]

The NFC is weird. TB, LAR, and GB all have taken huge steps back. The entire NFCE however, has taken strides forward. SF is solid— but who knows what will happen with JG’s injury?

KC and Buff still look to be the heavyweights. Every team has some flaws. Injuries and who is peaking/fading when Jan rolls around will (as always) be influential

This is the perfect response to the OP for both this year's NFC and AFC team situations.
Not much more can be said.

 

[Flamma]

Stats can be used, and manipulated in conversations or arguments for and against.

LOL, are you kidding me? That's all we do here!!!

 

[McKDaddy]

How can anyone look at this year and not think it's the most wide open in quite a while in both conferences?

We are clearly in a period of retirement \ decline of the QB's who ruled the roost. We have some young QB talent but even if they are playing OK themselves, their teams are not looking like complete teams.
How many teams around the league are not starting the guy who started on Day 1? I think the injury to Jimmy G may have short circuited what might have been the scariest team come playoff time.

There is no team that looks dominant or unbeatable. There are a handful of teams that seem to be able to win without their best game and who could get hot but that's it. KC & Buffalo have the distinct advantage at QB & playoff experience but won't affect us until a SB matchup.

So, make the playoffs and you have a good chance. Play good, clean games & it's there for the taking.

 

[zeroburrito]

Quarterback play in the afc is just so much better. I look at a team like tenneseee that as of right now would have to go through Cincinnati, KC, Buffalo to get to the superbowl. That’s a rough road. Is anyone looking at NY, Seattle, Washington as realistic Super Bowl teams? I’m tempted to lump TB in that category but won’t just out of the Brady factor. Only team I’d call a fraud in the afc is NY. Tennessee I think is a long shot but still a good team.

nobody thinks the titans are a superbowl team. nobody thought that last year and they were the number 1 seed.

a direct comparison to what you said would be 49ers having to go through minn, dal, and phil.

does that sound easy? 49ers are better than the titans even with no qb.

strange you mention ny, wash, and seattle, but forgot minn and sf.

just compare the nfc/afc teams seed by seed. the nfc is stronger.

top nfc seeds are sf, minn, dal, phil.

top afc teams are kc, buff, cinci, balt.

the rest don't even matter. which looks stronger?

 

[817Gill]

100% more wide open than ever.

Last year you had dominant Bucs, Packers, Rams, and Niners teams. 2 of those teams won’t make the playoffs, one will squeak in, and one is on their 3rd string QB.

Not sure how you can say this NFC isn’t more wide open than ever. Shoot if Purdy plays like a 7th round rookie then literally only Philly and us are real contenders. A two team conference is the definition of wide open.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

Someone has to win the games, so every year each conference will have teams with lots of wins at the top. But it’s the relativity of where they came from that tells the story.

NFCCG and SB champion is out of the playoffs.

Other NFCGG representative lost both their first and second string QBs for the season.

Previous year SB champion (2020) from NFC does not have a winning record.

2020 and 2021 league MVPs in NFC out of the playoffs.

From the same note, 2020 and 2021 NFC #1 seeds out of the playoffs.

2022 will see 3, possibly 4 new division winners, as well as 2 wild cards that haven’t made the playoffs in many years.

Conversely, the top of the AFC is KC again, Buffalo again, Cincinnati again, 2021 #1 seed Tennessee again, Baltimore again…

4 of the top 5 MVP candidates are AFC QBs.

 

[Proof]

If you'll look at the battle of the top teams:


Minnesota beats Buffalo
Cowboys beats Bengals
49ers beats Miami
Minnesota beats Miami (although without Tua)

However.......... KC beat 49ers


But so far.... 4-1 NFC. It's a small sample size, but still..... this "NFC is a poor man's AFC" thing is a stupid social media construct. I'll tell you what these simpletons are thinking. They're going: "oooh ohhh AFC has Wilson, Herbert, Mahomes, Burrow, and Allen", and reducing all the teams down to the Quarterback position, where everyone knows that it takes a team and not a player to win a Super Bowl. Not to mention Herbert and Wilson have disappointed, but at the beginning of the year they were salivating, and pimping up that now proven weak sauce division.

And on the NFC side, everyone was like: "everyone except Brady and Rodgers suck." Which is a very simplistic way of looking at things, but they still continue that attempt to flex their intellect along that path. Then they try to suggest Vikings are no good, despite the fact that they just swept the AFC East (probably the toughest division in football along with the NFC Beast), but people on this board and on the media continue to disrespect the Vikings. Vikings don't seem like a joke to me. I'm not confident they can reach the NFC Championship game, but I'd give them just as good a shot as anyone, because you never really know.

Eagles have played no top teams yet from the AFC. The only team to not to do so, I should also point out.

Just lol...

solid post. I have been guilty of looking at things through that lens

 

[thunderpimp91]

nobody thinks the titans are a superbowl team. nobody thought that last year and they were the number 1 seed.

a direct comparison to what you said would be 49ers having to go through minn, dal, and phil.

does that sound easy? 49ers are better than the titans even with no qb.

strange you mention ny, wash, and seattle, but forgot minn and sf.

just compare the nfc/afc teams seed by seed. the nfc is stronger.

top nfc seeds are sf, minn, dal, phil.

top afc teams are kc, buff, cinci, balt.

the rest don't even matter. which looks stronger?

Neither route is "easy", it's the NFL playoffs, but I would much rather take the Dal, SF, Philly route.

If someone offered me even money to pick any 2 teams out of the NFC I'm taking Dallas/Philly and I'm taking that bet all day. I view Minnesota, SF, and Tampa all as good teams, but not superbowl caliber.

Offer me the same bet in the AFC I'll take KC/Buffalo but I'm not feeling that great. I wouldnt be surprised at all if we saw Cincinnati, Miami, or Baltimore make it over those teams....although I dont like Miamis chances nearly enough if they dont win the division. I cant see that offense being explosive enough for 3 straight road games in cold weather cities.

Not to say these rosters in the NFC aren't talented, but the QB position is lacking significantly. I'll take Dak or Hurts as the best QBs in the NFC playoffs, maybe add Geno Smith. Compare that to the NFC and all those guys are being taken no higher than 5th, I just cant see anyone taking Dak/Hurts/Geno over any of Jackson/Mahomes/Burrow/Allan.

 

[Established1971]

That the NFC is down/wide open? Why because Brady and Rogers teams are struggling is that why?
I call BS, and say that the NFC is as it always is! The AFC is wide open now as it has been since Brady left, it's wide open.

Both the NFC and the AFC currently has 7 teams over 500.
The NFC has 29 SB winners to the AFC 27.

what a disjointed set of points

it sounds like the gist of what you are saying is "the Bucs are a sure thing to win the NFC in 2022" Thats what it sounds like you are saying

 

[Risen Star]

The entire NFL is down. There's like 8 good teams.

 

[JBS]

Nah, I am not wrong, stop trying find something that is not there. Stop believing the idiots on TV, they’re reading the scripts given to them.

Hahahaha. I don’t need to listen to the idiots on tv. I watch the nfl , I know which conference is better. It’s not the nfc.

 

[Cowboys1966]

That the NFC is down/wide open? Why because Brady and Rogers teams are struggling is that why?
I call BS, and say that the NFC is as it always is! The AFC is wide open now as it has been since Brady left, it's wide open.

Both the NFC and the AFC currently has 7 teams over 500.
The NFC has 29 SB winners to the AFC 27.

The nfc is 1 game over .500…the afc 1 game under.

 

[Diehardblues]

The entire NFL is down. There's like 8 good teams.

Which is actually fairly normal.

Fans want to believe that the Salary Cap has created Parity but we already had Parity with Equal TV Revenue. Salary Cap was just sold as a means to maintain Parity in unlimited FA.

There’s usually a few franchises who draft and build better teams or end up with the most Elite Qb’s.

And the rest are more mediocre or struggling to become mediocre and or find their QB. At any given time probably not more than 6-8 legit contenders each year.

 

[jwitten82]

I don't get the stat that says our line is only winning 46% of their snaps in pass pro when we've given up the fewest sacks in the league. It just doesn't compute that we'd be last in pass block win rate and 1st in sacks given up. Football Outsiders has our line ranked 3rd in pass blocking while ESPN has us last? That's a pretty wide gap.

Anybody who thinks our line is struggling in pass protection is ridiculous and their opinion invalid. Our oline in pass and run is one the best in the league

 

[krentist210]

Agree It's a down season all around but in the NFC it's glaringly obvious the big boys are not 100 percent ( AR and TB) so the squirts are taking advantage.

This is the best opportunity the cowboys have had in a long time to make some noise in the post season .
Will they?

OTE="Risen Star, post: 12365521, member: 5331"]The entire NL is down. There's like 8 good teams.[/QUOTE]

 

[CowboyRoy]

Is this parity? A bunch of middle of the road teams who win against the weaklings of their division?

I saw a graphic in a video that had Marcus Spears discussing the Dallas pass protection. Statistically the line win 46% of their snaps. That is 29th in the league. Spear went on to speak about Tyron Smith coming back and how moving Tyler Smith inside to guard improves 40% of the Dallas line, and that is how they will improve and be formidable when meeting the Eagles.

I don't know if that is true. But He went on speaking about the first Eagles game and how Rush threw three picks, but Dallas was making headway in the game. Presumably Dak is much better than Rush and that may close the gap in scoring.

Do you need more evidence that Dak is much better than rush or are you still struggling with that one?

 

[CowboyRoy]

Anybody who thinks our line is struggling in pass protection is ridiculous and their opinion invalid. Our oline in pass and run is one the best in the league

It’s a much better run blocking than pass.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Anybody who thinks our line is struggling in pass protection is ridiculous and their opinion invalid. Our oline in pass and run is one the best in the league

This is where I got that stat. Watch this video. Marcus Spears makes the comment.

 

[john van brocklin]

That the NFC is down/wide open? Why because Brady and Rogers teams are struggling is that why?
I call BS, and say that the NFC is as it always is! The AFC is wide open now as it has been since Brady left, it's wide open.

Both the NFC and the AFC currently has 7 teams over 500.
The NFC has 29 SB winners to the AFC 27.

I don't know, the egirls look pretty tough.
And I don't like to admit to that......

 

[Risen Star]

I don't know, the egirls look pretty tough.
And I don't like to admit to that......

We know who you really root for.