It’s been maybe a bit longer than I anticipated before checking back in with the happenings around the NFL on here, but that’s not without good reason. It’s been multiple weeks since I’ve even wrote a blog in general and I’m a person who hates to stay off the grind for too long on anything because it knocks me out of my groove and throws everything out of wack. But I had a workplace accident a couple weeks back and ended up breaking my arm, so my life has been kind of on a standstill for a minute now. Although I enjoy the probably needed break I’m kind of ready for life to return to as normal as it can be again, but the positive thing is I’ve been able to read, watch some movies, and keep up with my favorite interests and get fully invested, one of those being football! As a football fan, I’m riding a bit of a high right now because my 2 favorite teams (the Cowboys and the Browns) are having pretty drab seasons (5-7 and 3-8 respectively currently), but they’re coming off some big wins in exciting games, and as a fan, even in the darkest of times you still have to find the time to get hyped up during those shining moments. The Browns beat the Steelers at home in a snow game in what was one of my favorite games of this entire season easily, not only for the Browns victory over those God forsaken Steelers, but for the massive games that Myles Garrett and Nick Chubb had, and I absolutely love both of those players. They’re put to the test again tonight though as they close out Week 13 against the Broncos in Denver. Fingers crossed for another exciting game and victory here. The Cowboys are riding probably their highest momentum of the season as well coming off the back of 2 straight big divisional wins against the Commanders, and the Giants on Thanksgiving. I still don’t see them as a playoff team or the team they were the past few seasons at this point, but again looking at the positives here. They’re finding ways to still win games with Rush under center, Turpin is turning into a speedy menace, Micah Parsons is back on the field and causing some problems for offenses, and Rico Dowdle is turning into the running back we need so desperately in our back field. I’m not one of those “This is our year!” fools with either of these teams this year especially, but they are my favorite teams and will continue to be so I always look at the positive takeaways if I can as well as the negative.
Moving onto the AFC, the Bills already clenched their division and their shot at the playoffs last night after the romp of the 49ers in another epic snow game in Buffalo. The Bills are on fire this year, Josh Allen is having a fantastic season and the team sits at 10-2, currently only 1 team in the entire AFC has a better record than the Bills and that’s the Chiefs who sit atop the AFC West with an 11-1 record. Here’s the real kicker though, that 1 loss on the Chiefs record was handed to them by none other than the Bills when they played a few weeks back and I’d argue that the Bills have all around looked like a much more dominating squad and are winning their games much more decisively than the Chiefs have been able to do all season. I’m not meaning to take away from the Chiefs either, they’re still winning almost all their games, but they’re just barely beating some teams with not very good records and that’s not exactly where you’d like to be at this point in the season as a playoff team. Meanwhile, the Bills are running away with games, beating teams by multiple touchdowns a lot of weeks, and looking like a dominating and cohesive unit so I want to pick them as AFC Super Bowl favorites at this point. This is Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs we are talking about though, regardless of how they look in the regular season you’re facing a whole other beast when you go up against the KC Chiefs in the playoffs and the Bills themselves have ran into the Chiefs problem in the past on their quest for the Super Bowl. The Chiefs are the dynasty, the team to beat, this era’s Tom Brady and the Patriots if you will, and I’m hoping this year we will see someone dethrone them on their quest to the Bowl but until it’s happened it’s hard to not take them. The AFC North is an exciting division as ever this season as well with the 9-3 Steelers and the 8-5 Ravens in a duel for 1st place going down the stretch and most will likely be seen in the playoffs at the end of the season as well. Russell Wilson and the Steelers have been this season’s surprise team, Mike Tomlin is a great coach, and he seems to always find ways to win, but I don’t think anyone saw them being this good this year. Still not Super Bowl good in my opinion, there’s a few too many great teams in the AFC currently, but they’re exceeding mine and most analyst’s and football fans expectations through 13 weeks I’d say. The Ravens are almost not as good as everyone is making them out to be in my mind either. I’m not discrediting Lamar Jackson as a dual threat player or saying he isn’t one of this generation’s best and most fun QBs to watch either, and I’m loving seeing this resurgence of Derrick Henry’s career this season with Baltimore. That being said, they don’t feel like a Super Bowl team to me, a playoff team yes easily, but Lamar has struggled in the playoffs in the past anyways and they look like a beatable team this year and have been on multiple instances. The Bengals offense has continued to look much better than their record would show but they’re not making the playoffs either as they keep just losing and losing despite putting up 28 plus points a game. The 2024 Bengals are one of the most head scratching teams I’ve ever witnessed, along with the 2024 Jets. The Jets should be good, this is the most all star lineup of players I’ve ever seen on the Jets at 1 time, but they just cannot win a game and continue to lose in games that shock me. The 8-5 Texans are leading the abysmal AFC South and seem like they’re going to walk away with that division, but don’t feel like they’re as exciting as they should be either. CJ is still a good QB and the future of that franchise, but it feels like they’re less talked about than I thought they might be this season and don’t feel necessarily like this is their year either. If I had to make a pick 13 weeks through the season for the AFC’s Super Bowl representative, I would say I’m hopeful for the Buffalo Bills, but have to be bought that they can beat the Chiefs in the playoffs because they feel like the only team that would give Josh Allen and the Bills some troubles at this point down the stretch.
The NFC is an exciting looking picture through 13 weeks as well. The Eagles are on a tear as of late and have won, what, 8 games straight now and currently sit at 10-2 and firmly in 1st place in the NFC East. Saquon Barkley is the story of the year for the Eagles this year for me and like Derrick Henry, seeing the resurgence in his career over there has been fun to watch. I mean, the backwards hurdle anyone?! The Commanders sit a couple games back in 2nd at 8-5 and still have at least a chance to squeak themselves into the playoffs depending how the end of the season goes for them, Jayden Daniels has continued to impress for a rookie QB though and is looking like the clear future of that franchise down the stretch. The NFC West feels like maybe the most up in the air division in the entire league this year. The Seahawks are currently in the lead at 7-5 but nothing feels certain, the Cardinals and the Rams sit right behind them at 6-6, and the 49ers are only a couple games back at 5-7. I hope this is the year that Geno and the Hawks or Kyler and the Birds win out in that division though, both players deserve a playoff run and neither has had one yet and I don’t mind either of those teams at all. This is the year to win the division as well as it’s not being dominated by the All-Star 49ers team for once, they’ve been decimated by injuries all season and the hits just keep coming as they look like they’ve potentially lost CMC and Mason for the rest of the season after the road loss in Buffalo. That division will be fun to keep an eye on down the stretch though, another division fun to keep your eyes on…the NFC North. The NFC North is easily the best division in the league this season and almost certainly 3 of the 4 teams in that division will live to see the playoffs. The lights out Lions currently sit in first at 11-1, the vicious Vikings are right behind them at 10-2, and the persistent Packers won’t go down either and currently sit at 9-3. All of those teams would be winning their divisions in almost any other division in the league, but they all just happen to be playing this well in the same division making for a very entertaining dog fight down the stretch. I don’t really have anything bad to say about any 3 of those teams. What the Vikings have been able to do with Sam Darnold this year and overperform to most people’s expectations is impressive, Jordan Love and the Packers seemed to be pick up right where they left off and will clearly be a competitive team for years to come now under the coaching of LaFleur, but the Lions feel the most serious to me this year. They’re playing hard and tough, like they’re on a mission and won’t be denied after their NFC Championship loss at the end of last season. Where everything sits currently, I think Detroit is my front runner pick to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl as of now and it would be hard for me to see it another way unless things drastically change in the league in weeks to come. How sweet that would be for this team and the city of Detroit though as they’ve never even been to a Super Bowl and this team, under the knowledge tree of Dan Campbell, just feels like the kind of team to be able to do it. The NFC South is just as abysmal as the AFC South and feel like anyone’s game at this point between the 6-6 Falcons and the 6-6 Bucs to represent the division in the playoffs. This looked like the Falcons division to take just a few weeks ago when Baker and the Bucs went on a bit of a skid following the injuries of Evans and Godwin, but Kirk and the Falcons have went on a major skid the last 3-4 weeks or so as well and now who even knows who will end up walking away with this. I’ve always been a Baker fan, I’m a Browns fan and have loved him since he was ours so in a way, I’m hoping he gets them back into the playoffs again for a 2nd straight year and further solidifies that he belongs as a starter in the league. But I’ve never disliked those Dirty Birds in the South either and have always kind of rooted for the cringe-lord himself, Kirk Cousins, so I wouldn’t be angry with a Falcons playoff appearance either. Either way it goes though, I don’t see either South division playoff team going very far in either conference as both of the South divisions are the weakest in the league this year but they’re fun to watch in their own trainwreck way as well as teams dogfight to the finish line.
That is my wrap up through 13 weeks of the 2024 NFL season! I’m sure I’ll be back to talk more football soon and will likely do my own personal 2024 NFL awards at the end of the season to give the deserving players their flowers for their contributions throughout the year but until then, have a great week, keep watching football, and I will see you all back here again soon!
