The AFC’s top seed has been a two-team race all year long. The New England Patriots and Denver Broncos have been fighting for the top spot week to week. The teams are 10-2 and 11-2, respectively, after starting 1-2 this season. Which team do you trust more in the postseason?
The case for the Patriots is simple. Drake Maye has been sensational. In his second year as a starter, he is firmly in the MVP conversation with Matthew Stafford.
Maye has a 71.5 % completion, thrown for 23 touchdowns, and just six interceptions. He also leads the league in passing yards with 3,412 and has a passer rating of 111.9. Not only has he avoided the sophomore slump, but he’s made that year two leap that great quarterbacks make.
Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson are two quarterbacks who come to mind. They both made a huge jump from year one to year two and won an MVP in that second year. Patriots fans have to be thrilled knowing that Maye can potentially join that elite group.
Even if Maye doesn’t win the MVP, he passes through eye test for a franchise quarterback. As we all know, the best way to get out of football purgatory is to draft the right guy at quarterback. That is exactly how New England went from 4-13 last year to where they are now.
New Head Coach Mike Vrabel deserves a lot of credit. It seems like the team has taken on his demeanor of not letting their guard down and has run through the teams in their schedule. Though their schedule has been easy, it is impressive that they have not had a letdown game, and Vrabel deserves a lot of credit for that.
The defense and run game are solid. Nothing spectacular, but good enough to make opposing teams have a healthy fear of it. As long as you have the right coach and the right quarterback, you are always going to be a contender. For some people, the best quarterback gets the nod in the postseason.
This case for the Broncos is their defense. That defense is ranked top three in basically every major statistical category. The defense leads the NFL in sacks with 51.
Those who believe in Denver can use the Philadelphia Eagles as proof to back up their argument. A great front four is a recipe for success in the postseason. So we all know how good the defense is, but obviously that alone won’t be enough to win three or four games in the postseason.
The Broncos offense, though shaky, is clutch. In the postseason, games will more likely than not come down to one or two plays, and Denver has been making them all year long. The Broncos are 8-2 in one-score games this year, which is the most wins in those types of situations.
Denver has won four straight games by three or fewer. Some people believe that it is not sustainable, but it could be looked at as them being battle-tested. Bo Nix has not been nearly as good as Drake Maye, but he has made plays when needed in the fourth quarter.
The Broncos have a well-rounded team. They dominate between the trenches on both sides. The team has very few weaknesses apart from the running game.
To decide who is more trustworthy, it really is preference. Some people prefer to go with the team that is mediocre overall but has great quarterback play.
Some people like to go with the more well-rounded team, with a solid but inconsistent quarterback play. We will see which team goes farther in the postseason, and it would be cool to see them meet.
A Broncos-Patriots AFC Championship rematch a decade later would be fun television.
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