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AFC vs. NFC: The Gap Widens
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by
Bill
Chuang, Head
Columnist, 7/16/07
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We all
have moments of sports glory in
our lives. I remember once in fourth grade gym class, we were
playing dodge ball. After a few of my teammates had been knocked
out, it was me against about 4 guys on the other team. I caught
one of the balls whipped at me (whipped is a relative term considering
it was thrown by a 10 year old), and brought in one of my
teammates. After I caught another one, I remember my gym teacher
at the time saying “the worm has turned”. Sadly, this is
the extent of my sports glory, so now I compensate by criticizing NFL
players. For some reason, this popped into my head when I was
thinking about the current AFC dominance over the NFC. During the
late 80’s and 90’s, the NFC dominated the AFC winning 13 consecutive
Super Bowls before Denver finally broke that streak in 1998.
Before that, the AFC dominated by winning 8 of the 10 championships
during the 70’s. Since the Broncos won in 1998, the AFC has won 8
of 10 losing only to St. Louis and Tampa Bay. The worm has truly
turned.
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The difference between now and the other
periods of dominance is that
the NFC does not have a team that can carry the jockstraps of any of
the elite AFC teams. This was not true during the period of NFC
dominance. Even when Dallas, San Francisco, Washington, and NY
Giants were dominating, the AFC put forth strong competition.
Buffalo will go down in history as probably the best team never to have
won a championship. Pittsburgh, with the early days of Cowher
Power and Blitzburgh with Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, and Rod Woodson;
Kansas City with Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith as well as aging Joe
Montana and Marcus Allen; the Dan Marino led Dolphins; and the Elway
led Broncos were all worthy opponents. In the 70’s, the Cowboys
and the Vikings were perennial powers who could challenge the Steelers
and Raiders.
Today, are there any team in the NFC that could truly match up with any
of the top 5 and maybe even top 10 AFC teams? The Bears might
boast about their defense, but they were 3-5 against the AFC the past 2
seasons. The Saints, probably the most complete team in the
NFC, were 1-3 against the AFC last season. The Eagles were also
1-3 against the AFC last year. The Seahawks put up a bit of a
fight going 2-2 against the AFC last year. The Cowboys were
able to beat the Colts and go 3-1 vs. the AFC. The Giants and
Falcons went 1-3 and 2-2 respectively.
By contrast, the Colts (3-1), Patriots (4-0), Chargers (4-0), Ravens
(3-1), Bengals (3-1), Steelers (3-1), Jets (3-1), and Chiefs
(4-0) feasted on the NFC last season. The only thing that keeps
most NFC teams out of the football cellar is the fact that they get to
play 12 games against each other every year.
Unfortunately for the Super Bowl advertisers, this power gap should
only grow wider this year. New England has loaded up. San
Diego, even with all their coaching changes, is still the most complete
team in the NFL. Baltimore will have a ferocious defense even
without Adalius Thomas. Ben Roethlisberger will play like he has
something to prove in Pittsburgh. Indianapolis and Cincinnati
will continue to outscore its opponents. Meanwhile Philadelphia
lost its best player last year in Jeff Garcia. The Bears still
have Rex Grossman. The Giants are auditioning for their next head
coach. Seattle’s defense is still downy soft. Dallas is
putting all of its marbles into its butterfinger quarterback who
started hot, but faded down the stretch last year. The only NFC
teams that got much better this off season are San Francisco, Arizona,
and Detroit, but they are far from competing with the AFC’s
elite. The Saints are the only team that might compete, but
they do not have the imposing defense to go along with that formidable
offense.
Once again, and for the foreseeable future, the AFC championship should
be the real Super Bowl. At least the real Super Bowl has
those commercials.
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