Top 3 AFC Super Bowl Contenders
#3 Denver Broncos – The Broncos team that takes the field this fall will faintly resemble the team that went 8-8 and missed the playoffs last year. They had a furiously busy offseason, easily the biggest movers this year. Denver severed ties with their dramatically unhappy QB and signed Kyle Orton and Chris Simms to compete for the chance to replace him. They picked up the highly underrated running back Corell Buckhalter and added the proven leadership of Brian Dawkins on defense. The Broncos also grabbed RB Knowshon Moreno and DE/LB Robert Ayers with their two first round draft picks this year. Veterans LaMont Jordan and Jabar Gaffney joined the team from New England. There’s even more, but those are the moves most likely to have an impact in 2009. If they can pull it all together, this could be a team to be reckoned with this year.
#2 Pittsburg Steelers – You’ve got to give the champions their due. The Steelers were dominant last season and won their second Super Bowl in 4 years. For the most part, they have retained their core with Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Willie Parker and Troy Polamalu among many others. Only two things are working against the Steelers’ chances of repeating: a) the champs always have to play all season with a target on their heads, and b) the Steelers’ path to the Super Bowl goes through the New England Patriots.
#1 New England Patriots – Two big factors point to the Patriots going from a solid 11-5 team last year to a leading candidate for the Super Bowl this year. First, Tom Brady, the NFL’s favorite wunderkind, is healthy again. You cannot understate the importance of a pro-bowl, Superbowl-MVP quarterback returning to his team. Second, Bill Belichick is still an evil genius. Seriously, he may not be the kind of guy you’d like to have over for dinner, but if he weren’t scheming how to win the Super Bowl, Belichick would probably be plotting to take over the world and turn you into some kind of zombified slave worker-drone. Just be glad that he chose coaching as a profession.
Not sure what you mean that the Steelers path goes through New England this year. They don’t play each other during the regular season. Last years path went through NE and we know how that turned out.
Comment made by sean on July 25, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
Excellent question, Sean. What I mean is that if the Patriots live up to the expectations, the Steelers will be facing them in the playoffs, quite possibly the AFC Championship Game. They’ll have to go through the Pats in order to get back to the Superbowl.
Comment made by Ron on July 26, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
[...] Broncos are for real. I was mocked for picking them as a potential Superbowl contender a few months back. Now, everybody sees that they’ve got a legitimate shot. 86 year old Brian [...]
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