This isn’t a question our NFL analysis would normally ask of a team that just won the Super Bowl, but it applies to the Baltimore Ravens—can they get better? Not just a little bit better, but this team will need to make substantial improvement if they hope to make another serious run at the brass ring.
If there’s a word that characterizes the NFC West in the years since the realignment of 2002 it would be “balance.” This division has been balanced in that all four teams have taken their turns winning it and reaching the Super Bowl. It’s been balanced in mediocrity—as in the ridiculous year of 2010 when the Seattle Seahawks won it at 7-9. And it’s been balanced in excellence, as is the case today.
The Arizona Cardinals are under new management. Ken Wisenhunt coached this franchise to its greatest heights, winning back-to-back NFC West titles in 2008-09 and reaching the Super Bowl in 2008, but Wisenhunt couldn’t succeed once Kurt Warner retired and now it’s Bruce Arians who will get the chance.
Jeff Fischer came to St. Louis last year and made an immediate impact on the fortunes of the Rams. After a 2-14 year in 2011, St. Louis turned it around and went 7-8-1 in 2012. They beat the San Francisco 49ers at home and tied them on the road.
The Seattle Seahawks looked as good as any team in the NFL when they came barreling down the stretch in 2012. If not for a late drive by Matt Ryan that knocked the Seahawks out of the playoffs in Atlanta, they might not have been stopped.
The San Francisco 49ers come into a season looking for redemption off of heartbreak for the second year in a row. In 2011, they lost a gutwrenching NFC Championship Game to the New York Giants. Last year they lost the Super Bowl to the Baltimore Ravens when they were stopped three times inside the 5-yard-line. There’s only one way to keep moving forward and it’s to win it all. Today’s NFL analysis measures the Niners against that very high bar.
Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriot Machine come into the 2013 NFL season as a heavy favorite to secure yet another AFC East crown. The oddsmakers in Las Vegas have posted them as a 5-13 favorite. The math is such that you if you want to bet against the Patriots in this division, you need not pick a challenger. You could bet the three rivals at equal levels and turn a profit so long as one of them came through.
I’ve begun to realize that a sign of dating yourself with the younger crowd is that you remember, in vivid detail, the last time the Buffalo Bills were really good. Those of us 40-and-up can remember pretty clearly this organization’s halcyon days of 1990-93 and the unprecedented four straight AFC titles…and yes, the four straight Super Bowl losses.
The circus that is the New York Jets has been a little quieter this year. Not only is Tim Tebow gone from the quarterback picture, but any sort of expectations are gone from the team picture. It would seem that the season is just about letting Rex Ryan have one more year to finish hanging himself before moving on.
The Miami Dolphins have been an organization in a funk for a long time. They haven’t gone deep into the postseason since making the AFC Championship Game since 1992. They haven’t gone to the Super Bowl since 1984 and they haven’t won it since 1973. In recent years, an AFC East title in 2008 and quick first-round playoff exit is the only interlude in an extended run of mediocrity.
The machine is that the New England Patriots gears it up for another year, in what oddsmakers presume will be at least another AFC East title and being a part of the Super Bowl conversation. The question, as Tom Brady hits 36-years-old, is whether all those wins can be rolled over into the first Super Bowl win since 2004.