How are we doing?

We're entering the last six games of the season (for most) and I wanted to take a look at The Situation. Naturally, my look is only at The Situation in the AFC. Stuff is happening in the NFC, whatever, Giants winning a lot, Arizona comeback QB, Green Bay not dead with Aaron Rogers, Carolina tearing it up, blah blah blah.

Right now, first place by division:

AFC East: New York Jets (7-3)
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3)
AFC South: Tennessee Titans (10-0)
AFC West: Denver Broncos (6-4)

Divisions that cease to hold my interest awfully quickly:

AFC West: The Broncos will, in all likelihood, win this division. However, they have not exactly proven themselves to be a powerhouse this year. Other teams are all below .500.

Divisions where I think the team currently in first has a lock:

AFC South: I seriously doubt that Tennessee will go 0-6 for the last six games. There could (and likely will be) a loss or two, possibly to the Jets (although ???) or, I think more likely, Indy. Just to mess with them.

Divisions that got wicked exciting when no one was looking

AFC East: Right now, the Jets are 7-3, the Pats and Dolphins are 6-4, and the Bills are 5-4, which means that it is technically still anyone's division.

Divisions where I feel confident they shall overcome

AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers. They have not been as strong as of late (and almost lost to San Diego yesterday), but I have confidence that they will pull it off.

Possible wild card teams (in the order that I feel they most deserve):

[As much as I hate to do this] Miami Dolphins: they are on a roll and have a really easy schedule remaining other than their two division games. I feel like New England can probably beat them (if they aren't caught off-guard by the same play 5 times again) and likely the Jets will too. However, other weeks include Kansas City, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Buffalo.

New England Patriots: they need to improve in the red zone and make up for losses to injury on the defense and if they play the Jets again, stop #81. That being said, they are a pretty competitive team and two of their four losses were very close (and against the Jets and Indy. And we really should have had that damned Jets game even though we played like poo in the first half). However, there are still some tough games remaining, including Arizona and Pittsburgh. Everyone take a moment and reflect back to 2001 with the 6-game win streak to end the season. You may now resume whatever you were doing.

Baltimore Ravens: unfortunately, they still have a pretty difficult schedule remaining against NFC East teams. Which is sad, because I think that they are currently fielding a better team than, say, the Broncos.

Indianapolis Colts: I was almost willing to give them a little slack after they beat New England and Pittsburgh in close games. Then they went and barely squeaked by the Houston Texans. That is no good. Still not sure on this one. They still have to play Tennessee (and I know I said above that this might be a Tennessee loss but it depends which Colts team shows up) and Jacksonville. Now, admittedly Jacksonville has mostly sucked this year, but they are divisional rivals and they did field a good effort against the Titans yesterday.

Buffalo Bills: they have been declining after their strong start. Considering that they are in a competitive division (and who would have guessed after last year), this is a bad move.