Write On Sports LLC - "Go Easy On The NFC!" by Troy Somero

Go Easy On The NFC!

2006-12-08 01:46:14 | By: Troy Somero

With four weeks left in the 2006 NFL regular season every person with even a minute interest in professional football is gearing up for the playoffs. Along with the affliction of "Playoff Fever" comes the many illogical, haphazard arguments from every analyst and casual fan about the state of the current season. This season the main topic of interest is dichotomy of the popular celebration of the AFC and the popular disdain for the NFC.

The AFC's record against the NFC this season is 50-32 (.640) through the first thirteen weeks of the season. However - to put this number in perspective - the Chicago Bears are 10-2 (.833) right now and most "experts" highly doubt that the Bears are on of the NFL's best teams. The five AFC teams fighting for the final playoffs spot as of this week each stand at 7-5 going into this weekend. In contrast, the four NFC teams in their wildcard dogfight stand at 6-6 as Sunday approaches. The AFC has highly touted, exciting teams like Indianapolis, New England and San Diego. On the other hand, the NFC's top teams consist of the shaky Bears and a Dallas team led by a first-year starter.

All of these comparisons seem to signify that the unimpressive NFC is the kid-brother to the "jockular", sexy AFC this season – seem being the key word here. The fact of the matter is that when the two conferences are compared within an alternate context there is not much that separates them.

If the playoffs started today the two first-round byes in the AFC would go to Indianapolis and San Diego. Both teams stand at 10-2, have very explosive offenses led by all-world talents (Peyton Manning and LaDainian Tomlinson, respectively), and have all the media acclaim that a team could want this late in the season. At the same time, however, both teams have a lot to prove to be considered sure fire Super Bowl favorites.

The issue with the Colts is the same issue that arises with them every December: their inability to win late in the season and in the postseason. Peyton Manning is a first-ballot Hall of Famer but he has not yet led his team to the Super Bowl. The Chargers have an equally explosive offense, but if the right team matches up with them in the playoffs Tomlinson can be held in check. This has a very high probability of happening because Marty Schottenheimer, a coach who postseason futility rears its ugly head year after year, is very likely to be out-coached come playoff times.

Granted, the two "hot" teams in the NFC – Chicago and Dallas – also have their issues. If Peyton Manning cannot help his team win in the playoffs, Bears fans just have to hope that Rex Grossman does not flat-out lose a game in the playoffs - a feat he nearly accomplished against Minnesota last weekend. Dallas is led by Golden Boy Tony Romo. Romo has been cool and calm in the pocket so far this season, but imagine him in a playoff atmosphere with Parcells yelling at him on the sideline and T.O. yelling at him every other snap. Sure, the top NFC teams look shaky going into the playoffs, but so do the top AFC teams. The Bears and the Cowboys still have a lot to prove in the NFL Playoffs but the Colts and the Chargers have already proven that they are postseason chokers.

The true example of the compatibility of the AFC and the NFC as the playoffs near is the wildcard race that is occurring in each conference. As stated above, the AFC currently has five teams at 7-5 entering this weekend: the Jets, Bengals, Jaguars, Chiefs and Broncos. The NFC currently has four teams at 6-6 entering this weekend: the Panthers, Giants, Eagles and Falcons. These two facts beg a pretty obvious question: What is the big difference between 7-5 and 6-6? The answer is quite simple: one game. If the Panthers had scored four more points against the Bengals they would be 7-5. If the Giants had not given up 24 points in the fourth quarter to the Titans two weekends ago they would be 7-5. If the Eagles did not give up a late-game touchdown to the Jaguars in Week 6 they would be 7-5. If the Falcons did not lose by four points to the Browns they would be 7-5. Four instances in an entire football season have separated an impressively competitive AFC wildcard race and a pitifully depressing NFC wildcard race.

Clearly I am oversimplifying everything a tad here. However, the differences between the AFC and the NFC are much simpler than this. The NFC has three "bottom-dwelling" teams (teams with nine or more losses as of this weekend): the Lions (2-10), the Buccaneers (3-9) and the Cardinals (3-9). The AFC has one "bottom-dwelling" team: the Raiders (2-10). The NFC appears to be so weak this season because the teams at the bottom of its standings are having awful seasons, while teams towards the bottom of the AFC standings (like the Texas and Titans) have had some impressive victories as of late. Adding injury to insult, the Lions, Bucs and Cards have a 2-7 record against the AFC season this.

Most of all, however, the AFC appears so much stronger than the NFC because sportswriters are focusing on arbitrary facts to prove themselves. 7-5 and 6-6 are two records separated by one game in a sixteen-game season. Much like I have used random statistics like the 2-7 record in the previous paragraph, other columnists use these two aforementioned records to chastise the NFC wildcard race and glorify the AFC wildcard race. In the beginning of the season few people picked the Chiefs or the Jets to make the playoffs. Pretty much every expert picked the four NFC 6-6 teams to be in the same position they are in right now in December. Each AFC and NFC wildcard team has four weeks to prove it belongs in the postseason – let's make sure that all us sportswriters do not sell their chances short, whether the team is the mighty 7-5 Broncos or the woeful 6-6 Panthers.

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