The NFL is all about this parity thing, but the more I break down what happened during the first week of free agency and look at the landscape in the AFC, the more it’s apparent that Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will once again be battling each other and nobody else in 2014.
Somehow, no team improved as much as Brady’s New England Patriots (who added Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner and Brandon LaFell while only really losing Aqib Talib and Brandon Spikes), except maybe Manning’s Denver Broncos (who signed Talib, T.J. Ward, DeMarcus Ware and Emmanuel Sanders while only really losing Eric Decker, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Zane Beadles and Wesley Woodyard).
Both teams got better, despite the fact they were the only two teams in the conference to win 12 or more games. They scored the most points in the conference and won the most games, and the gap has grown.
The rest of the playoff field from last year isn’t exactly gaining ground.
The Cincinnati Bengals, who won the AFC North, lost their top two free agents in Michael Johnson and Anthony Collins. Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden is gone and his project, Andy Dalton, is still a question mark. The Kansas City Chiefs, who were the top wild-card team last year, lost four starting-caliber players during the first week of free agency. They’re tight for cash, so they’ve arguably taken a step backward. The AFC South-winning Indianapolis Colts lost their top two free agents in Antoine Bethea and Donald Brown. They signed D’Qwell Jackson and Arthur Jones, but it’s hard to argue they improved much. San Diego was only 9-7 last year, but the Chargers didn’t do much of anything in free agency.
I mean, the Broncos should absolutely cruise in the AFC West, where Oakland is also a disaster. The Jets, Bills and Dolphins have done little to challenge New England, especially with Miami losing Paul Soliai and Nolan Carroll.
To think, too, that New England and Denver also had bad luck with injuries last year. Denver was without superstars Ryan Clady and Von Miller during its Super Bowl run, and New England was without Rob Gronkowski and pretty much every other legitimate target for Tom Brady most of the year. Ultimately, the Pats had the third highest injury rate in the league, according to the Dallas Morning News, while the Broncos also ranked in the bottom half of the league in that area.
Manning and Brady, destined again to rule…until one beats the other.
