I have decided that Tuesdays are for rankings. We had the NFL MVP list for a couple of months…now that time has passed – but ya know, its always a good time to pull out a rankings list…so I’ve got here:
The Pressure Meter: of the 8 remaining teams in the playoffs, the teams that are under the most pressure to win…we’ll go 8 to 1. 8 being the least and one being the most-
8- Bengals- Joe Burrow is in year 1 of his NFL career. The Bengals were expected to finish dead last in their division this year. They are playing with house money @ this point. They still have another gear or two in them. No one will think less of them if they lose on Saturday.
7- Titans- The fact that the Titans snagged the 1-seed in the AFC despite losing Derrick Henry for 9 games is a super bowl win in and of itself. They have the least amount of public and media pressure on them I’ve seen from a 1-seed, maybe ever. Vrabel will win coach of the year. Tannehill’s not going anywhere. The defense is getting better. They’re fine either way this goes.
6- 49ers- Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy G have been on the doorstep before and they haven’t been able to cash in. I don’t know how much more time they have with the players that are stars on this roster to really cash in on a super bowl, so while they come in as the 6-seed, I still see a decent amount of pressure on these guys.
5- Bucs- Talk about a shrinking window…their QB is 44 years old. They will be good as long as Brady allows them to be, but they won the Super Bowl last year, how much pressure could they really be under here?
4- Chiefs- These final 4 teams are the ones that face real pressure in my opinion and it starts with KC. Patrick Mahomes is supposed to be the Baby Goat, well, he better start racking up Super Bowl wins. Stats are great but if he goes an entire career with amazing yard and TD totals, but 1 ring…he’ll be the next Rodgers, not the next Brady.
3- Bills- Josh Allen is phenomenal and last week’s performance was his best as a pro, with that said, he better make it past Mahomes, otherwise he will be the bridesmaid of the AFC. Plus, Buffalo in general, all those Super Bowl appearances with no titles to show for it. Every time they get close, pressure mounts.
2- Rams- This is the most loaded roster in the NFL…Stafford, Kupp, Ramsey, Donald, Von Miller, OBJ, and they got Cam Akers back. Sean McVay said Goff wasn’t good enough – even though Goff got him to a Super Bowl. Let’s see if he’s right.
Number 1!- Packers- This was easy. The Packers as an organization are under pressure because this might be the last year they have Rodgers. The Packers as a team are under pressure because they were the best team all year, so its super bowl or bust for them. And Aaron Rodgers is 1 Super Bowl ring away from being classified as a top 3 or 4 QB all-time…without it…he’s just another great QB in a long line of great QB’s in NFL history.
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