2026 AFC Preview

With so much time taken up cleaning up the website I haven’t had the time to offer previews for all the divisions.. Waiting past week 2 would be disengenuous to offer what I originally thought for each division. So lets get to it.

2026 AFC East Predictions

1. Buffalo Bills    11-6 #
2. New England Patriots  10-7 *
3. New York Jets  8-9
4. Miami Dolphins 1-16

Every season the Bills explode out of the blocks with 2 excellent wins. Everyone is singing the praise of new HC Brady. Dion Dawkins went on “Speakeasy” and said they were having fun and the team is more aggressive tactically now that McDermott’s gone. However their Achille’s Heal is still that defense not able to make plays to shut teams down. Detroit roared back while losing 41-31.

Josh Allen is on a torrid pace and friends are saying I gave up on the Bills too early.. He does this every year but as I warned you in my Top Ten QBs (Josh #2) he is in his 10th year and as he takes hits he will cool off.

Another from my Top Ten was Drake Maye at #5 and the bloom is coming off the rose. He now has 5 straight games since the end of the season where he looks more Mac Jones than Tom Brady. I wrote about it in The Truth of Drake Maye where he will continue to struggle.

The Patriots face 8 teams that won 10 games and another 3 that won 9. The running game and defense will have to come to the fore to save Mac Jones…eh Drake Maye.

2026 AFC North Predictions

1. Baltimore Ravens 13-4 #
2. Pittsburgh Steelers 10-7
3. Cincinnati Bengals 7-10
4. Cleveland Browns 4-13

This is the year the Ravens have a chance to be special. Lamar Jackson and this new offense 41-23 victory showcased how well they can play.

Jackson will soon turn 30 and Henry 32 have felt the urgency to win now especially with former Coach Harbaugh dismissed. All the pressure falls to these two Hall of Fame talents to get this done. All the blame will fall on their shoulders if they do not.

New Coach Jessie Minter and DC Anthony Weaver have inherited 5 former Pro Bowl defenders in LB Roquan Smith, DE Trey Hendrickson, S Kyle Hamilton, CB Marlon Humphrey, and returning DE Nnamedi Madubuike from injury. They will hit their stride defensively once this season progresses.

2026 AFC West Predictions

1. Denver Broncos 11-6 #
2. KC Chiefs 10-7 *
3. LA Chargers 7-10
4. LV Raiders 6-11

The Denver Broncos were sleep walking in that week 1 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Coach Payton can now use this to refocus his team who may have read too many press clippings this offseason. They have to find a defensive sparkplug to replace the departed Dre Greenlaw.

Alex Singleton, time to drop the “Aww shucks” attitude and you have to be that defensive dawg that was missing in Greenlaw’s absence. They have to shore up the run to force teams to pass where the pass rush can be as effective as last year.

Jaylen Waddle has to offer Bo Nix a downfield threat who can win in man and zone. Nix is begining to look like he hit his ceiling and is one of these Covid quarterbacks.

He is 26 and played college football for 5 years and remember John Elway was 26 when he took the Broncos to XXI in 1986. He had been throough the NFL wars and developed. Yes they would have been in last year’s Super Bowl if he was healthy but he was shaky as last season concluded and he looked lost in week 1. That’s not franchise quarterback behavior.

They were almost in Super Bowl LX because of a defense that set a team record 68 sacks forcing a lot of punts. Strategically they put Nix in favorable situations all season when he had slow starts. The Broncos need to run and they will get it right.

Again pundits like Dan Orlovsky are lining up and singing the praises of the horribly overrated Justin Herbert. There is an article coming on this phenomenon as he is the eipitome of unfulfilled promise. I expect him to have another erratic season and he will fall out of favor with Coach Jim Harbaugh. Will he be moved or will Harbaugh? Time will tell.

2026 AFC South Predictions

1. Houston Texans 14-3##
2. Jacksonville Jaguars  11-6 *
3. Indianapolis Colts 9-8 *
4. Tennessee Titams 3-14

The Texans defense has a chance to be legendary with DE Will Anderson, Danielle Hunter, Azeez Al-Shaair, Derek Stingley Jr, and Kamari Lassiter all having the chance to go All Pro this year. They wre having a historic run through last year’s playoffs when they were short circuited by QB CJ Stroud where the lights appeared to bright.

To remedy this they still have backup Davis Mills who went 5-1 as a starter and traded for RB David Montgomery for more power between the tackles. He ran for 60 yards and 2 TDs and proved valuable out the backfield with another 3 receptions for 19 yards and a third score.

They plan on the defense being the strength of their team again but if CJ Stroud starts playing jittery they will turn it over to Davis Mills to play with a scaled back playbook and a totally conservative approach like the 2000 Ravens.

They will be Trent Dilferized and because of this Plan A & Plan B approach, Taylor Blitz Times has the Houston Texans representing the AFC in Super Bowl LXI in Sofi.

This is the Chancellor’s selections, what are yours?