Page 17 - aruba-today-20180106

A17
Saturday 6 January 2018

By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Pro Football Writer
In a year when two-thirds of TOP GUN
the NFL playoff field is new,
the AFC still features fixtures
Tom Brady and Ben Roeth-
lisberger, who have seven
Super Bowl rings between
them, and Alex Smith, who
is coming off his best sea-
son of his 13-year career.
The trio of graybeard QBs
led their teams to division ti-
tles again this year, and for
the second straight season
they won’t have to worry
about Von Miller wrecking
their Super Bowl hopes. The
Broncos missed the playoff
party again along with the
Texans, Raiders and Dol-
phins, who were here last
year.
The Bills are back for the
first time in 17 seasons, the
Jaguars for the first time in
a decade and the Titans
return for the first time since
2008.
The AFC gets wild-card
weekend started Saturday
with the Titans visiting the
Chiefs, who haven’t won
a playoff game at Arrow-
head Stadium in 14 years.
On Sunday, the Bills visit the
Jaguars. New England has
its customary bye week —
its seventh straight — and
Pittsburgh earned its first
bye since 2010.
Strength and weakness of
each of the six AFC playoff
teams:
1. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
(13-3). Last Lombardi: Su-
per Bowl 51, 34-28 OT over
Atlanta on Feb. 5, 2017.
Hope: Tom Brady still plays Brady, Patriots again top the
like he’s 30, not 40. He’s a
leading MVP candidate AFC playoff field
again with a league-lead-
ing 4,577 yards passing
and 32 TDs. He got hit a
lot more than he did last New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady
season (32 sacks in ‘17 passes against the New York Jets during the
after just 15 in ‘16). But it first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec.
hasn’t stopped the Patriots
from having the league’s 31, 2017, in Foxborough, Mass.
second-ranked offense, Associated Press
averaging 28.6 points. A
healthy TE Rob Gronkows-
ki , who missed last year’s
playoffs, has given the
Patriots a huge lift with 69
catches for 1,084 yards.

Continued on Page 19