When 11-year National Football League linebacker, and current analyst for FOX 29 in Philadelphia, Garry Cobb speaks about the state of the league, you should listen.
Cobb recently gave a wide-ranging interview to onlinecasino.ca, and he was especially effusive in his praise for the AFC West.
Has the “Wild, Wild West” returned?
How good is the AFC West, and who might be the favorite to win it?
This is probably the best division in football, really, when you think about it. You have Russell Wilson going there for Denver. Like I have said, this is a quarterback league. You have Derek Carr with Las Vegas, and they are going to be better. You have Justin Herbert with the Chargers, who I might have to apologize to: when I was talking about Josh Allen, he is also a great young quarterback with a big arm and unlimited potential. They were in the hunt, and most likely will be in the hunt again.
So you have those four quarterbacks, Russell Wilson, who is as good as there is in the game, Justin Herbert, and Derek Carr. Then you have the guy that is probably the best of all of them, Patrick Mahomes. How do you have that class of quarterbacks in one division?
It might be the best four quarterbacks at one division at this time in their career ever. I don’t know how you can say there was a better grouping. Those four guys, with their type of talent. That is an outstanding group. But it is going to come down to how healthy the teams stay.
We are going to be able to see if the Chiefs are going to be able to replace the speed they let go this offseason, getting rid of a burner like Tyreek Hill. But Patrick Mahomes has been the key. And Andy Reid – I know him very well from all of his time with the Eagles – he has been able to work with different types of players. He has been able to work with guys and have a potent offense, so you have to think with Patrick Mahomes still there, I think they are going to be a potent offense like they have in the past.
But it is going to be interesting to see how it plays out. Russell Wilson is a winner. He should really have two championships, at least, after the one they gave away to New England. Run the ball! That really broke up that team. I know quite a few of the defensive players were through with the team once they lost that game. There was no explanation for throwing the ball on that play. But that is all water under the bridge. That AFC West is going to be a great battle. There are going to be a lot of high-scoring games, we are going to see games going down to the wire, and likely we are going to see these quarterbacks battling each other.
It is going to be a lot of fun: like they say, the “Wild, Wild West”.
Who are the best teams in the AFC, and who wins the conference title?
I am going to say Buffalo in the AFC. Not just because Josh Allen is a special player, or they added so much talent to their roster. Last year, they had a great secondary, but they didn’t have any pass rush. But they went out and got Von Miller: Von Miller can rush the passer. I think he is going to be a shot in the arm. They have added some other guys who are better pass rushers, and I think they are going to be able to get to the quarterback. And with Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, they are going to score points.
And this might be the biggest thing: I think they are very hungry. They were a team that was in pain when they lost that AFC Divisional Game to Kansas CIty. They are hungry to go to the next level, so I expect Buffalo to be the team from the AFC. It is going to be tough over there, because Kansas CIty is still there, and there are so many other good teams that we have talked about. Cleveland is a good team with Deshaun Watson, Baltimore is a good team, Cincinnati was in the Super Bowl, the Colts we talked about, you have Tennessee who had the best record in the AFC last year, and they are going to be back. You look at the AFC West, all of those teams are going to be in the hunt.