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The 2020/2021 NFL playoff divisional round is on the books. We’ll see the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Buffalo Bills, respectively, in the conference championship round next weekend. But watching the action through the playoffs this weekend, you couldn’t help but realize how different each side of the medium was from a long-term perspective. And that’s not necessarily good news for the Dolphins.
On the NFC side of the fence, NFL legends Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers made up three-quarters of the passers in the conference division round. The old guard is still very much alive and kicking in stride too. Tom Brady, 43, and Aaron Rodgers, 37, will face off at Lambeau Field next week for a trip to the Super Bowl.
Put yourself in the shoes of a cellar dweller in the NFC. At the very least, you’re excited that those quarterbacks are gone over the next few years – retiring to greener pastures and opening the door for young upstart teams to challenge the status quo.
But this process has already started on the AFC side of the support. Tom Brady may not have retired, but at least he’s out of Foxborough. Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger has taken the Steelers to 12 wins this season – but looked like a shell of himself and threatens to do more harm than good by returning in 2021 to gobble up precious Steelers space. Peyton Manning left at sunset half a decade ago and is now ready for Canton. Phillip Rivers? Now in Indianapolis, but yet another quarterback parading like a shell of himself.
What about the teams that remained in the game this weekend? Featured by four former 1st round quarterbacks; all taken as recently as 2018.
Patrick Mahomes from Kansas City (25)
Josh Allen of Buffalo (24)
Baker Mayfield of Cleveland (25)
Lamar Jackson of Baltimore (24)
The new era of AFC is upon us. And as it stands, the Dolphins are a team that is about to come up against this group of contenders titled by a young quarterback – but there is a lot of work to be done from the perspective of the l ‘talent acquisition and player development before getting there. And that’s the challenge for Miami. They have a coaching staff who wholeheartedly believe in player development. They have everything they need to store this list in batches.
But they’ll have to play aggressively in any pursuit they embrace – because the rest of the AFC playoff field is already ahead of them. Baltimore and Cleveland embraced ground and pestle football and ran the ball with authority throughout the season. Ironically, the two lost to quarterbacks playing at an elite level this weekend. The leaders and the bills? They win by expanding the field and hitting you with speed. Miami can choose either way. But at the moment, they aren’t doing well enough to be seen as a legitimate threat to win the AFC.
The first step in this process? Engage in an offensive coordinator. Of the? Time to make a splash, Miami. The AFC is ripe for picking and new blood is sprinting to meet the challenge. There is no reason the Dolphins shouldn’t be one of those squads reinvigorated by the power vacuum left with the departure of the AFC’s old guard.
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