NFL playoffs: Rating all 14 groups to make the postseason, from juggernaut Lions to slumping Steelers
It is formally time for playoff soccer. The 2024 NFL common season is entire, and the postseason image is finalized, with six opening-round matchups scheduled for Wild Card Weekend.
How, precisely, do the 14 playoff groups stack up? This is how we might rank them getting into the dance:
Report: 10-7 | Level Differential: +33 (twelfth)
Beneath Mike Tomlin, they are at all times vulnerable to muck up a recreation, and T.J. Watt off the threshold stays an issue. Russell Wilson’s midseason revival now seems like a factor of the previous, on the other hand, and you’ll’t be expecting to win in January when you’ll’t transfer the ball. It is been Pittsburgh’s tale for years now.
Report: 10-7 | Level Differential: 0 (fifteenth)
There used to be a time when C.J. Stroud used to be a feared gunslinger. That used to be a 12 months in the past. With a banged-up line and receiving corps, he is needed to depend a lot more on a grind-it-out flooring recreation and protection. The instant should not be too huge for them, however they have been extra sloppy than impressive all season.
Report: 10-7 | Level Differential: +114 (sixth)
Bo Nix nonetheless is not getting sufficient nationwide credit score for the cool dual-threat presence he is dropped at Mile Prime, and their top-three scoring protection can offset maximum lapses by means of Sean Payton’s assault. Their factor is, they could be a 12 months early, suffering to out survive true heavyweights with extra dynamic lineups.
Report: 11-6 | Level Differential: +101 (seventh)
Justin Herbert after all feels at house in Jim Harbaugh’s disciplined setup, which prioritizes ball keep watch over and durable protection. The Bolts have surrendered simply 17.7 issues according to recreation, easiest within the NFL. If it isn’t Ladd McConkey during the air, even though, does Herbert have the guns to make a deep run?
Report: 10-7 | Level Differential: -19 (sixteenth)
Regardless of the place you rank them, you might be certain to be incorrect. Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay have reached the mountaintop in contemporary reminiscence, and the previous’s big-armed reference to Puka Nacua is just about unstoppable. They have got additionally been extremely streaky with the ball of their arms.
Report: 10-7 | Level Differential: +117 (fifth)
The Todd Bowles technology has normally been outlined by means of scrappy, if not-so-special, groups with tenacious protection. Beneath new offensive coordinator Liam Coen, they have triumph over an abysmal “D” with fireworks, depending on a tantalizing mix of each Bucky Irving electrical energy and Baker Mayfield strength of will.
Report: 11-6 | Level Differential: +122 (4th)
When he is on his recreation, Jordan Love can zip it with the most productive of them, and a bruising Josh Jacobs is helping stability out Matt LaFleur’s confirmed assault. Lacking Jaire Alexander within the secondary has left the opposite facet somewhat inclined, even though, and Love is now coping with his 3rd noticeable harm of the season.
Report: 12-5 | Level Differential: +94 (ninth)
How a long way can a rookie quarterback move? Jayden Daniels is much more electrical than Stroud used to be in 2023, boasting snappy throws and tremendous scrambling velocity, however Washington is banking nearly solely on his athleticism, taking into consideration its in a different way gradual backfield and so-so Dan Quinn-led protection.
Report: 14-3 | Level Differential: +100 (eighth)
How a lot do you weigh their nine-game win streak as opposed to their most commonly unserious Week 18 battle for the NFC’s peak seed? If Sam Darnold will get first rate coverage, he is confirmed able to MVP-level darts for Kevin O’Connell. If he and Brian Flores’ scrappy “D” are installed a hollow, on the other hand, they are no longer as fearsome.
Report: 13-4 | Level Differential: +157 (T-Third)
They have got failed to conquer repeat forces just like the Chiefs within the AFC, and they are every so often mightily depending on Josh Allen enjoying Superman along a rotating forged of characters. Allen is a one-man wrecking workforce, even though, and James Cook dinner’s slippery velocity may be underrated out of the backfield.
Report: 14-3 | Level Differential: +160 (second)
They have got from time to time been their very own worst enemy, with Nick Sirianni’s temperament and situational training bold to overshadow an all-star lineup. If Jalen Hurts is wholesome, even though, he is were given A-plus guns in Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, and so forth. And Vic Fangio’s “D” performs with a bodily edge.
3. Kansas Town Chiefs
Report: 15-2 | Level Differential: +59 (tenth)
Going for a historical three-peat, the reigning champions have not seemed like a sustainable operation for mainly two years working. However that is as a result of Patrick Mahomes is a freak of inevitability when it is crunch time, and each Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo are ace decision-makers within the warmth of the instant.
Report: 12-5 | Level Differential: +157 (T-Third)
They have got were given the NFL’s most deadly house run menace underneath heart in Lamar Jackson, plus a behemoth ball-carrier in Derrick Henry. Throw in an advanced protection, a trainer who is been there, performed that, and motivation to recover from the hump right through the Jackson technology, they usually sign up as a real name contender.
Report: 15-2 | Level Differential: +222 (1st)
In 2023, Dan Campbell’s crew used to be the NFL’s darling underdog-turned-contender. In 2024, they are only a straight-up powerhouse, making fourth-down conversions glance regimen with sharp point-guarding from Jared Goff, house run sprints from Jahmyr Gibbs and well timed physicality from a makeshift protection underneath Aaron Glenn. They have got a world-class line and weaponry, however easiest of all, they are by no means fazed.
