The NFL regular season is coming to a close and the playoff race is shaping up. Most of this year’s top teams are the usual suspects from recent years. The Seattle Seahawks sit atop the National Football Conference, while the Denver Broncos are the leaders of the American Football Conference.
Peyton Manning of the Broncos looks like the early Most Valuable Player favorite. Manning is already 37, but is having one of the best seasons of his career. Manning could be on track to break many records, including touchdown passes in a season. This is all only two years removed from missing the entirety of the season as a member of the Indianapolis Colts.
Sophomore Neil Krishnan called the Broncos’ offense “unstoppable” with Manning at the helm, adding that the team has “only dropped [three] games, but they were [all] very close.”
The Broncos look like the favorite to capture the top seed in the AFC and potentially a Super Bowl berth. Standing in the way could be the Kansas City Chiefs, whom the Broncos have already beaten twice but who will be out for vengeance.
The Seattle Seahawks appear to be a juggernaut as well, with only two losses on the season thus far. The team has looked great behind young quarterback Russell Wilson, who has played like a seasoned veteran all year.
The Seattle Seahawks were the first team to clinch a playoff spot with a win in Week 15 over the New York Giants.
Senior Garrett Jones remarked that the Seahawks have “the formula to win in the playoffs, a strong running game and defense that can play in rough weather conditions, as well as a more than formidable offense to go with the strongest home field advantage in all of sports.”
The NFL playoffs are always unpredictable, though, so few would be surprised if a team like the San Francisco 49ers or Baltimore Ravens summons playoff experience for last year to make a run at the Super Bowl this year. “Being the best at anything is a difficult task, no less to do it for two consecutive years,” senior Vaani Ohri commented. The last team to make back-to-back Super Bowls was the New England Patriots in 2004 and 2005.