the league is ALWAYS mediocre, just one or two teams will be good "this" year- for the longest time, "this year" turned into ~20 years of being good with the patriots. it is just a few teams are on the high side and some on the low side.
the steelers for years were "good" they just were not better than the Patriots for most of the tenure of rothlisberger as qb
the packers for years were "good" just over the course of rodgers tenure as qb, OTHER nfc teams were as good or better
same for the colts under manning as qb(again patriots better), etc etc
the one team that tended to have the PATRIOTS number was the Ravens.
for YEARS the browns sucked, for YEARS the jets etc etc etc.
the NFL wants every team to be able to beat any other team on any given sunday, and this is what we get. on any given sunday- with minor exceptions, any team can lose or win depending on how they play.
Bills beat chiefs then next week chiefs beat the chargers then the chargers beat the bills...and all 3 lose to the ravens, but the ravens lose to the jaguars, and texans both of whom lose to the other 3 teams which team is better?
coaching matters. GOOD coaching Matters.
A few years ago the patriots o-line coach retired (scarnechia) and their o-line SUCKED under the new coach. he came back as a consultant and within a week -WITH THE SAME PEOPLE ON THE LINE- the line suddenly was good. Was that the players or the COACH?
on to homer time
patriots control their playoff destiny now.
win the rest of the games = bye week.
the colts on saturday night next week will be imo their hardest test to date & for the rest of the year, the colts are playing imo the best currently among all the AFC teams.