The Denver Broncos have the first-round bye and home field advantage in the AFC playoffs this year, meaning this team just has to win two home games to advance to Super Bowl LX. It feels too good to be true.
The team may ideally want to play a certain team in the first round, and the players and coaches might be lying to you if they said they didn't care who the opponent was. Fortunately, every AFC team playing on Wild Card Weekend is flawed in some way.
But this would truly be the ideal matchup for the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round.
This is the ideal matchup for the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round
Jacksonville Jaguars over Buffalo Bills
It's good that one of the Jaguars or Bills will be eliminated, as both of these teams could be the biggest threat to the Denver Broncos in the playoffs. Jacksonville came into Denver a couple of weeks ago and blew out the Broncos in embarrassing fashion, but Josh Allen and the Bills are regulars in the playoffs and may pose a bigger threat.
New England Patriots over Los Angeles Chargers
The New England Patriots are the new kids on the block and are hosting the Los Angeles Chargers. Many have wondered if the Patriots are for real or not, as the schedule this year has been very easy. New England could still beat LA, as they are the better team, and that really isn't up for discussion.
Pittsburgh Steelers over Houston Texans
The last piece of this puzzle would be the Pittsburgh Steelers holding the fort down at home against the Houston Texans, who might have the best defense in the NFL, and good defenses travel well, especially in the playoffs. The savvy Aaron Rodgers and well-coached Steelers could win a game.
Divisional Round: Pittsburgh Steelers @ Denver Broncos, Jackosnville Jaguars @ New England Patriots
If these results ended up happening, the Broncos would host the Steelers, and the Jaguars would be in New England. While Pittsburgh does have Aaron Rodgers who brings a wealth of playoff experience, this team has been painfully average all year and just do not have the roster talent to compete with the Broncos in Denver.
Pittsburgh was also one field goal away from not even being in the playoffs, so we can't pretend like this team is anything special. The Steelers are easily the worst playoff team in the AFC. The Jaguars and Patriots would then face off, and this could be something where the two teams get in a defensive dogfight and beat each other up.
That could then set the stage for one of them coming to Denver for the AFC Championship Game in flat-out horrific circumstances. Denver being able to beat the Steelers and perhaps then host a beat-up Jaguars or Patriots would be an ideal playoff.