AFC East vs. NFC East? North vs. North? Let’s pick the NFL’s toughest divisions

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Choose your fighter and let’s decide which NFL divisions reign supreme.

One of the absolute best parts about the NFL — and this applies to college football as well in an even larger way — is the rivalries. The power of hate in sports is very real.

Every team has obvious rivals that fall within their division. Those six games every year are a different thing, both in terms of the value they provide and intensity going into them, and watching it all unfold is a ton of fun.

Teams also have different rivals. Sometimes rivalries are born because teams just so happen to play each other over and over and over. Look at the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots through the days of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as an example.

In certain cases there are also geographical rivalries. Squads from the same part of the country want to be the best one in their area, even if they don’t share a division or conference with the other team in question.

On the subject of geography… something we here at The Skinny Post, Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa, were wondering was who would win a battle of the divisions. If we pitted the divisions from the same geographical region (AFC East vs. NFC East, etc.) against one another… which team would win out?

Battle of the East

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RJ:

To be clear for the sake of context, I cover the Dallas Cowboys around here so I am pretty biased in that sense. That being said I do think that this discussion is one of the more interesting because it features the division with the reigning Super Bowl Champions in the Philadelphia Eagles facing off against the one with the league MVP in Josh Allen.

Interestingly, the NFC East has a quarterback and wide receiver who have had a lot of success before. Jalen Hurts and CeeDee Lamb starred together in college with the Oklahoma Sooners so we know that team chemistry will already be rather strong.

What’s more is that the NFC East side will have Howie Roseman. While Allen is one of the absolute best quarterbacks in the entire league, maybe the best individual player across all eight East teams, the reality is that the lack of things around him across the AFC East is really weighing him down.

I have to give this one to the NFC side.

Michael:

I’m in the same boat here. The reigning Super Bowl champs and one of the most complete teams in all of football resides in the NFC East. Add in that the Eagles’ opponent in the NFC title game was the Commanders (also in the same division) and it’s tough to argue anything for their AFC counterpart.

Like RJ said, Josh Allen is the reigning MVP and one hell of a player, but he simply doesn’t have the pieces around him in this hypothetical to compete.

Battle of the North

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Michael:

Both of these divisions are loaded. While I believe a case could be made for the offensive skill positions being equal across the two four-team groups, it’s the quarterbacks of the AFC North that will ultimately give them the nod because it’s actually quite lopsided.

Jordan Love and Jared Goff have been good quarterbacks in the NFC North. But after those two, it’s second-year player Caleb Williams and first-time starter J.J. McCarthy. That’s a steep drop-off.

When you look at the AFC North, you have Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow, both of whom rank amongst the top five quarterbacks in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers’ pedigree is still what it is and the Browns will have…someone. If it ends up being Joe Flacco over the pair of rookies, you’re still adding Super Bowl champion to the equation.

Defensively, hard not to give the nod to the AFC North as well due to the likes of Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt. There isn’t an edge rusher duo in the NFC North that comes close to the talent and production of those two.

Give me the AFC in this one.

RJ:

People believe that the NFC North is the toughest division in football and for the life of me I cannot figure out why. It isn’t even the best division that is northern-based.

The AFC North is absolutely loaded. We would have to seriously debate if we wanted Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow (not really, it’s Lamar, but you get the point) and they would have Ja’Marr Chase to lead the way from a pass-catching perspective.

Defensively though this group would have Myles Garrett AND T.J. Watt along with all of the other toys that Baltimore employs. I have zero doubt in my mind that the Battle of the North would be won by the AFC and I don’t think it would be particularly close.

Battle of the South

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RJ:

This is such a Not Fun conversation.

It is ROUGH looking at the state of both South-based divisions. While I think it’s obvious that the best team would be the AFC South All-Stars… I don’t think we would really enjoy the process of putting that group together.

To be fair to that group Travis Hunter did just join it and maybe Cam Ward becomes a superstar. For now though C.J. Stroud would easily be the quarterback of the group, but even if we had a bunch of cast-offs as his teammates they would all surely thrive against whatever the NFC South was able to put together.

Michael:

Both of the South divisions are unpleasant to the eye while also owning just one pretty good to great team. For the AFC, that’s the Texans. For the NFC, they have the Buccaneers. I like to think of these two teams as mirrors of each other. Explosive offenses backed by defenses with studs aplenty.

However, I’m siding with the NFC here. I like the weapons surrounding their quarterbacks better than what the AFC is cooking. The Bucs receivers are the best in this group. I’ll take Bijan Robinson over all the other running backs right now, as well. Even with the Panthers looking like the worst team of the eight, I like the competitive nature and style of play from the NFC better.

Battle of the West

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Michael:

This may be one of the hardest choices, in my opinion. The NFC West has a wealth of talent, but the same goes for the AFC West. In the end, I’m going to go with the division that houses Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs who have been running amok through the NFL for the last decade. Offensively, that’s really all I need along with head coach Andy Reid.

Defensively, the AFC West also has the edge. The Chiefs, Chargers, and Broncos all have some of the best units in all of the NFL. The Raiders obviously get to pitch in edge rusher Maxx Crosby which is more than enough if they’re only contributing a lone player in this scenario. Other names of note include cornerback Patrick Surtain II, Derwin James, Khalil Mack, Chris Jones, and Trent McDuffie.

Maybe if Aaron Donald still roamed around the NFC North, but without him, I’m going with the AFC.

RJ:

This is probably the easiest decision for me.

Having Patrick Mahomes is the ultimate trump card, but having Maxx Crosby on the other side of the ball is a huge win as well. I think the NFC West has the potential to be fun with all of its teams competing this year, but they have no real skill position players to thrive outside of Puka Nacua at the moment. There are pieces with potential like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but nothing that feels like it can battle a Mahomes-Crosby led group.

Give me the AFC West. Even if we don’t include a single member of the Los Angeles Chargers.