Pats are now among favorites to win it all

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With last night's win, the Patriots are the #1 seed in the AFC and they look like the favorites to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl after beating the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts respectively. They are 6-0 since getting blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football back on September 29th and have been blowing out the teams they play, the exception being the Jets back on October 16, a 27-25 win in Foxboro. Now that begs the question, "Are the Patriots the favorites to win it all?" I say yes for a couple of reasons.

1 - The multitude of ways they can beat you. We all know about Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, but the emergence of Jonas Gray adds another dimension to the Patriots offense and makes them even harder to stop. Before last night, the Patriots had 3 rushing touchdowns all season, and they more than doubled that in the win last night.

From @ESPNStatsInfo: Jonas Gray has 2 rushing TDs. Coming into game, Patriots had 3 rushing TDs all season, with none since Week 5.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) November 17, 2014

Not to mention special teams and defense. They've got Julian Edelman back returning punts, which is always dangerous as we saw against Denver. And, of course, the defense led by Vince Wilfork and Dont'a Hightower up front and Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner in the secondary. The defense succeeded in making the Colts offense one-dimensional last night, which allowed the Pats offense to take control of the game.

2 - They've beaten some of the best in the AFC. They matched up against the Bengals in Week 5 when they were hot and blew them out. They matched up against Denver and blew them out. And Indy last night, of course. All 3 of these teams are leading their division right now. Throw in 2 division wins in there as well and a blowout of the Chicago Bears, and this has been a pretty impressive winning streak.

The upcoming schedule is tough for the Pats - they come home to Detriot before traveling to Green Bay (which scares me to be honestly) and San Diego. They then close out with 3 straight divisional games. It'll be tough, but I honestly believe that the Pats are the favorite to represent the AFC and possibly win it all in Arizona come February.