Dan Pompei

The AFC caste system that we have become accustomed to is no more. This year, it isn’t New England, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and San Diego on one plane, and everyone else on another.

The AFC is more up for grabs than it has been in quite awhile, with a large number of teams holding onto Super Bowl dreams that are not impossible ones.

No one wants to believe in the Titans, even though they have answered almost every challenge. They are a solid team that will be tough to beat in the postseason because they can run the ball and stop the run.

Of course, the Titans will almost certainly need Kerry Collins to step up a few times in the playoffs if they are going to go all the way. He has done that in spots this season. Whether he can do it against the best the conference has to offer with the Titans’ season on the line is the issue.

It’s the kind of year when a plucky Miami team could get hot at the right time and surprise everyone and find themselves playing in Tampa in February. Heck, the Dolphins are already there. They've won five of their last six. Then again, it’s also conceivable the Dolphins won’t even make the postseason.

At issue for the Dolphins will be their ability to pass and stop the pass down the stretch. They will be playing without their leading receiver Greg Camarillo, who is on injured reserve. And of Chad Pennington’s 85 career turnovers, 37 percent have come in the month of December.

Despite the havoc that pass rusher Joey Porter has created, the Dolphins rank 26th in the NFL against the pass.

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Still, the Dolphins are a well-coached team that finds ways to win even though they may have less talent than their opponent.

If the Dolphins don’t get to the ball, another Cinderella could take their place. Among the teams who could fill that bill include the Jets, Ravens or Broncos.

The Jets have been on top of the AFC East for so long that they might not be considered a Cinderella anymore, but they should be. This team won only four games a year ago and it was only a few months back when everyone thought Eric Mangini, also known as “The Penguin,” was on thin ice.

The Jets became maybe the most improved team in the NFL through the savvy acquisitions of veterans like Brett Favre and Kris Jenkins and the improvement of young players like Darrell Revis and Bryan Thomas. Nice job, Mike Tannenbaum.

No one but the Ravens expected much of the Ravens this year, but the rest of us weren’t counting on such tremendous impacts from two rookies — coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Joe Flacco. The Ravens still are a year or two away from being all they can be, but they have quickly become a team that no one will want to play in January.

Even though the Broncos are inconsistent, you have to give them a chance because they have a strong-armed quarterback who could thrive in wintry conditions. Jay Cutler showed what kind of impact he could have in a bad weather game last week against the Jets.

Some of the usual heavies also will have a say in who goes to Tampa. The Patriots, Colts and Steelers still are among the best teams in the conference even though each has had some ups and downs.

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It might be more difficult for the Patriots to survive some of their injuries on defense than it is for them to survive the loss of Tom Brady. They could use a few more Matt Cassels for the other side of the ball.

As for the Colts, they are a team that could be peaking. They are looking more and more like the Colts teams we know from the past, but unless they start running the ball better and stopping the run, they won’t be winning a Super Bowl.

If defense has anything to say about who wears the AFC crown, Pittsburgh will be in the picture. The Steelers have football's best defense, but Ben Roethlisberger has been very inconsistent and they have not been able to run the ball effectively.

If there is anything to be gleamed from what we have seen so far in the AFC East, however, it is this: the team that will represent the conference in the Super Bowl will be less than perfect. And it might even be an underdog for the first time in quite awhile.

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