Old-school Jaguars will be tough out

The New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers are the favorites to play in the AFC championship game in a few weeks, but the best team might be the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Jaguars (10-4) are scary good.

They have the NFL’s top defense and rushing attack, a combination that is still the best, though some consider it outdated, formula for winning the Super Bowl. The Jaguars are balanced, and the team with the fewest weaknesses usually prevails. The Ravens? They’ve been inconsistent all season but have a legitimate chance because of their outstanding special teams, good defense and sound running game. Now, if they could ever find a vertical passing game …

Hopefully, the Ravens (8-6) don’t have to play Jacksonville until late in the postseason. There’s a good possibility the Ravens will end up being the fifth-seeded wild card and play the Kansas City Chiefs (8-6) on the road in a first-round game.

The Ravens are currently the seventh seed behind the Buffalo Bills (8-6) and Tennessee Titans (8-6), but those teams won’t win out. The Bills still have to travel to the New England Patriots (11-3) and Miami Dolphins (6-8), while the Titans host the Los Angeles Rams (10-4) and Jaguars.

As for the Ravens, they host two of the six AFC teams that have already been eliminated from the postseason — the Indianapolis Colts (3-11) and Cincinnati Bengals (5-9). It doesn’t get much easier. The football gods have smiled upon the Ravens, and they will be given an added blessing if the Ravens play the Chiefs and not Jacksonville in the opening round of the playoffs.

Kansas City has a lot of offensive weapons. The Chiefs have a good, yet unspectacular, quarterback in Alex Smith. They have great speed in running back Kareem Hunt (242 carries, 1,201 yards, six touchdowns) and receivers Tyreek Hill (69 receptions, 1,074 yards, seven touchdowns) and Travis Kelce (79 receptions, 991 yards).