Eight weeks have already passed in the 2022-2023 season, and we have already seen many booms and busts, whether it comes in the form of players, teams, or personnel. The New York Giants has the 5th hardest opponent schedule this season (with the 2021-2022 opponent win-% being around 0.585) and had finished 4-13 in the prior year, so they would only become worse this year, right? Wrong. The Giants, going into Week 8, are 6-1, defying all odds and doubts from the year prior. Not many people would have known that the Giants would improve so much, especially considering they just transitioned to first-year HC Brian Daboll. Still, hey, that’s the beauty of the NFL: it’s unpredictable sometimes.

With that being said, can we ignore this status quo and predict the potential SB contenders anyway? Well, sort of: we are almost halfway through the season and some teams have cemented themselves as deep play-off contenders, but there are still many unknowns. Even with these limitations, we will do it anyway: using statistics as our primary factor.

AFC: The Buffalo Bills (5-1)

Any NFL fan could’ve seen this coming: the Buffalo Bills are the most obvious SB contenders (as of this moment). The Buffalo Bills are currently 5-1, with their only loss coming from the 4-3 Miami Dolphins; otherwise, the Bills have been dominating: they have an average scoring margin of +15.8, also including the fact that they are the only team in the NFL to have an average scoring margin of 2+ scores. When taking a look at the team itself, it becomes obvious: QB Josh Allen has 330 passing yards per game, a 17:4 TD-INT ratio, and a passer rating of 109.1, WR Stefon Diggs already has 6 receiving TDs, 656 receiving yards (i.e. 109.3 yards per game), and a catch-% of 75.4%, and lastly, their defense has allowed 13.5 points per game, which is the least amount of points per game allowed from any NFL team. With all that being said, if they were to keep up this level of domination, they’re certainly able to make a deep run into the 2023 NFL playoffs.

NFC: The Philadelphia Eagles (6-0)

Not many NFL fans would’ve expected the Philadelphia Eagles to become this good. Yeah, they may have picked up some players in the off-season, such as WR A.J. Brown or CB C.J. Gardner-Johnson, but surely this couldn’t have taken a previously 9-8 team to become undefeated the year after. Some people may blame their success on the strength of their current schedule: they’ve mostly won against some of the league’s worst teams, but this is false. The Philadelphia Eagles have delivered the 5-1 Minnesota Vikings’ only loss, and the Eagles beat them by 3 scores. Additionally, the Philadelphia Eagles have beat the 5-2 Dallas Cowboys by 2 scores, too. Not convinced yet? Well, the Eagles had the 13th hardest strength of schedule (with the opponent win-% being 0.520), and considering this, they have the 2nd highest average scoring margin of +9.3, only behind the Buffalo Bills’ average scoring margin of +15.8. If the Philadelphia Eagles could retain being undefeated at this point, whilst still beating the other NFC contenders by 2+ scores, they’re capable of putting up these types of performances when the 2023 NFL playoffs come.

HM: The Kansas City Chiefs (5-2)

The Kansas City Chiefs were obviously expected on here: they have been the most dominant team for the past five years, and this year is no different. The Kansas City Chiefs are currently 5-2 as for the moment, with their only losses coming from the 3-3-1 Indianapolis Colts and the 5-1 Buffalo Bills, but the Chiefs have lost both of these games by less than a TD. Otherwise, they kept doing their thing: QB Patrick Mahomes is regarded as the best QB in the NFL this season, having a 20:5 TD-INT ratio, 308.4 yards per game, and a league-leading 109.5 passer rating, TE Travis Kelce has a league-leading 7 receiving touchdowns, 79.0 yards per game, and a catch-% of 78.3%, and WR JuJu Smith-Schuster having a comeback season with 70.6 yards per game, with a catch-% of 70.8%. So, if they have all these great players, how do they have two losses in the first player? The answer: their defense. The Chiefs’ defense has been struggling this season: allowing 24.6 points per game, and letting 300+ passing yards in four of their seven games. It seems like the Chiefs’ defense cannot adjust to passing plays and that’s their main weakness. If the Kansas City Chiefs were to better adjust their defense during their games, they certainly would be the main SB contender, but nonetheless, their offense is good enough to get a deep playoff run anyways.

HM: The Dallas Cowboys (5-2)

This may be a shocker to most, but the Dallas Cowboys can be SB contenders. First, the Dallas Cowboys have the second-best defense in the NFL: they allowed only 14.9 points per game (2nd lowest in the NFL), they’ve let an average of 185.1 passing yards per game (4th lowest in the NFL), and the defense allowed the Cowboys to have a turnover margin of +0.9 per game, only behind the Philadelphia Eagles. Second, without their main QB, Dak Prescott, they have been beating some pretty solid teams: in this season alone, the Dallas Cowboys beat the 4-3 Cincinnati Bengals, the 6-1 New York Giants, and the 3-3 Los Angeles Rams (by 2 scores). If they can win games without Dak Prescott, they could perform significantly better when he comes back on the field, and that’s going to happen pretty soon. Sure, their offense is not as strong as other teams, but they have already proven a lot with all the limitations they’re going through.

The NFL is a rapidly changing landscape, and many teams will have different outcomes sooner or later, so anything on this list can be subject to change, but given all the information we have, the teams mentioned above can have the massive possibility to make deep playoff runs, and maybe even make the SB itself. The NFL is unpredictable, but that is the beauty of the NFL.