Tony: So the New England Patriots have won the AFC East for the last 37 years straight or something like that, 
other than the year that Tom Brady folded his knee in half. His replacement was Matt Cassel, who managed to salvage an 11-5 season, but it wasn’t good enough to beat the also 11-5 Miami Dolphins. This year, Cassel is back in the AFC East, although once again riding the pine—and has to be somewhat frustrated…it’s one thing backing up Brady, it’s another backing up Tyrod Taylor. Still, the Bills defense is pretty strong, they added RB Shady McCoy, TE Charles Clay and headcase/headache Percy Harvin to go with second-year WR Sammy Watkins. In fact, Taylor might be the difference between whether it’s the Bills challenging the Patriots, or the…
Andy: Dolphins? Is that what you were about to say? Yeah, I like what the Bills have done this offseason too, for the most part. But without a QB, it’s going to be hard to beat New England, even if they do miss Brady for one-fourth of the season.
Ryan Tannehill isn’t a superstar, but he’s turned into a pretty solid QB. They went out and got a deep threat in Kenny Stills – though it’s questionable as to whether Tannehill is capable of utilizing the deep downfield passing game — and a short- and medium-range weapon in TE Jordan Cameron. The addition of Ndamukong Suh on defense won’t hurt either – I know you think he’s overrated, but teamed with DE Cameron Wake, that should be a heckuva tandem.
Tony: You know who probably isn’t challenging the Patriots this year? The New York Jets. Although IK Enemkpali did his best to make the Jets relevant, and may still win the team MVP award despite being waived and picked up by the Bills, it would seem unlikely that Ryan Fitzpatrick finally overcomes the shortcomings that led to him falling short with the Texans. And Titans. And Bills. And Bengals. And Rams. But hey, he’s still got that Harvard education and one of the best beards in the league, right?
But hey, at least Geno Smith getting socked in the face drew attention away from the fact that one of their best defensive players will miss the first four games for violating the league substance abuse policy, and was then arrested for fleeing from the cops at 143 miles per hour…with a loaded handgun in the car…and a 12-year old…and reeking of marijuana. So they have that going for them.
Andy: Uggh. The Jets. What a weirdly fascinating train-wreck of an organization. If it weren’t for Cleveland, they’d be the most TMZ-y team in the league. Except for maybe the Deflatriots … Every time you want to write this team off, they keep finding ways to stay on top. As improved as Buffalo and Miami might be, I have a hard time seeing myself betting against New England until someone actually takes them out. Bill Belichick is well on his way to becoming the best and most reviled person to be elected to the Hall of Fame.
Tony: He’ll be an interesting case study for the HOF…given his bristly attitude, and penchant for pushing the envelope regarding his interpretation of rules (read: cheating), could see him struggling to get the votes to make it. Especially based on the information that came out this week in the ESPN story about Spygate.
Still, with Brady back in the fold for the full slate (barring injury), it is difficult to pick against them, even though we don’t know from week to week who will be running the ball or catching it, outside of Gronk. The Dolphins probably do have the best shot—but if they get out of the gate slow, it will be interesting to see how the team reacts—especially with many already believing that their window may be short, thanks to the bloated contract they gave Suh.
Andy: Yeah, the Dolphins have the best shot. With Suh the defense goes from good to potentially great. The Patriots did lost Darrelle Revis and Vince Wilfork off the defense and Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley off the offense, too, so I suppose they come back to the pack a small notch.
The one I can’t figure out is Buffalo. There is a ton of talent on that team. The defense should be good. They traded for McCoy. And they go with a combo of Tyrod Taylor, EJ Manuel and Matt Cassel at QB? That’s the best they can do?
That’s a possible division winner if they’ve got even a Ryan Fitzpatrick calling signals. Instead, the bearded one is in New York, again heading up the chances for a futile team. Strange.
Predictions:
| Tony | Patriots | Andy | Patriots | Maggio | Patriots | Vomhof | Patriots |
| Dolphins | Dolphins | Dolphins | Dolphins | ||||
| Bills | Bills | Jets | Bills | ||||
| Jets | Jets | Bills | Jets |
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Jets were not not suppose to be good when Herm took over: they made the playoffs. They weren’t suppose to be good when Eric took over: they made the playoffs first year. Rex same thing: He made the AFCCG back to back. Todd Bowles will do the same.
Didn’t mean for the double “not”. Typo
As in same thing I mean make the playoffs.
The win over Cleveland was impressive. If they knock off Indy this weekend, I’ll maybe re-think this a bit. But the division, from top to bottom, is as strong as any in the league. And, while they might be better than I initially thought, I still, so far, think the Jets are the fourth best of the four.
Jets did not play well the first half and still won 31-10. Fitzpatrick about a month ago, was thinking he was the back up. He is going to only get more familiar with the offense. Brandon Marshall trade seems to be paying off. Defense without Sheldon looks good. I do believe he is a good guy at heart. He has made bad decisions off the field and I am sure he’d be the first to tell you that. I think he comes back with a new perspective on life.
Fitzpatrick may get more familiar with the offense, but at the end of the day, he’s Ryan Fitzpatrick. As Andy said, I’ll re-think it if they knock the Colts off, but…there’s 10 years of history that says he’s not the guy to take you to the promised land.
Fitz was never on a team with Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, and RBs like Chris Ivory and Powell. Rams then were starting to go from Kurt Warner, Faulk and the rest to rebuilding and have been ever since. The Bengals have always had postseason problems(as far as winning). Been going on for almost a 5th of a century and same with the Bills. And finally the Texans. He was the 9th highest rated QB last year. Not to mention, he has a Jets defense that has perhaps the best front 7 in NFL(Demario Davis is one of the better LBs in the game, dare you to name me 15 better, along with Davis Harris); and top 10-15 secondary with Revis, Skrine, and Cromartie, who is week to week. I do not view the Colts game as a make or break for them. If anything, Colts lose that game, it shows Luck is not that good compared to his divisional record. 16-2 vs his division. He is 20-17 vs others. I expect Jets to win, not just as a Jets fan, but they have the defense to get to Andrew and offense to score with him, compared to 2012-2014..
Fitz is a breath of fresh air. Being a Jets fan, you think the same way I do. I liked Sanchez, but he was a game manager. Fitzpatrick is not a turnover machine like Geno and Mark was. Geno has got talent, but he might not be the Jets future. 125-101 (TDs-Ints for Fitz) isn’t great, but it is certainly positive. He is the best they have had certainly since Pennington. Favre did make the pro bowl, but he put up 22-22 and 1 game vs a horrid Cardinals secondary, he had 6 TD’s-1 Int. So he wasn’t much of a Pro Bowl QB outside of 1 game vs a not so good secondary. Anyway, Fitz is on pace for 30+ TDs. Not saying he will get that, but 23 TDs with 16 ints or less is possible and could definitely be enough for Jets to make playoffs with their running game and defense.
Jets did play well for the full 60 minutes, but still won by 2 scores. I am very pleased where they are at right now. Dolphins lost to the Jaguars, who have good up and coming players. Still, took a step back. And Bills made it a game in the end, but Jets remain the only undefeated team to win both my 2 scores or more in AFC East.
None of you gave Jets 2nd, yet they sit 1 game back of Pats for division. Sheldon coming back will only make their defense that much better.
It is looking like Jets are the 2nd best team in the AFC East, behind the Patriots of course. Not such a good last 4-5 weeks but still happy where Jets are compared to a year ago.
Jets are definitely the 2nd best team in the AFC East, for that matter, any East NFL team.