Improved AFC East Is Still Patriots' Division To Lose

The AFC East is no longer made up of the Patriots and three other teams. However, while the Jets, Dolphins, and Bills are improving and could all challenge for playoff berths this season, the road to the AFC East title still runs through Foxboro. The Dolphins, not New England, are actually defending division champions. While Miami displayed a lot of moxie last year, and Tony Sparano showed that a coach willing to be innovative can be successful in the NFL, let’s review what had to happen for Miami to win the division. Arguably the best player in the NFL, Tom Brady, had to go down with a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter of New England’s season opening game. The Patriots then had to rely on a quarterback that hadn’t started a game since high school. Again, Matt Cassel never started a game in college or the NFL before Week Two of last season. Even with all that against them, it took Brett Favre to throw away the division in the final game of the season for the ... (link)