rdhstlr23 said:
I also think the AFC West is the toughest. I was just bringing the point that I hope analysts, or those NFL "Pundits" are realizing that every team in the AFC East has a quality win against an opponent and are all playing at a high level right now. I don't think none of that was expected. With the Jets vying for the AFC East title and the other 3 teams (other than NE) being invovled in the Playoff Race it noteworthy in my opinion.
I hope the teams in the division continue to get better. Just looking at it from a coaches standpoint I think we can predict that it will only get tougher. The quality of coaches our division has really is awesome.
I'd agree the AFC East is a tough division. My Patriots have won a lot of division games, but they have all been tough. If early in the season the division teams build up quite a few losses, a lot of them were against other division teams. For some reason, we wound up playing each other early a lot. To finish of the season, the Patriots have the Dolphins, Texans, Jaguars and Titans. I'm most worried about the Dolphins.
Another oddity is that we have a lot of head coaches falling from the Parcells tree. This makes for tough defenses and more than a little smashmouth, a style that does well in January. I know Dolphins fans are fond of the Marino era, and the Bills fans remember Kelly well, but speed based passing teams tend to struggle in the playoffs. When the AFC had all those great quarterbacks in the 80s and 90s, the NFC was building strong lines, and won 13 consecutive Super Bowls. Smashmouth wins in January. No matter which team crawls to the top of the regular season division standings, I can see us doing well.
Strong lines. That's where the Jets and Dolphins might still have a bit of growing to do. The Patriots spent 3 first round draft picks getting monsters for their defensive line. That is one area where the rest of the division has a bit of catching up to do, that and franchise quarterbacks are hard to find.
But I'm glad most of the division schedule is behind us. Really, I am.
