AFC East wide open? | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

AFC East wide open?

Brady was clearly not the Brady of old in 2019, but the 2019 version was still better than many NFL QB's. The QB's who are better than Brady & much younger are going nowhere. Who is Belichick going to bring in this offseason who will be better than an aging Tom Brady? I don't see Brady playing for any other team than NE & if he decides to retire, the Pats don't have the resources to bring in a better QB, even at the age of 43.
Have to just agree to disagree with you there. Brady hasn't really been "great" for several years now. BB has just done an awesome job of adjusting to cover his weaknesses. Honestly, think back to when Jimmy G ran the offense following deflate gate. Tell me the Offense wasn't more dynamic and explosive with him, even back then. In fact, BB wanted to replace Brady with Jimmy G the following season but Kraft overruled him and forced the trade to San Francisco. Brady's post game last night sounds like won't retire, but it also sounds like NE isn't really going to happen, either. Honestly sounds like Brady knows he won't be back there.

As to who BB can start that would do better, I would say even Fitz could have done what Brady did this year given the same team and coaching. I honestly don't think replacing Brady with equivalent output is going to be as hard as some people think.
 
Right now, the AFC East goes thru Buffalo. They're not losing anyone of value & have a young, improving team with a very good defense.

As for the Pats going 12-4 this year, their 8-0 start came at the hands of 7 teams below .500. 5 of their 16 games came vs teams who will be picking in the top 5 next draft. Of the teams that they played with above .500 records? They were 3-3. 3-4 if you count yesterday's playoff loss.

They have a 43 year old QB (if he comes back), a 33 year old slot receiver, no tight ends, no 2nd round draft pick (will possibly lose other pick(s) to Spygate part II). They have approx 50M in cap space, which approx 20M will be spent if they bring back Brady. So, 30M in cap space with Thuney & Van Noy lined up for huge raises. Not enough picks or cap space to fill all of the holes.

They're going to lose long time OC Josh McDaniels & he's more than likely going to follow Flores in taking multiple coaches with him. This is clearly a team in decline. Cheating scandals aside, Belichick is a great coach, but to quote Tuna, he simply no longer has the groceries.
Yeah the division goes through the team that hasn’t won the division since 1995 lol Yeah division still goes through New England until someone takes it from them consistently.
 
I get that Brady didn't play up to snuff this year but he's got absolutely nothing as far as weapons go and similar to us, they didn't have an effective running game all year. Mostly schemed runs or decent performances against awful squads.

Brady still went 24/8 while completing 60% of his passes. I don't think he's as done and broken as people think.

That being said, his time will be done "soon". All we can control is our team. Buffalo is respectable but I don't see them being some unstoppable force until I see their productivity on offense increase. Josh Allen needs to take another step in development before I buy into that program year in year out.

Dolphins have all the opportunity in the world...but let's not assume that "control" of the AFCE will look like it did for the Patriots the last 2 decades. It won't. There will almost certainly be battles like in most divisions.
 
Dolphins have all the opportunity in the world...but let's not assume that "control" of the AFCE will look like it did for the Patriots the last 2 decades. It won't. There will almost certainly be battles like in most divisions.

Absolutley. The Fins & the Bills are clearly on the incline & the Pats are clearly on the decline. The Jets? Well, they have Adam Gase & judging by his 1st season in NY, he hasn't learned a thing from his failures in Miami. The longer they keep Gase in NY, the longer it will take them to dig out of purgitory.
 
Right now, the AFC East goes thru Buffalo. They're not losing anyone of value & have a young, improving team with a very good defense.

As for the Pats going 12-4 this year, their 8-0 start came at the hands of 7 teams below .500. 5 of their 16 games came vs teams who will be picking in the top 5 next draft. Of the teams that they played with above .500 records? They were 3-3. 3-4 if you count yesterday's playoff loss.

They have a 43 year old QB (if he comes back), a 33 year old slot receiver, no tight ends, no 2nd round draft pick (will possibly lose other pick(s) to Spygate part II). They have approx 50M in cap space, which approx 20M will be spent if they bring back Brady. So, 30M in cap space with Thuney & Van Noy lined up for huge raises. Not enough picks or cap space to fill all of the holes.

They're going to lose long time OC Josh McDaniels & he's more than likely going to follow Flores in taking multiple coaches with him. This is clearly a team in decline. Cheating scandals aside, Belichick is a great coach, but to quote Tuna, he simply no longer has the groceries.

Good stuff.
 
The Division belongs to the Pats until someone knocks them off the throne. The Bills are close to doing that. The Jets and Dolphins are significantly behind.
 
Brady will be back and patriots will use this offseason to get him more weapons to make another super bowl push. Patriots still own this division until seen otherwise.
 
I think Teddy Bridgewater is the perfect fit for New England if Tom Brady retires or signs somewhere else. Similar style of quarterback.

I do think the AFC East is more wide open than its been in the past 20 years. Brady is clearly on a decline. Still has those moments, but he has longer periods now where he doesn't get it done. I do think he returns for another year and I expect NE to draft a tight end high and get Brady some more help in the passing game.

Buffalo is primed to take the division, but only if Josh Allen can take that next step. It might not be too far-fetched to think the Dolphins have a chance, but they would need to absolutely kill it in the offseason.
 
Brady will be back and patriots will use this offseason to get him more weapons to make another super bowl push. Patriots still own this division until seen otherwise.

The good news is Brady's accuracy was off enen when not pressured. The bad news is he's bust in the business at reading Ds
 
There are other factors. Brady could be playng with a bad elbow. Yeah, yeah excuses I know but if he returns to NE next year, and it's a big if, I need to see the accuracy issues continue before I fully buy in. Buffalo had a nice season but DO NOT FORGET they absolutely suck at taking down the Patriots, We've been WAAAYYY better at that than they have consistently for the entire 20 years of the Pats reign. People think the Bills will do it in 2020, well if Brady returns I'll believe when I see it. There has been no bigger DADDY to SON relationship in the history of the NFL than the one Tom Brady has with the Buffalo Bills. Anyone know who the Bills QB was the last time they beat NE in a meaningful game? I'll give you a hint, he has a beard. HE may even be the last Jets QB to beat the Pats in a meaningful game too.

OK I was right about the Jest but wrong about the Bills.

In 16 the Bills beat the Brissett led Pats with Tyrod Taylor at QB. They also won a meaningless week 17 contest with Taylor (I think really doesn't matter), Other than that the only AFC East QB's to take down the Tom Brady led Pats since 20 ****ing 11 are:

Ryan Tannehill x4
Jay Cutler x1
Ryan Fitzpatrick x3

Doesn't mean anything, just found it interesting. It's kind of amazing that with all of our futility over the years we've been the only team that consistently takes down NE almost once a year.
 
Last edited:
The good news is Brady's accuracy was off enen when not pressured. The bad news is he's bust in the business at reading Ds

Yeah he definitely missed throws but they also dropped a lot of passes which is something we aren't used to seeing.

Patriots aren't bad enough for a complete rebuild yet. If they let Brady walk who else will they get that is better? He will return for at least one more year. I think they will become a more run heavy team and rely more on defense like Manning's last season with the Broncos.
 
Yeah he definitely missed throws but they also dropped a lot of passes which is something we aren't used to seeing.

Patriots aren't bad enough for a complete rebuild yet. If they let Brady walk who else will they get that is better? He will return for at least one more year. I think they will become a more run heavy team and rely more on defense like Manning's last season with the Broncos.

Very real possibility.
 
Brady will be back and patriots will use this offseason to get him more weapons to make another super bowl push. Patriots still own this division until seen otherwise.
Ya I agree
I have heard that the pats were done before and they bounced back. Not counting them out till they actually lose the division.
 
Not to mention that even in their bad year they won 12 games. Something Miami hasn’t done in 30 years!!! Yeah, they beat a lot of bad teams. Guess what? There will be a ton of bad teams in the league again next year.

Of course the dynasty won’t last forever as nothing ever does. But I’ll wait till they get a lot closer to a below .500 record before acknowledging that they’re no longer in the driver’s seat of the division. And even if that were to happen next year, I have zero faith Miami is the team that’s going to wrest the division title from them— and given that the boy genius is in charge in NY that leaves Buffalo as the heir apparent by default.
 
If Miami hits on a qb they'll be the best team in the division. Josh Allen and Sam Darnold suck.
The Dolphins have been trying to hit on a QB since Marino retired. So there is no way anyone can assume they will hit on a QB in this draft. Especially with the best QB likely to be drafted by the Bengals and Tua a huge question mark as to whether he will even enter the draft and if he does, will he ever be the same player he was before his hip injury.

The rest of the QB’s in the draft are all nothing but huge question marks and it likely none of them will be any better than Allen or Darnold.
 
Back
Top Bottom