Well, pretty soon we'll get to hear football stories that don't involve the names Favre, Vick, Burress, T.O, or even Stinson. And thank God. This NFL offseason has been so incredibly annoying, I'm so excited that some real football is actually about to start. This is the first part of a 10938430 part NFL blog super extravanganza, and it might even be as good as this preview: http://media.www.thetriangle.org/media/storage/paper689/news/2006/06/30/Sports/New-England.Cincy.Should.Repeat.As.Division.Champions-2119806.shtml
So here's part I, the AFC East.
1. New England Patriots 13-3
Despite the incredible annoyingness of anything or anyone from Boston, you have to be impressed by what the Patriots have done over the last decade. It's getting to the point where it's hard to remember the last time the Patriots weren't the favorites in the AFC East, and that's pretty darn incredible considering how quickly the fortunes of any NFL team can change. They even went 11-5 last year despite losing the best QB in the league after 5 minutes into the season (and as Kansas City will probably find out, it wasn't because of Matt Cassel).
Brady will be fine this year. Not 2007 fine, but he'll probably be amongst the top 3 QBs statistically this year, easily. They still have Moss, Welker, and now they added the ultimate weapon in Greg Lewis. The defense is great; they have the protoypical 3-4 defense and it doesn't seem to matter who they plug in there.
They have one potential weakness: the running game. They have about 5,000 RBs now with the addition of Fred Taylor, but they don't really run the ball too much, and they don't really need to. You just have to wonder how they'll move the ball if Brady somehow has a bad game. But doesn't really matter, they'll be dominant again this year.
2. Buffalo Bills 9-7
Everyone's already saying that T.O is a terrible fit in Buffalo, it'll never work, Trent Edwards is not good enough for T.O, etc. Well, yeah everyone is pretty much right. Why T.O chose to go to Buffalo is beyond me. I've gotta think there were at least a few other teams out there that would have taken him, but why he went to the NFL city with perhaps the least amount of media exposure baffles me. However, T.O has always behaved for at least one season wherever he's been, so I think they just might get one ok year out of him. Trent Edwards looks like he could be decent, and I think they could have a pretty good looking offense. The running game is a little unsettled with Marshawn Lynch suspended for being a criminal or something, but he'll be back. The defense is pretty average all around, but they're young and could definitely improve this season. They just seem like that one team every year that is just all around average but somehow comes close to sneaking into the playoffs.
3. New York Jets 7-9
Unless you're the 2008 Atlanta Falcons, the combination of rookie QB and rookie head coach usually doesn't turn out very well. Of course, for the Jets last year, the combination of Brett Favre and being old didn't work out too well for them. Remember when they started off hot, and everyone was talking about a Jets/Giants Super Bowl? That seems like a long long time ago. The Jets still have talent. Sanchez looks like he'll be a solid QB. Maybe not Matt Ryan of last season, but good enough. I'll be shocked if Leon Washington isn't starting at RB by the end of the year. They really need to get him the ball. The D was pretty good last year, and should probably get better with Rex Ryan as head coach now.
Still, the rookie QB/new head coach thing is still weighing against them. I think they'll be the team that loses a lot of close games this season, then comes on strong next year.
4. Miami Dolphins 6-10
Did the Dolphins really win the AFC East last year? That doesn't seem right. I'm just not convinced that this is a good team. Yeah, they innovated the whole wildcat thing last season, but now that everyone is using it, it'll be easier to stop. I'm not sold on Chad Pennington being a playoff QB again. I think he played with a chip on his shoulder last season, and won't duplicate last season's success.
I guess I should have better reasoning than I just think they were a fluke last year, but yeah, I just think they were a fluke last year. Well here's a stat: despite going 11-5 last year, they only outscored their opponents by 28 points. So take some of those close wins and turn them the other way, and here we are. In an all-around solid division, I think they fall back this season.
No comments:
Post a Comment