AFC East Preview

The Sports Guys have been on a blogging hiatus for most of the summer. Nothing like NFL Camps starting to pull us back in. It’s time to predict the upcoming NFL season. Today, we’ll start with the AFC East, and we’ll cover a different division each day this week and next.

AFC East

Division Winner: New England Patriots

Division Cellar: Buffalo Bills

Other Playoff Teams: Miami Dolphins (Greg) – Wildcard #2

1. New England Patriots

2-3. Miami Dolphins (Greg 2, Andrew 3)

2-3. New York Jets (Andrew 2, Greg 3)

4. Buffalo Bills

Andrew – Like most divisions in the AFC, I see one team clearly above the rest – New England. Tom Brady should have more weapons this season and the defense seems loaded on paper. Miami was close last year to the playoffs, the Jets overachieved and are improving, and Buffalo could be drastically better. But it still won’t matter.

Greg - I struggled with this division more than others, because I think all four teams are actually fairly close in talent. New England will be better this year than last, but so will all the other teams, so I think their record could be actually worse this year than last year, even though they improved as a team overall.

Preseason Division Awards

Offensive MVP: Rob Gronkowski (New England) – Tom Brady will bounce back this season, but it will be because this guy gets healthy.

Defensive MVP: Sheldon Richardson (New York) – Lots of good options, but Sheldon was great at the end of last season, and he’ll dominate as a sophomore.

Rookies to Watch: Sammy Watkins (Buffalo), Jace Amaro (New York), Dominique Easley (New England), Ja’Wuan James (Miami)

Free Agents to Watch: Branden Albert (Miami), Eric Decker (New York), Darrelle Revis (New England, Brandon Spikes (Buffalo)

By: The Sports Guys