2018 AFC East Preview

The NFL season kicks off in two days! We've almost made it!

I've worked my way around the rest of the country, and now we're down to just the East divisions in both conferences. Given the alternating pattern, we're starting with the AFC East today, which is a little weird still given that the Patriots are the Patriots.

I'm taking the opportunity once again to plug this year's edition of the Pigskin Pick 'Em contest which you can join here. Every Thursday (except for Thanksgiving, where it will get accelerated to the day before) I will be joined by Adam Quinn for our picks against the spread.

Until then, let's preview some more football teams.


AFC East

Common opponents on schedule: AFC South, NFC North

1. New England Patriots
2017: 13-3 (1st), Lost Super Bowl LII
Tom Brady is back at it for another campaign, and this time he gets Julian Edelman, albeit not until Week 5 due to his suspension. He's still got some other weapons in Chris Hogan and Gronk, with James White as his top running back. But Bill Belichick has gotten plenty out of Brady without elite talent before; why would this year be any different? The secondary loses Malcolm Butler after he was inexplicably held out of the Super Bowl, but they're still strong with Stephon Gilmore, Devin McCourty, and Patrick Chung. It's another year, another ho-hum 12 win season and first round bye for New England.
2018 Prediction: 12-4

2. Buffalo Bills
2017: 9-7 (2nd), Lost in AFC Wild Card Round
A.J. McCarron, after an earlier injury scare, is poised to take the reins in Week 1 for the Bills with some decent weapons in Lesean McCoy and Kelvin Benjamin, though neither one outright scares me. But this is a pretty good defense with Kevin Williams up front and Micah Hyde at safety. I originally put the Bills into the playoffs, but considering they backed in last year I opted to swap them out. They're still clearly a contending team, and I wouldn't necessarily be surprised if they make the playoffs, I'm just not sold.
2018 Prediction: 8-8

3. New York Jets
2017: 5-11 (4th), missed playoffs
With his job on the line, head coach Todd Bowles is immediately going to the future with rookie quarterback Sam Darnold. He's been good in the preseason, but we'll see how he'll fare against defenses game planning for him and getting full looks at what NFL defenses can do. I'm not really sold on any of their weapons offensively, since when Robby Anderson and Jermaine Kearse are your top two receivers... you're not inspiring a lot of confidence. And this defense, which was supposed to be Bowles' speciality, was not good in 2017, and none of the names there really inspire any confidence. But despite all that, if Darnold is all he's hyped up to be, the Jets could be back in the thick of things sooner than we think.
2018 Prediction: 7-9

4. Miami Dolphins
2017: 6-10 (3rd), missed playoffs
Ryan Tannehill is back after blowing out his knee last year, but I don't see him as an upgrade over Jay Cutler. He's got a decent new toy in Danny Amendola, but it's not worth the loss of Jarvis Landry. On the ground, they'll need Kenyan Drake to really break out in his third season in the league. Defensively, I'm not really sold either even with the departure of Ndamukong Suh. Cameron Wake will be a force rushing the passer, but otherwise I'm not scared of anybody here. It'll be a long year in South Beach, especially without Jay Cutler doing Jay Cutler things.
2018 Prediction: 5-11

And so here's my full AFC playoff picture:

1. New England Patriots (12-4)
2. Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4)
3. Jacksonville Jaguars (10-6)
4. Los Angeles Chargers (9-7)
5. Houston Texans (9-7)
6. Tennessee Titans (8-8)