AFC East Preview

AFC West Preview

We have made it. These are the top dogs, the cream of the crop, the ones to beat. This division is stacked, containing three teams with serious Super Bowl ambitions. They will have a tough road to get there, not only playing each other, but also the tough NFC East and a solid AFC West. These teams will be feeling the pressure of the weight of their season all year long, but pressure makes diamonds and whoever comes out on top of this division will be an instant Super Bowl favorite.

Buffalo Bills

Strengths: The Bills are by far the top team in this division. They have proven players all over their roster. The offense is absolutely loaded. It all starts and stops with Josh Allen. Ever since Allen ascended to the NFL's elite tier of QBs in 2020, Allen has been a consistent producer and winner constantly playing great football and affirming himself as one of the perennial superstars for the next decade to come. He has all the tools he needs to succeed. He has a top receiver in Stefon Diggs to provide him with an easy outlet. The team invested high draft capital into a dynamic running back who looks to have finally taken over the position this year and is good enough to add a jolt of energy to this offense to put them over the top. To keep the offensive wheels turning, the unit is rounded out by an O line filled with veterans who may not necessarily be amongst the league's top players but are good enough to keep Allen clean. The offense is proven at this point but the addition of RB James Cook can only make this offense better cementing its place alongside the Eagles and Chiefs as the league's only true offensive juggernauts. The Bills defense cannot live up to talent on the offensive side of the ball, but they are still great in their own right. The line is the anchor of the defense. With Leonard Floyd and Von Miller accompanied by multiple first round picks, this D line is truly one of the top groups in the league. Rounding out the rest of the defense are a handful of established veterans who have proven their ability to play winning football every Sunday. In order to top off this fantastic unit, the team features one of the true shutdown corners in the league, Tre'Davious White, although he does struggle to stay healthy. It is obvious that this Bills team should be good but can they finally make that deep playoff run that has eluded them in previous years.

Weaknesses: This Bills offense is built to succeed, but they could be even better. For how good Stefon Diggs is, he can only do so much. Diggs aside, the Bills receivers have failed to find a capable receiver who can run all the necessary routes to round out this passing attack. Gabe Davis has shown the ability to take the top of the defense and find open space down the field, but the rest of his game leaves a lot to be desired. He fails to obtain separation when running underneath routes limiting his possible output and the team's capability. The team has a couple of typical slot receivers but they fail to win intermediate and deep routes. I have liked the use of high draft capital on players like RB James Cook and TE Dalton Kincaid in recent years, but the addition of another strong receiver could make this team unstoppable. With seemingly endless talent, this team should be unstoppable, right? Well not so fast, while the coaches running this team are solid; they do not maximize the possible output of this team. The play calling of this team always seems a bit conservative, when they go up big they take their foot off the pedal and focus on time management over offensive production keeping their opponent around instead of gutting any hopes of winning. On defense, they whip out the funnel too early, allowing other teams to move the ball instead of maintaining an aggressive pass rush for the entirety of the game. While this conservatism is validated since most of the time it results in a win, when it is done against another one of the league's top teams it has led the team to flounder and fall just short in their biggest games. This team will undoubtedly win a boatload of games but can they win the big games?

Under the Radar X Factor: A year ago, Edge Greg Rousseau was one of the biggest summer storylines. He seemed destined to make a huge leap in production and take this defense from good to great. He did not quite deliver on those expectations, he had a couple of splash plays but was not able to deliver anything more than adequate play. The team seemed to move on from their dreams of Rousseau filling out and leveling up this defense by bringing in Leonard Floyd to compliment Von Miller. With Miller recovering from tearing his knee slower than expected, Rousseau is back in that impact role but the hype seems to have faded, but this is still just his third year so he is more than capable of delivering on all that previous hype.

Verdict: This is the most well built team in the division so they are the preseason favorites to win it but anything can happen in this division. 10+ Wins.

Miami Dolphins

Strengths: Will you look at this offense? The Dolphin offense is built to do one thing and do one thing very well, pass. The team has the top receiver duo in the entire league. Tyreek Hill is an athletic freak who is simply uncoverable by any single person because he is just so fast that he is constantly drawing attention from two secondary players. With the secondary shaded to focus on Hill, the team's other top receiver Jaylen Waddle becomes an instant matchup nightmare. Waddle may not have the elite speed that makes Hill great, but he is still a plus athlete and has great awareness and body control making him a great route runner. It is literally impossible to shutdown these receivers there just is no way to cover both of them without completely compromising the rest of your defense. The man throwing them the ball is the perfect QB for the job. Tua Tagovailoa can make all the throws and is able to see the defense and find its weaknesses. Ensuring Tua has the ability to do his job, the team has the league's best pass blocking tackle. Terron Armstead's impact was instantly felt a year ago when he was brought in from New Orleans resulting in the number of QB pressures dropping nearly 40% from the year prior. If there is one thing this team is built to do it is pass for 300+ yards each and every week. The offense is not the only part of this team filled with talent though, their defense has talent to go around. Anchored by Bradley Chubb, this offensive front is rugged and may become even better with a couple of young players like Jaelan Phillips ready to take on bigger roles and try to bring an edge to this defense that has been lacking in years previous. While this defense is certainly not among the NFL's best, they certainly are good enough to allow this offense to win a lot of games.

Weaknesses: With all the talent Terron Armstead brought to this team, he simply cannot block everyone. While Armstead was holding down the left edge of the line, the rest of the line was struggling. Even with Armstead's plus grade, the Dolphins pass blocking grade still came out to be the 4th worst in the NFL according to PFF showing how much the rest of the line was struggling. The team did plug their biggest hole in the line by acquiring LG Isaiah Wynn, but will that be enough to allow Tua with enough time and keep him healthy? With a strong passing attack, this next weakness is not as big of an issue, but the offense's rushing attack is not good. The offensive line struggles were also felt in this phase of the game as they failed to get any push and open up holes. The team's running back depth also does not help the cause as they feature aging 49er send offs who are good at getting the extra yard but lack the burst necessary to make this rushing attack dangerous. This is an area the team did address in the draft by taking Devon Achane who can sprint fast enough to make Tyreek Hill sweat in a race but he is opening the season injured and his small frame and lack of muscle may make injuries a recurring issue. These weaknesses are not deal breakers since they can all be covered up by the team's top of the line passing attack.

Under the Radar X Factor: With Mike Gesicki in New England, the Dolphins do not have a true starter at tight end. They have a couple of situational players like Drew Smythe and Tyler Kroft but neither have shown the ability to be real contributors in the passing game. Undrafted rookie Julian Hill may be able to provide that pass catching role for this team. He is a former QB so he has a good understanding of defenses which will make him better at finding the soft spots in zone coverage, but his true talent is his ability to produce with the ball in his hands. He is shifty for a big man and was a YAC monster in college, it was an FCS school though, and he knows how to fight for the extra yard. With no real hierarchy, all Hill needs to do is go out and produce in order to become a significant contributor for this team.

Verdict: This should be a playoff team by all accounts but a single injury or two could derail their season due to the lack of depth. 8-10 Wins.

New England Patriots

Strengths: This just is not the Patriots team it used to be. After decades of being the only relevant team in the division, their world has been flipped on its head becoming the only irrelevant team in the division. One thing has carried over from that dynasty though and it is the coaching. Without the talent to fill out their previous offensive scheme, the offense has dropped off, but the defensive scheme remains intact. The team does not have much high end talent on this defense besides Mathew Judon, but these guys are well coached and well prepared allowing them to be a unit that is more than the sum of their parts. They know how to attack the opponents rushing attack by filling all the gaps and properly leveraging their blockers. The pass defense is not too shabby either, rarely having blown coverages and generally funneling everything underneath. The lack of overall talent does limit the impact this unit can have but the solid coaching makes this a bend don't break defense that is good at limiting big plays. The offense on the other hand has not been able to play as a complete unit since Mac Jones took over, but they are not devoid of talent as they feature the top up and coming RB in the league. Rhamondre Stevenson came in the league as an under the radar asset. He is built strong and dense but he still has enough speed and lateral quickness to be a big play threat. After initially working as an understudy in New England, Stevenson quickly forced Bill Belichick's hand and he became a steady contributor. Last year, Rhamodre forced his way to the top of the depth chart and had a monster year, almost reaching 1,500 total yards as a dual threat back. He was efficient as a runner averaging 5 a tote and was one of the team's top pass catchers by racking up 69 receptions. Simply put he was the Patriots offense. He did all that while still being a part time player and sharing snaps with Damien Harris. Harris is gone this year so Stevenson could be ready to put up crazy numbers but the team did bring in Ezekiel Elliot who has clearly lost a step and should not take too much opportunity away from Stevenson. If you like old school football, the Patriots are the team for you with an emphasis on running the ball and playing good defense, practically speaking though this is not a good way to win football games in today's NFL.

Weaknesses: I just cannot get behind Mac Jones. Sure this is just his third year and he had a somewhat successful rookie year; he just does not seem to have the ability to be anything more than a game manager. He is great at running an offense and doing everything in his ability to not lose his team the game but at the same time the wins are rarely ever a result of his play. Game managers can go on to win and have illustrious careers but that requires a lot of talent around them. The lack of offensive talent on this team really hurts Mac Jones and this team. They have some veteran receivers like Juju and Davante Parker but aside from a meteoric season from each of them neither can be relied on to be a steady WR1 for the team. The team does have some young guys with potential but they have not been able to seize the opportunity to this point, limiting this team to have an average offense at best. Overall, there are not many holes in the roster; the issue is that this team is painfully average at almost every position. They have the talent to stay competitive in most games but lack the talent to win those games.

Under the Radar X Factor: The pass catching core is an obvious weakness for this team but if you have paid attention to the buzz at Patriots camp then there should be one name you have heard a lot. Demario "Pop" Douglas. Douglas is a sixth round rookie out of Liberty. He is a Tyreek Hill lite. Obviously he does not have Hill's speed or he wouldn't have fallen to the sixth, but he is almost as shifty as Hill. He can change direction on a dime making him an incredible route runner. He should take over the slot role for the Patriots at some point this season and his athleticism should make him very productive if Mac Jones can consistently find him.

Verdict: The lack of top end talent really hurts this team. 6-8 Wins.

New York Jets

Strengths: For all the talent and success the Bills have, I still want to pick this Jets team to win the division. This team was competitive in almost all their games last year and that was with a mashup of Zach Wilson, Mike White and Joe Flacco at QB. This team is largely the same as that team except one key difference, Aaron Rodgers is their QB. Rodgers is a proven winner so putting him on this roster that is stacked to the gills can only result in wins. The team has two of the biggest upcoming stars in this league with Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson controlling the outside on offense and defense. The team is just talented at the end of the day. All of their skill players on offense are big time playmakers and are capable of carrying an offense on their own. The defense has talent at all three levels. To put the cherry on top, the coaching is great, making sure every player is ready and capable of playing their position. That is right New York Jets fans you can finally say it, this team is good.

Weaknesses: This team is stacked all over, but there is one component of this team that could take down this whole team. The offensive line has been an issue for years. Mekhi Becton did miss last year which only contributed to the problem so he will help solve some of the issues. But the rest of the line is just going to be a big question mark for this team. Priority #1 for this team is keeping Aaron Rodgers upright and playing and if these guys fail, this season could end just as it starts if the offense is put back into the hands of Zach Wilson. Aaron Rodgers does have a history of being one of the best escape artists in the league but how regularly can he be relied on to make those kinds of plays at this age. There are no weaknesses that compare to the offensive line so they really are the make or break point for this team and that is a lot of pressure on you when the city of New York has sky high expectations so hopefully they can get the job done and deliver the best season of Jets football since the Namath era.

Under the Radar X Factor: For all the offensive tools the team has brought in this year, it seems like there is not enough hype for Mecole Hardman. Sure he is not a complete receiver but the things he can do, he is great at. His speed is his main tool but instead of being a deep threat, he uses that speed underneath to run to the open space making him a deadly redzone weapon. Before going down with an injury last year, Hardman was establishing himself as the Chiefs top receiver totaling 261 yards and 5 TDs over his last 4 games with the team. If the Jets can utilize Hardman in the same way the Chiefs did it will add an extra element of danger to an already dangerous Jets offense.

Verdict: This is my dark horse so I will be a little more bold. They have a good offense and a better defense. 10+ Wins.