AFC East Preview.

AFC East  

A Division Whose Winner Usually Controls The Fate, The Tides, And Winds Of The Team From Start To Finish And Controls As Seat At The Top Of The Conference For Years Finds The Four Teams Gridlocked In Competition. All Four teams will RePresent AT Least One Spot In the Top 12 Defenses At The End Of The Season. Can The Bills Sustain Their Reign? Usually, When The Crown Gets Threatened, The Monarchy Makes A Strong Resurgence Against Potential Marauders. Sometimes, The Response Can Save The Position; Other Times, The Challenge Proves Too Much, And The Response An undoing. The Dolphins Posed The Largest Threat Last Year and Another Year, A Healthy Year Could Prove Their Fortunes. The Jets Grab The Billboard Transaction This Summer, But How Long Will The Light Shine In New York If The Jets Look Dull On Sundays? 

New England Patriots 

Anyone Questioning The Patriots' Commitment To Mac Jones, Check The Initial 53 Man Roster Reports. The Pats Moved Every Quarterback Except Their 2021 First Round Pick To The Practice Squad. Bailey Zappe Took Over For Jones For A Stretch, Won Two Games, averaged A Steady 8.5 yards per something the Patriots Didn't Get From Mac Jones—, 781 Yards Passing, Five Passing touchdowns, Three interceptions, Generated A 100.9 Passer Rating Recorded Yard Game Against The Browns With A 70% Completion Percentage, Not Bad. The Other Quarterback In This Equation, Malik Cunningham, Became An Internet Sensation For Shaking A Browns Linebacker Out Of His ACLs During A Preseason Game. Eventually, Both Zappe and Cunningham Joined The Patriots's Practice Squad, And they Added Quarterback Matt Corral To Backup Jones. The Reason For Optimism For A Jones Turnaround, The Return Of Offensive Coordinator Bill O'Brien. Think what You May Of O'Brien And His Fallout In Houston. His Day With The Patriots proved successful. The Offense Evolved With The Times When Everyone Suspected A Fall Off. He's Back Now To Right The Ship. Back ago, Jones's Struggles They Don't All Boil Down To Inexperience Play Calling. I'm Sure Tom Brady Could've Succeeded If I Went Out There Today And Called Plays For Him. Matt Patricia's Background In Science Didn't Help Him In The Play Calling Area Because Play Callings More Of An Art Form Than A Rigid Mathematical Identity. Jones Needed An Experience Coordinator To Call about coverages For Him Before The Quarterback Mic Attach To The Sideline Cut Off, Something Patricia Had Very Little Wits About, Or So That's How Things Play Out. Both Jones's Passer Rating And His Passing Grade Dropped According To PFF's Recording, And His Play Cause The Patriots A Late Season Push For The Playoff. O'Brien's Presence won't Save The Offense From Jones's Physical Like Arm And Not Terribly Mobile( He Can Move But Not Fast) But He'll Give Jones Direction. Elsewhere On Offense, Football Critics Continue To Rip At The Patriot's Receiving Group. As My Mind Rolls Through The Endless Sheets Of Critiques I've Read On The Roster, I'm pressed to Find Anything Positive To Reference. The Patriots Group, consisting of Juju Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne, Devante Parker, Tyquan Thornton, Kayson, and Demario Douglas, Could Rank Amongst The Worse, At Least According To PFF, Who Placed The Pats 27th Overall. While Not A Superstar Group, These Pats Certainly Offer A Unique Serviceability. Free Agent Acquisition Smith-Schuster Never Reclaimed The Rookie Magic That He Grasp With The Steelers Six Years Ago, But This Guy Caught 80% Of His Passes For 933 The World Champion Chiefs Last Season. He's Catching Passes From the Best Quarterback In The Game Right Now In An Offense That Accentuates Juju's Ability To Work The Middle. The Chiefs Used Smith-Schuster In A Lot Crossing And Shallow Routes Underneath Zones Where The Wide Receiver Can Secure The Catch And Safely Turn Up Field For More Yards. Smith-Schuster Dug Up The Middle, And For This, ESPN Ranked Him 30th In Their Catching Metric In Wide Receiver Rankings And 15th In Yards After Catch—463 Yards After Catch Total, 5.9 YAC/reception. The Chiefs Played Schuster Outside For Most of His Snaps, and He Generated A 104 Passer His Best Figure Since His Rookie Year. Most Of The Patriot's Receiver Last Year Played the "X" Outside Position, And While I'm Not A Fan Of JSS(I'm Tired Of Spelling That Whole Thing Out), I'm Eager to See How O'Brien Uses Him. I Still Like Devante Parker As A Receiver, His First Year With The Patriots Tanked Because Of The Tumult On "Offense" But He has Got The Traits Of A Boundary Receiver And He 17.4 Yards Per Catch. Kendrick Bourne Played The Most Snaps On The Outside 72.9 But was underwhelmed from That Position, with 434 Receiving Yards, 47 Targets One Touchdown. Bourne Has The Talent To Play Better Ball. He Finished Last Season With 800 Receiving Yards With An 82.1% Catch Rate. Tyquan Thornton, Last Year's Second Round Pick, Still Potentially upside As A Field Stretcher, But He'll Start The Year On IR. Rookie Kayshon Boutte, The LSU Product, Showed Flashes Of What Made Him Such A Promising Heading Into Last Year's. He Ranked As The Preseason Number One Receiver In The Draft Before A Tough Season And Porous Combine Stymied His Draft Prospects. Aside From Underperforming, The Pasts Have One Dominant Flaw From What I Can Tell: Consistent Receiver Separation. Devante Parker Ranked Last In Separation, And While The Rest Of The Group Produced Above Average Separation, The Group Has To Get Open More Consistently. Most Of The Patiot's Pass Catchers Have A lot To Prove. The Tight Ends A Better Pass Catching Pedigree. Hunter Henry is Seventh Amongst All-Pass Catchers In Separation And Generated 12.4 Yards Per Reception On a 71.9 Catch Rate. Henry Too Felt The Sting Of The Offenses, Last Season He Produced 9 Touchdowns, This Season Only Two A Decline In His Prolific Game Appears On The Horizon. For Insurance and Something Of A Pass Catching Upgrade, The Pats Sign Former Mike Geisiki. Fame For His Awful Rendition Of The "Griddy" Dance, But He's One Of The Best Pass Catchers At His Position. Not A Natural Tight End, More Of A Jumbo Receiver, Gesicki's 6'6 Frame Towers Over Defenders For Jump Balls. Miami's Offense Underutilized Him, But He Played Best From The Slot, Where Offensive Structures Can Force Mismatches With Gesicki And Smaller Corners Or Slower Linebackers. I'm Sure The Pats See That Upside. 

In The Trenches, the Patriots Offensive Line Oscillated In Play Due To Injuries Forcing Multiple Rotations In Positional Responsibilities and "Inconsistent" Play, Primarily From Rookie Cole Strange. As A Result, The Pats Finished Middle Of The Pact In Pass Block Win Rate, 15th And last In Run Block Win Rate, And 13th Rank Overall On the PFf Ranks. Would A Year's Health Move The Needle On This Unit? You Can't Depend On Health In NFL. Despite The Poor Run blocking, The Run Game For The Pats Work Because Starting Running Back Rhamondre Stevens Found A Way. The Former Sooner Averaged Five Yards Per Rush, 3.81 After Contact On His Away To Rushimg For Over 1041. Stevenson Grinded Down Runs While Still Producing 30 Explosive. Stevenson Quickly Became a Catalyst For The Pats Offense. What He Offers As A Sequel To This Career Could Determine The Pats Season As An Offense. Behind Him, The Pats Employ One Of The Best Ground And Pound Backs In The League In, Ezekiel Elliott. He's Not Prime Zeke, But He's A Pile Mover Who Can Take Tread Off Of Stevenson's Legs. If The Passing Game Never Catches Fire, Expect The Rushing Unit To Takeover For The Offense. That Covers Everything On The Pats Offense. Defensively, The Pats Have Less Questions. Bill Belichick Runs One Of The Best Defenses In The League On Almost All Levels, And This Season, The Pats Could Lift Their Game Up Another Notch. Last Season, The Pats Rank Eighth In Defense According To PFF, Eighth In Yards Allowed, 3rd In Sacks And Fourth In Interceptions. The Patriot's Pass Rush Could Win Games For Them Or At Least Keep Things In Striking Distance. The Star Of The Group, Matthew Judon, In Two Years With The Patriots's Record (31), Almost Match The Total Out Put Of His Previous Five Years In Baltimore (37). He Finished Fifth In Sacks At 15.5 And Eighth In Total Pressures. Judon Rushes Almost On Pure Instinct And Determination. He Doesn't Have A High Pass Rush Win; Rate-Focused Set Of Moves He Wins In Pursuit With Motor and Athletics. Most Of His Sacks Came On Second And Third Efforts. Even The Most Athletic Can't Shake Judon in condensed space. He's A Good Run Defender Who Can Pursue Backs Off The Edge. Opposite Judon And Coming Flying Off The Edge, Josh Uche, The speed rush specialist, With Feet Like a Pan And The Bend Of A Ballerina To Get Around. Uche Has A Sha'carri Richardson-like Get Off From His Stance. He Reminds Me A lot Of Prime Von Miller, and his Numbers Continue To Rise. Uche led the Team With A 19.7% pass-rush win rate in 2022, the best Mark on The Team, And 12 Sacks, Second On The Team. He's Undersied, which Hurts Him In The Run Game, But Gifted At Laying To Opposing Teams Pockets. Deatrich Wise Jr. He's The Other Edge Rusher, The Stronger, Sturdier Built Rusher. Wise Recorded 8 Sacks on A 17.6 Pass Rush Win Rate. Lawrence Guy And Davon GodChaux Anchor The Middle. At Linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley Jahlani Tavai. The Patriot's Linebackers Usually Represent A Strength For The Team, This Groups Good Against The Run. The Cornerback Group Will Determine The Depths And Reaches This Defense Will Aspire Towards. This Secondary lost A Leader When Devin McCourty Retired. The Takeover In The Middle Starts With Kyle Dugger, Jalen Mills, And Adrian Phillips In The Middle, Swamping And Playing Sub Linebacker Roles. The Patriots Finished Second In The League In Interceptions With 19 Interceptions. The Secondary Gets A Boost With The Addition Of The Draft's Number One Cornerback(In My View) Christian Gonzales. Gonzales Brings Length Athleticism And True Number One Corner To Help The Jones, Jonathan, Jack, And Marcus. On The Strength Of The Pats Defense, I Say They Have Enough To Contend In The Toughest Division In Football. Can Bill O'Brien Steady Mac Jones and The Offense In One Season and Harness The Upside From These Receivers? Season Prediction, 8-9. 

Miami Dolphins

I Don't Know About You, But I Didn't Know What To Expect When The Dolphins Hired San Fransisco's Offensive Coordinator Mike McDaniel As Their Head Coach. The Fins Had A lot "Going On" Around The Time Of The Hire To Say The Least, From Former Head Coach Brian Flores's Lawsuit For Racial Discrimination To Allegations Of Tanking To Tampering Investigation That Cost The Fins A First Round Pick. The Dolphins Had So Many Issues Funneling Out Of the Fax Machine That The Little Guy With The Glasses Standing At the Podium Might Not Get A Chance To Perform Football Things That Brought Him To South Beach. The Dolphins Also Made The Largest Wide Receiver Transaction Of Last Off-season, A Deal We'll Discuss At Some Point. Furthermore, From What I Read, The Shanahan Coaching Style In San Fransisco Emanated Something Heliocentric, Like The Hydrogen Bomb And Oppenheimer. You'd Forget The Offense Had Other Architects. How Much One Man Received So Much Of The Glory Mad Veneration For Shanahan Style Play Design, I Think Only This Season McVay Began Attracting Appeal For His Own Play Calling Tree And Play Design. No, ONe Or At Least I Didn't Know What To Expect From McDaniels As A head Coach. What We Got, Just like The Hydrogen Bomb, Explosives. The Dolphins Hired McDaniels To Resurrect Their Offense After He Shared Play Calling Duties With Kyle Shanahan. The Dolphins Also Need McDaniels To Quarterback Whisper Their Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Who, To That Point, Resembled More of a "Check Down" Savant Than Superstar. No One Would Have judged Tua; He Leads The League In Completion Percentage If His Draft Class included Joe Burrow And Justin Herbert(Whom Tua had drafted Before). Already Two Of The Best Arms In The League, Whiles Tua Looked Like The Only Left Handed Starting Quarterback In The League For A Reason. McDaniel Gets Tua And Jaylin Waddle To Work With A Things Look Auspicious, Then The Tyreek Hill Trade Happens. Hill Darts From The Chiefs Peace Out Sign Up And Everything He Enters South, and He's Showering His Name QB With Praise.

"[Tua]has probably one of the prettiest balls I've ever caught." "He's accurate. He can throw the deep ball and goes thr, ough his reads." Mos,t Of Hills Remarks Sounded Like a Regular Panegyric You'd Give To Your Plus One, And If He'd Stop Here, Maybe Nothing Controversial would happen But Bombs Away. "Obviously, like I'm gonna go with 15 as the strongest arm, but as far as accuracy-wise, I'm going with Tua all day," Hill Delivered With Shock Waves Pulsating The Ground. I Don't Think anyone Took Hill's Comments Seriously. He'd Just Started His Podcast(Everyone Has One), And What Better To Start the Conversation Than With An Outlandish Comment That the "Rage" These Days. Then the Games Started a Tua Began Burning Team. You Can't Find A Play Set (Clean Pocket, Under Pressure, Etc.) Where Tua Didn't Finish in the Top Ten Or 1 Or 2 In Yards Per Attempt. Despite Working As A Run Game Coordinator And The Shanahan Affection For Play Action, Mike McDaniels Put Tua In Pure Dropback Situation and Let The Air Currents Rip. Tua Excelled, At One Point Leading Quarterbacks In EPA Per Drop back. Through Midway of The Season, The Dolphins Went Undefeated When Tua Finished A Game.  

Nothing Tua's Arrival And His Elevation From RPO Squatter Than The Historic Lead Comeback against The Ravens In Week Two When Tagovailoa(If You're A Ravens Close Your Eyes) threw for a career-high 469 yards and six touchdowns. The Game Included Several Deep Gashes To Baltimore's Well Respected Defense. Even Two High Coverage Shells Had No Hope In Negating Tua's Newfound Prowess. As If He Spoke This Tua Into Existence, Tyreek Hill Proved Himself Right. 

Tua Went From The Can't-Miss Kid In College To A Pigeon Hole Puzzle Piece, Then Into Something We All Misread. Except Tua Didn't Live Up To The Accuracy Aspect. According To PFF, Tua Graded Below Average On Accurate Throws. Still, The Dolphins Look Like An Offensive Force Then, The Old Tua Injury Concern Rare Up. Two Concussions Saw Tua Miss Multiple Games, Including The End Of The Season. Tua Took Most Of His Shots Outside And With A Pair Of Horses like Tyreek Hill And Jaylin Waddle. The Shots To The Flat, Flatlined. The Speed Of The Two Receivers Gave The Dolphins The Advantage Of "Making Everything Look The Seem Until It Wasn't." That Speed Afforded The Dolphins So Many Luxuries, Like Mid-East Oil. The Dolphins Converted Some Of The Most Downs And Yardages, 3rd and 22 And Such. Nothing Felt Off Limits. 

Sometimes, You Could Forget The Dolphins Had Other Targets On Offense Because Waddle And Hill Ate Up The Target Share. Combined, The Two Speedsters Amassed Almost 70% Of The Teams' Total Air Yards. While Waddle And Hill Easily Cleared 1000, The Rest Of The Fell Behind. No One Else Eclipsed More Than 420 Or Saw More Than Fifty Targets. Global Powers Like The United States Put Restrictions On Nuclear Weapons Because How The Power Of Those Weapons Induced Men To Madness, Mike McDaniels Couldn't Step Away From The Button. Elsewhere, The Dolphins Neglected The run game. In A Season Where Everyone Ran The Ball, The Dolphins Finished As One Of Eight Teams To Not Average More Than 100 Yards Per Game. The Dolphins Made A Season Trade To Acquire Jeff Wilson From The 49ers, But He Never Took To The Offense And his Presence Felt More Like One Design For Ballast Rather Than Functionality. Only the Bucs Had Fewer Rushing Attempts Than The Dolphins. The Offensive Line Also Has a Hole. Left Tackle Terron Armstead Remains The Loan Star Blocker, But He's Losing His Dependability At This Stage In His Career. Austin Jackson, Who The Dolphins Drafted In The First Round In 2020, Has Never Developed, But He remains At Right Tackle, and The Dolphins Will Depend On Young Guys Like him and Laim Eichenberg To Hold Tua Upright. The Dolphins Lost The Chance To Upgrade The Line In The Draft Because The Fins Lost All Their Draft Capital. The League Striped One Pick For The Tampering Violations, And Then The Dolphins Made An Aggressive Season Move That Still Leaves Me Puzzled. As a Patriots Fan, I'm All For "When You See Your Enemy Making A Mistake, Don't Interrupt Them…" But Why The Dolphins Traded A First-Round Pick For Former Broncos Top 10 Pick Bradley Chubb Confused. We're Talking Defense Now. Chubb Has Never Lived Up To Hype That Landed Him 5th Overall Out Of NC State in 2018. Since His Rookie Year Break Out With 12 Sacks, Chubb Hasn't Stayed Productive Or Healthy For That Matter. He's Missed 32 Games Of Football Total In a Five-Season Career. His Shaky Health and Lack Of Production Didn't Deterred The Dolphins From Inking Chubb To A five-year, $110 million deal. Chubb Recorded nine sacks and 51 Pressures Last season And Ranked Third In the NFL with a 25.8% In pass rush win rate(25.8%). The Dolphins Had No Choice But To Lock Chubb Up Long Term After Giving Away a First-round Pick, But You Get The Sense The Dolphins Paid A Veteran Top Dollar Based On Potential. He Played A Career-high 742 Snaps, So That's A Positive. The Man Standing Large Opposite Chubb, Jaelen Phillips, Has The Upside To Unseat Chubb As The Premier Pass Rusher On This team, And Maybe He Already Has Unseated Chubb. The Dolphins Drafted Phillips Last In The First Year, And After a Rookie Season, Phillips Arrived In the Second Season As Top Ten Pass Rusher. He Eclipses 70 Pressures, Ranking In The Top Ten Of All-Pass Rushers. Phillips Has Pile Moving Power, Even For His Size and Build. He Produces Shock And Awe Type Hits To Offensive Lineman Before Finishing Home At The Quarterback, which He Did nine Times. Next Season, Phillips Might Find an Offensive Lineman More Resistant To His Force Of Nature, More Refinement Of Technique And Bend For Him To Skyrocket Into The Next Echelon of Rushers. The Interior Pass Rush Built Around Christian Wilkins and Zach Feiler Produces 61 Pressures, 96 Stops (Which Count As Any Negative For The Offense) And 9 Sacks From The Interior. Even With A top 5 Pass Unit, The Dolphins Still Blitz 33.3% Of passing Down, 3rd In the League, In Most Occasions The Fifth Man Sent, Linebacker Elandon Roberts, Who Left Free Agency For The Steeler. Roberts Lead The Team In Tackles And Added 4.5 In Pass Rush Duties. Taking His Place: A Combination Of Jerome Baker, David Long Jr. and Channing Tindall. The Secondary, The Dolphins Other Top Blitzer Athletic Safety Jevon Holland. Blitzer Holland Finished With 2 Sacks And 9 Total Pressures But Needs To Work On The More Pertinent Issue Of Play Safety, Like Coverage. Holland Played 701 Snaps In Coverage, The Most On The Team. he Came Away With WTO Interceptions, 3 Pass break Ups But Surender A Passer Rating Of 110.2. Enter His Third Year He's Still An Athletic Project. This Offseason, The Dolphins Opted To Go More All-In—That's The Thing With "All In" You Can Only Go More "All In"— The Dolphins Traded For Rams Top Corner Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey Suffered A Down Year Last As The Ram Recuperated From Hubris Hang Over, But You Can't Mention Too Many At Corner Better Than His. Ramsey Allowed Only 59 Receptions, Capture 4 Interceptions, And Generated a Passer Rating Of 98.6. The Dolphins Played Man Defense Nearly 45% Of Their Snap, and Ramsey Will Play Under The Direction Of New Dolphins Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio. Fangio Pioneered, So To Say, The System Ramsey Played Under Under LA Under Coordinators Branden Staley And Raheem Morris. Ramsey Will Look To Have More Success Playing Corner On An Island. The Other Island, Xavien Howard. Howard's Play Has Declined In Recent Years. He Only Gave 54 Receptions, But He Generated A 121.1 Passer Rating, Easily The Worst Of His Career. He Came Away With One Interception. Howards is One Of The Most Productive Corners In Recent Memory, With 28 Inceptions To His Name Since 2016, But He'll Need To Bounce Back To Give The Dolphins Defense A Real Shut Down Presence. The Dolphins have the Complete Team In This Division. Even Without A Running back, The Offense Posses Studded Playmakers That Turn Game Into Play. Nevertheless, The Success Of This Hinges So Precariously On The Inauspicious Health Of Their Quarterback Whose One Step From A Touchdown Or Retirement( Sorry To Say). I'm Confident In Both Precepts Of Tua's Season Prediction, 13-4, Win The Division. 

Buffalo Bills

One Has To deduce That With The Inevitable Rise Of Another Contender In The AFC, One Of The Established Big Three In The Conference(Cincy, Buffalo, Chiefs) Has To Fall Off Somewhere, and The Bills Stand Out Of The Bunch As The Team To Watch. For The Past Two Years, The Bill Have Come To Define Success In The AFC East. They Drafted And developed one Of The Best Quarterbacks In The Conference, Josh Allen, and Steamrolled His way Through The Division. Since 2020, He's 12-3 Versus the AFC East Competition, And Two Of Those Losses Came Last Year. His Last Two Season Of Football Rank As The Best Work Of A Quarterback Not Named Patrick Mahomes. Allen Accumulated 8690 Yards, 71 Touchdowns, 29 Interceptions, And A 94.2 Passer Rating. No Other Player Posses More Sole Control Of Their Offense Like Allen, And His Play Doesn't Stop With Passing. He's Averaged Over 6 yards Per Carry, Accumulated 13 Touchdowns(38 For His Career), And 1525 Yards On The Ground In Two Seasons. His Movement Skills, The Ability To Get Up Off Of The Platform And Deliver strikes Down Field under Any Conditions(Pressured Or Clean) Makes Him Super Hero Like. He's Superman, The Definition Of An Offensive Catalyst, Ignitor, But Every That Starts With Allen Doesn't End with His Arms Or Legs. I Mentioned His Past Two Years Because Allen Didn't Always Look Like the Best Thing Happening In Upstate New York, And A lot Happens In Upstate New York. His First Two Years In The League Were Repleted With Uncertainty Thats Before The Bills Made Moves To Acquire Some Pass Catchers, Chiefly Star Wideout Stefon Diggs. Here, With Diggs, The Trouble Starts. If Diggs Looked Like A Star In Minnesota His First Five Years In The League, Then He Went Supernova When He Arrived In Buffalo. Before Diggs Arrived, Allen Lack Polish. I'm Not A Football Doctor, But I Can Diagnose A Completion Percentage Deficiency When I See One. He Threw A Hard Ball But A Woeful One. Diggs Brought With Him To Buffalo Master-balls For Hands, He Could Catch Anything Thrown His Away And He Did. Josh Allen Started Completing More Than 60% Percent Of His Passes, And With Opposing Defenses Watching The Run, He Could Run Wild And Untamed. After Two Years Of Playoff, That Included A Stunning Loss To The Chiefs In The Greatest Game Of Football Ever Played. You Know The One With All The Final, Final, Final touchdown. In last January's post-season, Lost Set Off Alarms I Don't Anybody Saw Coming, Star Receiver Stefon Diggs Had A Meltdown. What Started The Meltdown Gist Of His Discontent, Somewhat Equivocal and Unclear. Diggs Posted A Cryptic Tweet After The Game Then The Media Took A Bite Into The Apparent Wound, Heightening The Speculation About The Bills and Their Future. After Some Time Would Have This To Say To The Media, "My main and only focus is winning. Super Bowls. I mean, everybody says they want a Super Bowl, but we've had legitimate chances at this thing," Diggs said. He Has Reason For Concern, Super Bowl Windows Close, Never To Open Again, and Someone Always Hunting For Your Spot. He Wants To Win. He Plays Like He Wants To Win, And the Bills Pay Him Big To Play Like So and Produced The Offensive Changes The Culture Buffalo Needs. Do The Bills Have Enough To Win The Big Game? Over The past three years, The Bills Have Ranked 5th, 11th, and 3rd In Passing, But The Bills Became Too Reliant On The Pass, Which Made Their Passing Game Worse. Once Teams Want the Bills to Win Football With Another Strategy, The Bills Didn't Have One In a House. Allen Finished The Season 1st In EPA Against Two High Safety Looks on The Offensive, But Allen Just Got Beat Up A Lot. He Took 33 Sacks. Thats Almost As Many Touchdowns As He Threw. Some Of Allen's Sacks Were The Result Of Him Extending Plays, Others The Result Of That Woeful Offensive Line The Bills Constructed In Front of Him. He's Taken A Total Of 150 Sacks In His Career This Far, And That Amount Of Wear can positively Impact His Game. The Bill Made No Moves Of Note To Address The Offensive Line. I'm Guessing They're Expecting Improved Play From The Unit As A Whole. O'Cyrus Torrance, Whom The Bills Drafted In The Second Round, Has upside As A Run Blocker And Swings as an offensive Lineman. Depth Behind Stefon Diggs On The Wide Receiver Charts Also Another Issue. I love Gabe Davis As A Number. He broke Out Last In Slobber Knocker Of the Game With 201 and Four touchdowns in The 2022 Divisional Round Against The Chiefs. Davis Took A Step Back When Everyone Expected Evaluation and The Bills Passing Attack Suffered Because Of His Lack Of Progression. He Only Caught 51% Of His Balls. His 16.3 Average Depth Of Target Placed him In The Top Five Of The League, But Four, He's a Bit One Dimensional Deep Threat. Davis Enters The Last Year Of His Contract If He Bounces Back, He Plays His Way Out Of Buffalo's Budget. Next Up is Second Year Man Khalil Shakir, Who Had Some Promising Moment As A Rookie Last Year. The Bills Will Look To Utilize Their Pair Of Tight Ends More In The Catching Game, Rookie Dalton Kincaid And Old Reliable Dawson Knox. Knox Has Average Pass Catching Upside, But He's Always Open For Business With Josh Allen. The Defense Remains a Strength For Them Into 2022, But They're Gradually Losing A Step. Last season, The Bills Finished First In Passing Defense By Yardage, Only Allowing 163 Per Game and Third By PFF; in 2022, They Drop To Fifteenth In Yards 214 and Tenth In PFF Rankings. Injuries And Age The Terrible Twosome Of Football Crept Over High Mark During The Night. Starting Safeties Jordan Pitre And Micah Hyde Bith Missed Multiple Games Due To Injury. The team's Other Safties, Like Damar Hamlin, stepped in, But He Suffered The Catastrophic Injury Of All Last Season Before Returning To The Field. Lead Cornerback Tre White Returns from A Knee Injury Only To Post The Worse Season Of His Career Thus Far. He Showed Noticeable Rust In Movement In Coverage, Becoming A Non-Factor. They Need Growth From Younger Corners Like Kair Elam, Last Year's First Round Pick. The Linebacking Corp Took A hit With The Loss of Tremaine Edmonds To Chicago. Still, Veteran Matt Milano Shouldn't Have Too Much Trouble Holding Down His Position As The Primary Coverage Backer While Tyrel Dodson Takes Over The Middle. The Bills Rush Has Difference Making Talent And Depth, While None Of The Name Stand Out As Top Of The Shelf Pass Rushers, Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones, Greg Rousseau, And Leonard Floyd With AJ Epenesa Behind Them Force A Complete Unit Of Rushers. Shaq Lawson, Jordan Phillips, and Tim Settle All Can Put Pressure on the Table. Star Pass Rusher Von Miller Remains On IR Recuperating From An ACL Injury, But Once He's Back, This Unit Might Rank as The Best. Last Season, The Bills Ranked 6th In Pass Rush, And They Could Climb This Season. I Almost Forgot To Mention The Run, And Despite The Bills Ranking Number One According To PFF, seventh In Yards Per Game And Second In Yards Per Rush, The Running Game Felt Like An Afterthought To The Bills. Those Two High Shells Paid Dividends To The Bills; Soft Coverages Opened Up Lanes For The Bills Rusher To Scamper Down Field. Allen Averaged More Than 6 Yards Per Carry, James Cook More Than 5, And Leading Rushing Devin Singletary More Than 4 Yards Per Carry. The Bills Didn't Run The Ball Much. Nobody On The Team Rush For Over 900 Yards. The Offense Needs To Strike A Better Balance Between Passing And Rushing The Ball; Then, The Bills Will Gain Offensive Stability. Buffalo, Don't Panic Just Yet, The Bills Have A Roster Poised To Contend. The East Got Tougher The Bills Have To Respond But Maybe Not To The Heights Of The Dolphins, Season Prediction, 11-6. 

How Do I Leave The Jets For Last, Their Box Office and Not Starting Your Post Mention The Green Monster Of Manhattan(They Don't Play In Manhattan But That's Close Enough). The Jets Made The Move Of The Summer, Bringing In An Aging Quarterback Who Could Bring Them To A Land Of Promise, A Place Of Plenty Or A Place Of A Pittance. If I'm The Jets, I Don't Know What Aaron Rodgers Does For You At This Point, He's Over The Cliff And Even If He's Got More In Tank For The Sake Of His Status As A Four Time MVP And One Of The best QBs In Recent, How Long Will He Hold That Spot. For My Money, Rodgers Looked "Cooked" Last season. He possesses the Same Command Of An Offense, the Ability To Read And Deceive Defenses And Even Extend Plays. He just Looked More Faded In The Role, Like Second Or Third Time Trying A Recipe, The Flavors Nodes Don't Jump The Same. There were a lot of Extenuating Circumstances Before The Season Preceded Rodgers Fall Off. The Offensive Staff saw A Mass' Exodus' Of Coaches And Players. Both Offensive Coordinator And Quarterback Coach Nathaniel Hackett And Luke Getsy Departed For New Territories, And The Grandest Move Of All, Davante Adams, Left For Oakland. I Can't Say How The Losses Of These Two On The Coaching Staff Affected Rodgers' Game. The Greats usually Have A System And Don't Take Kindly To Changes In That System; The Loss Of Adams Tip The Scale. One thing is For Sure: Rodgers Couldn't Operate With The Same Laissez-faire Approach To Football. Even With The Same Playcaller for The Past Three Years, Everything On Offense Must Have Look Staggering Different When Rodgers Got Out On The Field. But The Jets Need Someone To Pass The Ball, And Almost Anyone Would Do Except Any Of The Three Guys Who Attempted Passes For Them Last, Joe Flacco, Mike White, Or Zach Wilson(The Only One Of Those Quarterbacks Still On The Team). Rodgers Surely An Upgrade Over Any Of Them. Rodgers Had a down Year Last Season, With The "Ups" Coming In Like A Fading Pulse, Very infrequent, Like Just Enough To Make Sure He Had A Highlight Reel By The End Of The Season. Even During The Packers Late Season Run To The Playoffs, Rodgers Just Had Enough To Get The Packers To The Tenth Round. Rodgers Finished The Year with Just 6.8 Yards Per Attempt, 26 Touchdowns, 12 Interceptions, And A 91.1 Passer Rating(Worst Of His Career). He Still Far Outpaced anyone Who "Slang" The Rock For The Jets Last Season. None Of Joe Flacco, Zach Wilson, Or Mike White Completed More Than 60% Or Had A Passer Rating Above 76. Rodgers A Welcome In Any Form. He'll reunite with Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett In New York. Hackett Comes In Fresh Off The Most Embarrassing Coaching Performance I've Ever Witnessed In The Modern Era Of Football. Last Season, The Jets Offense Had A Few Bright Spots, And None did better than Garrett Wilson. If Jets Fans Had One Not To Turn Their Eyes Away InHorror Whenever Zach Wilson Took A Dropback Because Perhaps He'd Target Garrett Wilson, Who Always Had A Chance To Make Something Happen On Offense. Wilson Lead All-Rookie Receivers In Receiving Yards, Fifth In Yards Per Route Run, And forced an Absurd 22 Missed Tackles. Those Missed Tackles Lend To The Special Aspect Of Wilson's Game: His Aerodynamic Balance And Body Control. Even On The Move At Full Speed, Wilson Can Contort and Contract His Body To Adjust To Passes in The Air and Avoid Hits Sometimes Simultaneously. The Second Wilson's Feet Hit The Ground His quick Twitch Muscles Fire Again, And He's Able To Change Gears and Direction On Multiple Occasions. He does not have The Same Skillset As Davante Adams, But defenses Get Stuck In The Mud Trying To Defend His Slant Routes and Double Moves, a number One Target, a Few Top wills. Last Season, The Jets Had Trouble Finding A Consistent Pass Catcher Behind Wilson. Tight End Tyler Conklin Finished Second In Receiving Yards With 552, That's Half Of Wilson's Production. Corey Davis, Who Finished Behind Conklin, Just Retired, And Elijah's Next Up In The Ranks Complained about His Usage and Got Traded To The Browns. The Jets Decided To Reunite Aaron Rodgers With The one Thing He Loves most: Familiarity. Allen Lazard Comes Over From The Pack To Join Rodgers In New York. In The Absence of Adam, Lazard Became Rodgers's Number One Target In Green Bay, Leading The Team In Targets(98). He'll Move Back Into Number Two Option. Randall Cobb Also Made The Trip East As A Part Of The Rodgers Deal With New York. Even With The Upgrades To The Passing Game, The Jets offense This Season Might Start With The Running Game In New York. The Ground Game Made Something Of A Comeback Last Season. Rookie Running Back Breece Hall Returns From Injury. Hall Played 7 And Averaged 5.8 Yard Per Attempt, Accumulated 463 Yards Before Going Down With An ACL Injury. He Looked Like A Frontrunner For The Offensive Rookie Of The Year Award—Teammate Garrett Wilson Won. Breece Will Make His Expected Return in The Bills Opener. Former Vikings Starter And All-Pro Running back Will Split Reps With Breece. Cook Lost Some Of His Blades In Minnesota, But He'll be An Excellent Catching Back. Micheal Carter Stands In Third. Now The Offensive Line. That‘s Where The Offense Begins To Teeter On The Brink Of Collapse. I'm concerned for Anybody Standing Behind The aged Bodies Of Duane Brown Or The Brittle Body Of Mekhi Becton For Protection. For A nearly 40-year-old Quarterback, he's In The Danger Zone. Even After Taking A Pay Cut, The Jets Have A lot Riding On Aaron Rodgers Staying Right—Like Their Entire Season—Relying On One Of The Weakest Protection Units in Football To Protect A Centerpiece Like Rodgers That's Tantamount To Protecting A Precious Jade Behind A Bird Cage. The Jets Offensive Line Finished Near Dead Last In Run Block WinRate and Close To Near Dead Last In Pass Block Win Rate(21st). The Offense Has Their Hope That Mekhi Becton Bounces Back From Injury And Lives Up To The Hype. 

The AFC East Has Theme Of "Uncertain" Offense Tethered To Powerful Defenses, And The Author, The Division's Story, Continues Those Parallel With The Jets. Robert Saleh's Will Dominate And Demolish On Sundays. The Jets Defense Nearly Single Handedly Kept The Team In The Playoff Picture Last Year. When The Jets Appeared On Your Schedule, You Couldn't Have Picked A Worse Time To Face Them. The Put Up A No Fly Zone On Sundays And Everyone Expected Improve Play From the Defense. The Upgraded Secondary Took The "D" Into A New Stratosphere. The Jets Finished Third In Passing Yards Allowed, Fourth In Points Allowed, Second In Yards Per Attempt And Allowed Only 62.4% Completions Percentage. Rookie Corner Sauce Gardner Stole The Heart Of The Football World Right Out Of The Gate. The Jets Drafted Sauce Fifth overall, And everyone Expected A learning Curb. I Don't Think Anyone Expected The Best Corner In The Game. Sauce Played The Game With Such Adept Fundamentals, But His Body Control, Fluidity, And Frame Took His Game To The Next Level. Sauce follows the League In Pass Break Ups, First In Reception Percentage Allowed(45.9), Fourth In QBR Allowed(54.2), And The Most Quotable Nickname In The Game. Having A Number one Corner On The Boundary Affords A Defense of So Many Luxuries: Extra Bodies In The Box, Free Safety To Roam And Play The Run, Exotic Blitzes. Sauce Gave The Jets Confidence, A "Swagger," If You Like, To Dominate On A Down To Down. The Corner Opposite Him DJ Reed, He's Not Sauce, But He's A Number One Corner For So Many Other Teams. In The Middle Of The Defense, All Pro Quinnen Williams, The Big Guy Who Eats Up Pressures Like Cookie Monster Eats Up Snacks. The Jets Have A Top Three Defense In Any Era. All Three Levels Of The Defense feature at Least One(But Often More Special Player). A Projection For The Jets Hinges On Your View Of Aaron Rodgers. Will He Resuscitate His Career, Or Will He Continue His Lunge toward the Cliff? I'm Betting on Cliff For Rodgers This Season. Season Prediction, 7-10.