AFCE team with the best chance of taking the division title away from the Bills

[Eastport bills]

10 hours ago, JohnNord said:

Curious to why people think Miami is more of threat than NYJ?  

Probably because the Jets have to prove they can be a playoff team before people jump on the bandwagon. Rodgers is recovering from Achilles surgery and is 3 years removed from having over a 100 QB rating and is over 40 now. With a new O-line and a new receiving corps, why would you think their team would unseat the 4 year champs with arguably the best QB in football. Miami at least has been competitive in the division the last 2 seasons.

[Rampant Buffalo]

Looks like I'm the one person who voted for the Patriots.

 

Look at the jump Houston made last year, with a rookie C.J. Stroud. By no means am I saying that Drake Maye is the next Stroud. But, I am saying that even as a rookie, there's a chance he's better than Tua or the ghost of Aaron Rodgers. They took a WR (Polk) in the 2nd round. They took an OT in the 3rd and an OG in the 4th. Later in the 4th they added another WR. Depending on how these draft picks play out, they might have significantly upgraded themselves on offense. The Patriots had a top 10 defense in 2023. 

 

Do I expect the Patriots to take the division this year? No. But, I see a team with the potential to make more noise than maybe a lot of people are expecting.

[BillsFan130]

Miami for me.

 

A lot of people saying Miami got worse which is probably true.

 

But on paper so did the bills.

 

if you are looking at it from a Miami side, the bills on paper got worse at:

 

-O line, WR, DE, maybe safety

 

Where did the bills get better?

 

Maybe DT depth

 

Jets o line I think is still a mess and I don't see a rod holding up there .

 

i still think its the bills division , with Miami half a step behind 

[chris heff]

27 minutes ago, Rampant Buffalo said:

Looks like I'm the one person who voted for the Patriots.

 

Look at the jump Houston made last year, with a rookie C.J. Stroud. By no means am I saying that Drake Maye is the next Stroud. But, I am saying that even as a rookie, there's a chance he's better than Tua or the ghost of Aaron Rodgers. They took a WR (Polk) in the 2nd round. They took an OT in the 3rd and an OG in the 4th. Later in the 4th they added another WR. Depending on how these draft picks play out, they might have significantly upgraded themselves on offense. The Patriots had a top 10 defense in 2023. 

 

Do I expect the Patriots to take the division this year? No. But, I see a team with the potential to make more noise than maybe a lot of people are expecting.

They parted ways with a HOF coach, who is one of the greatest defensive minds ever, and replaced him with a guy who has no head coaching experience at any level. Mayo’s experience as a coach is four years as an inside linebacker coach. If Mayo learned anything from his mentor Belichick, he won’t start any of those rookies. He certainly won’t start five of them, maybe one starts. You’re right about one thing, Drake Maye is not C. J. Stroud. Patriots will be lucky to win four games.

[Hermes]

I didn't read too many other comments but for me it boils down to a healthy Rodgers being much, much better than Tua.

 

QB trumps all, regardless of your opinions of him, Rodgers has proven to be one of the GOATs. He used to be a favorite of mine until all his whining and shenanigans. I wish him the worst in NJ.

[Rampant Buffalo]

39 minutes ago, chris heff said:

They parted ways with a HOF coach, who is one of the greatest defensive minds ever, and replaced him with a guy who has no head coaching experience at any level. Mayo’s experience as a coach is four years as an inside linebacker coach. If Mayo learned anything from his mentor Belichick, he won’t start any of those rookies. He certainly won’t start five of them, maybe one starts. You’re right about one thing, Drake Maye is not C. J. Stroud. Patriots will be lucky to win four games.

 

The decision to hire Mayo as a head coach is a head scratcher. No doubt. I don't understand why they'd do something like that.

 

That being said, I'll put Doug Marrone out there as an example of a bad head coach propped up by good defensive coordinators (Pettine and Schwartz). Also, Chan Gailey is an example of a reasonably good head coach, dragged down by a horrible choice of defensive coordinator (Dave Wannestadt). Without knowing the level of coaching talent with which Mayo has surrounded himself, I can't really comment about how good or bad the Patriots' overall coaching is likely to be.

 

I will say this though. If I'm a rookie who craves playing time, I'd rather take my chances with a young, whippersnapper HC looking to prove something, than I would with a man in his 70s.

 

There are plenty of examples of top 5 QBs who didn't live up to their draft position. But if Drake Maye does live up to the 3rd overall pick, he's the second-best QB in the division.

[chris heff]

11 minutes ago, Rampant Buffalo said:

 

The decision to hire Mayo as a head coach is a head scratcher. No doubt. I don't understand why they'd do something like that.

 

That being said, I'll put Doug Marrone out there as an example of a bad head coach propped up by good defensive coordinators (Pettine and Schwartz). Also, Chan Gailey is an example of a reasonably good head coach, dragged down by a horrible choice of defensive coordinator (Dave Wannestadt). Without knowing the level of coaching talent with which Mayo has surrounded himself, I can't really comment about how good or bad the Patriots' overall coaching is likely to be.

 

I will say this though. If I'm a rookie who craves playing time, I'd rather take my chances with a young, whippersnapper HC looking to prove something, than I would with a man in his 70s.

 

There are plenty of examples of top 5 QBs who didn't live up to their draft position. But if Drake Maye does live up to the 3rd overall pick, he's the second-best QB in the division.

Marrone and Gailey both had head coaching experience. Mayo has only coached the position he played. The 2018 draft was hyped as best QB draft since 1983. 1-Baker Mayfield 3- Sam Darnold 7- Josh Allen 10- Josh Rosen 32-Lamar Jackson, only two of those guys are great and they are not the guys any pundit thought. Maye living up to where he was selected is a big if.

[Alphadawg7]

5 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

Brainiac in Miami made Tua into a competent QB and surrounded him with weapons on offense.  Saleh took a serviceable QB and trashed him.  Mike > Bob.

 

Possible, but I'm guessing they would split.

 

OK, I'll take the hit, I ***** up for saying Miami has a good D.  I still think the Fish are better than the Jets, but who knows?  Maybe the rubber bands holding Ayahuasca Boy's Achilles together work and he has an MVP season.  In that case, I'll take my crow well done.

Hey, you will be definitely right if Rodgers doesn’t hold up.  My assessment assumes the Jets get at least 80% of what Rodgers used to be and he plays most of the year.  
 

No one here is really right or wrong, we won’t really know until the games are played.  But there are more reasons to expect Miami to slip this year with the losses they took on D IMHO

[Jimmy Harris 69]

Miami has better coaches, a better roster overall and a better offense by far. That said, they aren’t a better squad than last year. Robert Sala has showed he is not a miracle worker in NY. I see his defense taking a step back. The Packers are still laughing their asses off from the trade for AR. He will not lead the Jets to the promised land. He was mediocre during his last season with GB. Now he is older and more damaged. Buffalo will win the division—-end of story. 

Edited June 21 by Jimmy Harris 69

[billybrew1]

23 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

If you assume that another AFCE team is able to take the division from the Bills, who is most likely to do it and why?

I think it’s the jets easy. Miami lost Christian Wilkins and Raekwon Davis. Wilkins is a probowler who gave us fits.

[Rampant Buffalo]

40 minutes ago, chris heff said:

Marrone and Gailey both had head coaching experience. Mayo has only coached the position he played. The 2018 draft was hyped as best QB draft since 1983. 1-Baker Mayfield 3- Sam Darnold 7- Josh Allen 10- Josh Rosen 32-Lamar Jackson, only two of those guys are great and they are not the guys any pundit thought. Maye living up to where he was selected is a big if.

 

The premise of this thread is that some other AFCE team takes the division from the Bills. Two ways that could happen.

 

1) The Bills take a step down, creating a void for some other team to fill.

2) The Bills stay about the same. The Bills fail to win the division because some other team takes a step up.

 

If we're talking scenario 1), then I agree with the majority that it likely comes down to the Jets or the Dolphins. But if we're talking scenario 2), I'd argue that it could just as easily be the Patriots as any other team in our division. They have the most upside, if stuff goes their way.

[ganesh]

13 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

Fish > Jests.  Fish have better offensive weapons, good D, better coach.  Jests are still dysfunctional, even with a better D and Ayahuasca Boy at QB.  Media pressure will rip the Jests apart.

anad a head coach on the Hot Seat

[Mr. WEO]

Fins, again.

[Lfod]

Dolphins if any. Pats are unknown and dont deserve to be feared until proven otherwise. The Jest D is worthy of thinking about but Im gonna need to be proven Rogers wasnt a stinky desperation move that I would never make. 

[Doc Brown]

9 hours ago, Rampant Buffalo said:

Looks like I'm the one person who voted for the Patriots.

 

Look at the jump Houston made last year, with a rookie C.J. Stroud. By no means am I saying that Drake Maye is the next Stroud. But, I am saying that even as a rookie, there's a chance he's better than Tua or the ghost of Aaron Rodgers. They took a WR (Polk) in the 2nd round. They took an OT in the 3rd and an OG in the 4th. Later in the 4th they added another WR. Depending on how these draft picks play out, they might have significantly upgraded themselves on offense. The Patriots had a top 10 defense in 2023. 

 

Do I expect the Patriots to take the division this year? No. But, I see a team with the potential to make more noise than maybe a lot of people are expecting.

The Texans had a better roster and a rookie year like Stroud had is extremely rare.  Maye is more raw and would be thrown to the wolves with probably the worst offensive weapons in the league.  Ja'Lynne Polk wasn't even the #1 WR on his college team and he's expected to be their #1 WR weapon?  Both tackles on their offensive line are MAJOR question marks along with their o-line depth as a whole.  They also play the 2nd hardest schedule and they no longer have the defensive mind of Bill Belichick.  It will pry be the Brissett show because trotting Maye out there would be a bigger mistake than the Panthers trotting out Bryce Young last year.  I'd be shocked if they win more than five games.

[Gman10]

Jets are gonna be nasty this year. We might not even make the playoffs

[JP51]

To me the best chance to take the Division from the Bills is stopping them and matching QB play. To me Miami has lost a ton on D plus major starters coming back from major injury. I am not sure Tua is prepared to match Josh. The Jets D had proven to be difficult on the Bills and clearly Rodgers IF healthy IF.... can get into the arena with Josh. So my pick the Jets.

[DJB]

The one person who voted for NE did they recently hit their head?

[JakeFrommStateFarm]

I think the Jets are the type of team that can prove a tough out for the Bills. 

 

Even if AR can't stay healthy Tyrod Taylor is a good backup.

 

A good run game and solid defense with Tyrod will be a good team that can be trouble for the Bills and is not a good matchup for them

 

Think the jags game last season

[Rocky Landing]

In my opinion, Joe Douglas, and the Jets did a much better job in the offseason than Grier in Miami, and I think the Fish take a step back from last season.

 

The Fish lost a lot of key defensive talent-- Van Ginkel, Wilkins, Jerome Baker, David Long Jr., Xavian Howard, and DeShon Elliot. That's six out of eleven starters, and Bradley Chubb is coming back from a late-season ACL. They also did very little to address O-line issues. The Fish will lose in the trenches, which blows up all those precise timing routes that the league figured out mid-last season, and their D will have a hard time getting off the field.

 

The Jets, on the other hand, focused on improving their O-line, and protecting their last chance at a playing a HOF QB. It's hard to imagine Rodgers lasting an entire season, but he has a better shot going into '24 than he did in '23.