For those who think AFC EAST (excl. PATS) sucks

Every now and then we hear people say that the PATS play in the weakest division in NFL and what not.. Here is an interesting titbit from SI.COM on just how good the AFC east is this year

The Best Division

The antithesis to the NFC South, the AFC North currently features all four teams over .500. So, are they that much better than the NFC South? Each AFC North team is, on average, +52.5 NEP better than each NFC South team—between 7 and 8 touchdowns better. That puts the AFC North on pace to finish an estimated 12 touchdowns ahead of the NFC South.

The best division this season is the AFC East with a dominant Patriots squad, and surprisingly efficient Bills and Dolphins teams. The AFC North comes in at third overall. http://mmqb.si.com/2014/11/20/nfc-south-nfl-worst-division/

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The dolphins have been trending in a positive direction for the last few years it seems and the Bills have assembled a very good Defensive line, luckily for us they are still looking for a successor to Jim Kelly. QB's are what makes a team in today's NFL and the reason why the afc east has such a poor reputation is that the rest of the division has put up very few guys who even resemble good QB's. Ryan Tannehill may be the best non brady Qb the division has had since 2000, Pennington and Sanchez are probably next in line. After that it's 50 feet of crap

Hopefully, history repeats itself and one of them selects Jameis Winston in the draft next spring (crosses fingers)....

Jets SUCK!

End of story.

The AFC East has sent a rep to the AFCCG in 10 of the last 14 years, including a five-year streak. Ok ok, eight of those belong to the Pats, but the point stands.

And I remember crunching the numbers over last summer for some argument I got into with a Jest fan (in person, not online). The AFC East, when playing outside the division, has one of the best records in football over the last several years. It's not Buffalo, Miami, and New Jersey's fault that they have to play the Pats twice a year while beating up on each other with solid defensive fronts.

meatface said:

The dolphins have been trending in a positive direction for the last few years it seems and the Bills have assembled a very good Defensive line, luckily for us they are still looking for a successor to Jim Kelly. QB's are what makes a team in today's NFL and the reason why the afc east has such a poor reputation is that the rest of the division has put up very few guys who even resemble good QB's. Ryan Tannehill may be the best non brady Qb the division has had since 2000, Pennington and Sanchez are probably next in line. After that it's 50 feet of crap

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Can't rate tannehill better than Pennington until he goes to the playoffs. Pennington did it with 2 different teams. And Sanchez was pretty good those first 2 seasons.

I have been saying this pretty much the entire season. The Bills and Dolphoons are legit this year.

I usually like to look at record outside divisional play as a barometer of this. I am too lazy to go through the standings and do it myself right now. But I do know in years past, the AFCE has stacked up quite well in that category.

Is the AFC North really strong, or is their cumulative record more a reflection of their common opponents (i.e., the NFC South)? If the season ended today Atlanta would win that division - in spite of the fact that they are 0-6 outside the NFC South. Over in the AFC North the Bengals would be the division winner, and until last week they looked lost after the Patriots beat them.

The whole AFCN looks very inconsistent right now; one week teams look capable of making a late season championship run, and the next week the same teams look like there's no way they can make the playoffs. Pittsburgh is the best example, alternating huge wins with horrible losses.

The first columns below (+/-) denotes each division's cumulative games above or below .500; the last won-loss record is for each division's record outside their own division.


A few observations:

- In the NFC West, Seattle has played only one division game this year. With five of their last six games within the division, things in the NFCW could change dramatically.

- Pittsburgh is 5-2 outside the AFC North and 4-1 within the rest of the AFC; Baltimore is 4-1 outside the AFCN but only 3-4 within the AFC. If conference record becomes a tiebreaker, the Steelers have a big advantage over the Ravens.

- Green Bay's point differential is 73 points better than Detroit's - but the Lions hold the tiebreaker right now due to their win over the Packers.

- Despite the presence of the Jets, the AFC East has still won more games than they have lost.

- Denver is taking advantage of their division opponents: they're just 4-3 outside the AFC West. By contrast Kansas City is 6-2 outside the AFCW, but two division losses really hurts them.

- Once again this year I kept hearing how good the NFC East was, but they have a better record than only two other divisions. Is there any other division in the NFL with a worse hype to results ratio?

- The Colts are 3-4 outside their division. Funny how all the analysts who passive-aggressively dissed the Patriots by implying that they would make the playoffs because of the division they are in, never say the same thing about the Colts.

- Atlanta is a winless 0-6 outside the division, but they would win the NFC South if the season ended today. Tampa Bay is 2-8, but just two games out of first place.

AFC East #1 despite the ball and chain (Jets) trying to keep us down.

FrodoBagginz said:

AFC East #1 despite the ball and chain (Jets) trying to keep us down.

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Agree. And Miami could easily be 8-2. Those last second losses to Detroit and GB could easily be wins. Miami is a legit team that will be there at the end.

jmt57 said:

- Once again this year I kept hearing how good the NFC East was, but they have a better record than only two other divisions. Is there any other division in the NFL with a worse hype to results ratio?​

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No, there isn't. Even if it sucks, the NFC East is the Media's favorite division. Case in point: Every other electronic website that lists the NFL standings lists the AFC first (for the simple reason that it's first alphabetically, perhaps?) --except ESPN. They list the NFC first. This has always annoyed me to no end. And because they list the NFC first, of course the first one you see is the NFC East. It's also the reason we get so many NFC East games shoved down our throats in prime time year after year.

Whining about the AFCE and its weakness as the reason for NE's success over the years is the "lie that if told enough becomes the truth" syndrome. Like spygate/Belicheat, it's loser talk. Whenever anyone brings those up as argument points against you, you know you've won. The last, desperate refuge points for losers.