The Patriots record in division was similar to the Patriots record outside of division. The notion that the AFCE was always crap was almost always tossed out with much fanfare but without much data-in-context. But, yeah, some years are much easier than others, and that's nothing to be ashamed of.
The Pats won 10 or more games a season for like a decade straight. Of course their record would be similar if they are winning 12-14 games a season. They didn’t lose much during the dynasty era. Doesn’t change the fact that for most of the dynasty era the AFC East was mostly crap.
I mean Buffalo didn’t ever make the playoffs during the Belichick/ Brady era until 2017. And during the whole time Brady was the Pats QB, they had four seasons with a winning record and only one of those were ten wins or more.
The Jets have sucked since like 2010 (only one season since then with a winning record). And in the 20 years Brady was QB, the Jets had eight season where they had six wins or less and nine seasons total with losing records and one season where they went 8-8. They only had ten or more wins five seasons
During the Brady era, the Dolphins had ten seasons with losing records an two seasons with 8-8 records. And five of the losing seasons were with six or less wins including one 1-15 season. They only had ten or more wins during five seasons.
I stand by my comments that the Pats benefited from having a crappy AFC East for most of the dynasty years.
