Gunzlingr
06-05-2003, 08:20 AM
he presence of four very good, evenly-matched teams might make the AFC East the most competitive division in all of professional sports.
That's why the pressure on coaches Bill Belichick (Patriots), Herman Edwards (Jets), Dave Wannstedt (Dolphins), and Gregg Williams (Bills) is enormous. It's also why minicamps, such as the one that begins today in Foxborough, have become so important to coaching staffs.
Mess up just slightly, and it could cost your team a playoff spot and/or you your job. With the vultures already hovering over Wannstedt, if he should falter again in December with what might be the most talented team in the division (nine Pro Bowlers on defense and Ricky Williams at running back), he will likely not be coaching the Dolphins much longer.
If Edwards, who did a terrific job keeping a team that was on the verge of falling apart together and led them to the division title, can't replace Laveranues Coles, John Hall, Randy Thomas, or Chad Morton properly, the love affair Jets fans have with Edwards could turn ugly.
The Bills, the East's rising team, have given Williams the defense he's always wanted and needed, but if he can't get Drew Bledsoe to overcome Belichick's mind games at least once out of the two games they play, and if he can't properly replace the departed Peerless Price, then he, too, will come under great scrutiny.
more (http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/156/sports/Can_additions_solve_division_problems_+.shtml)
That's why the pressure on coaches Bill Belichick (Patriots), Herman Edwards (Jets), Dave Wannstedt (Dolphins), and Gregg Williams (Bills) is enormous. It's also why minicamps, such as the one that begins today in Foxborough, have become so important to coaching staffs.
Mess up just slightly, and it could cost your team a playoff spot and/or you your job. With the vultures already hovering over Wannstedt, if he should falter again in December with what might be the most talented team in the division (nine Pro Bowlers on defense and Ricky Williams at running back), he will likely not be coaching the Dolphins much longer.
If Edwards, who did a terrific job keeping a team that was on the verge of falling apart together and led them to the division title, can't replace Laveranues Coles, John Hall, Randy Thomas, or Chad Morton properly, the love affair Jets fans have with Edwards could turn ugly.
The Bills, the East's rising team, have given Williams the defense he's always wanted and needed, but if he can't get Drew Bledsoe to overcome Belichick's mind games at least once out of the two games they play, and if he can't properly replace the departed Peerless Price, then he, too, will come under great scrutiny.
more (http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/156/sports/Can_additions_solve_division_problems_+.shtml)