View Full Version : Who's gonna win the AFC East?
Mr.Reality
11-11-2002, 02:21 AM
Or should I ask, "Who's gonna blow it?"
Right now nobody looks like they want it too bad. The Jets might be playing the best right now. Seriously. They handled Rickey Williams and LaDanian Thomlinson. It's not the Dolphins. They're playing like they need Jay Fiedler. I never knew that was possible. The Bills are kind of squeaking by. . . against the bad teams.
I think it's still a toss up.
The_Philster
11-11-2002, 04:26 AM
I think it's going to come down to the final week of the season with 3 of the 4 teams still in the hunt.
Buffarama
11-11-2002, 06:43 AM
The officials are bent on giving it to NE again.
BillsOwnAll
11-11-2002, 06:57 AM
i think buffalo has a good chance if they beat KC and MR.Reality
welcome to the zone but just cuz a team goes on a loseing streak doesnt mean they dont WANT it they just arent haveing a good week
Phins054
11-11-2002, 10:47 AM
Right now it is a dog fight in this division and every team has a legitimate belief that they can win it. That makes the divisional games all the more important for tie breaker edges. I think that 2 teams from this division will be in the playoffs and they will probably have the same record.
As far as to who wins the division...I think the first team to 10, wins the division.
Bills remaining games...KC Jets Miami NE SD GB and Cincy...The only definate win I see is Cincy. Buffalo has to win its division games to keep hope alive for the playoffs.
Phins remaining games...Balt SD Buffalo Chi Oak Minn NE...We only have 2 more division games. We need to get healthy quickly or we won't make the playoffs.
NEs remaining games...Oak Minn Det Buff Ten Jets Miami...NE could make a big push here. They should be able to beat Minn and Det easily.
Jets...Det Buff Oak Den Chi NE GB...Pretty tough schedule for them. It will be hard for them to get in the lead with that schedule.
BillsNYC
11-11-2002, 11:09 AM
i wish the nfl "annalysts" would stop counting teams in and out halfway through the season! i'm so sick of them!!!!
shelby
11-11-2002, 11:13 AM
Originally posted by Buffarama
The officials are bent on giving it to NE again.
It appeared that way to me....how much do the Patsies pay these :angry:ing refs??
The Phins will struggle and probably lose to Baltimore and S.D. the way Lucas is playing. 10 PPG simply isn't enough points to beat any team in this league. They may be 5-6 by then and if that happens,they're done. Even if they can beat Baltimore, they'll lose to S.D. and it'll be an uphill struggle to go 4-1.
The Jets have a very tough schedule w/ their Home games being against us, Denver, and G.B. to finish out the season. They're playing better, but not good enough to win 6 of their remaining 7 against superior teams in 3 or 4 of those games.
N.E. has the easiest schedule and is the best team in the AFCE led by superior coaching. A win this week @ Oakland and cakewalks the following two weeks v. Minnesota and Detroit should prime the Pats team big enough to win the division. They'll also dust Miami and beat either us or the Jets, maybe both, to be 4-2 or 5-1 in the division. All three remaining divisonal games are home games for them.
Attention: ***Unpopular Viewpoint from here down***
***PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE OFFENDED AT CRITICISM ABOUT THE BILLS!!!***
:D
The Bills face 6 teams the caliber of which they have not beaten thus far this season. For us to make the playoffs, we would need to win at least 5 of those 7 games and beat N.E. @ N.E. as well. Based on performance to date, and performance that appears to be weakening as the season rolls on, both defensively and offensively, the chances of victories vs. N.E. and G.B. on the road are unlikely. Given that, we would need to win the other 5 games against 4 teams that will likely all be .500 or better by the time we face them. We simply haven't had success against decent teams this season.
Having said that, a more realistic goal for us would be to be .500, maybe 9-7. Barring a total turn of events, trends, performance, and other occurrences combined w/ a lapse by the Pats who are through the tough part of their schedule, and a win vs. N.E. in Foxboro, we are ill-positioned to make the playoffs.
Sorry. JMO however. But, if we are going to make them, I would add that this K.C. game is a "must-win". A loss on Sunday and our playoff hopes go down the drain. Actually, a loss on Sunday and all of a sudden we're in a fight for .500.
Sorry boys and girls, but that's the gravity of the situation.
N.E. wins the division again on grit and a soft schedule after having had a horrendous schedule up front.
Earthquake Enyart
11-11-2002, 11:16 AM
I never thought they'd reverse that interception call. The view showed him juggling the ball, but then the ball was not in view beofre the fumble, where he could have had it under control. There was not enough evidense to reverse that call.
I still don't see why they stopped the clock after the 4th and 1 QB sneak either.
shelby
11-11-2002, 11:19 AM
Originally posted by Wys Guy
Attention: ***Unpopular Viewpoint from here down***
***PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE OFFENDED AT CRITICISM ABOUT THE BILLS!!!***
:D
:lol:
Wys...:urock:!!!
It's gonna come down to the remaining divisional games for everyone:
Jets: 2-2 AFCE w/ divisional games vs.
@ N.E.
Buffalo
Miami: 2-2 AFCE w/ divisional games vs.
@Buffalo
@N.E.
Bills: 1-2 AFCE w/ divisional games vs.
@ Jets
@ N.E.
Miami
N.E.: 2-1 AFCE w/ divisional games vs.
Buffalo
Jets
Miami
The best that the Jets, Phins, and we can be is 4-2 while it's likely that the Pats will be at least 4-2. We won't win all three remaining divisional games, or at least aren't likely to. 3-3 is possible, but that won't be enough to break a tie if we're even lucky enough to achieve a tie.
It's gonna be tough for anyone but N.E.to hold the tiebreaker.
colin
11-11-2002, 11:21 AM
NE certainly looks like they have the best shot based on schedule alone, but Blo is a young team and should be getting better week to week.
I think if we can beat KC and the Jets, then we put ourselves in a situation where we have 3 home games in December to warm weather teams/ the freaking Bengles, so if we can muster up some guts and take out NE in NE, we might win this thing.
I think we will be able to tell after playing KC. I think we match up very well against the Jets and should win that game, and then locking down and running Henry in the cold might put us into the playoffs. GW will either establish himself as a capable young coach or get his ass run out of town in the next few weeks.
Originally posted by colin
NE certainly looks like they have the best shot based on schedule alone, but Blo is a young team and should be getting better week to week.
I think if we can beat KC and the Jets, then we put ourselves in a situation where we have 3 home games in December to warm weather teams/ the freaking Bengles, so if we can muster up some guts and take out NE in NE, we might win this thing.
I think we will be able to tell after playing KC. I think we match up very well against the Jets and should win that game, and then locking down and running Henry in the cold might put us into the playoffs. GW will either establish himself as a capable young coach or get his ass run out of town in the next few weeks.
Yes, "should be" getting better. ;)
What's YO? Do you think we've improved thus far as the season has gone on?
I'd say that's pretty much right on colin. As you said, this K.C. game is essentially for "all the marbles." Unfortunately, with a win even, every other game after this becomes for "all the marbles" as well for the most part.
We can win games compared to last year when we didn't have a chance. We just need people to step up and Bledsoe to keep firing TD's. Yes WYS I know the stats from the past couple games. We need the offense to get back to the scoring pace it was at earlier in the season. We need the defense to play better. We can do it. It's a long shot but stranger things have happened.
Earthquake Enyart
11-11-2002, 11:46 AM
The Pats had their hands full with the sorry Bears. They are no world beaters. Wys keeps making the assumption that it will take 10 wins to take the division. 9 might do it, and our boys can get to 9.
nine will not win us the division NE division record is better than ours and if 9 wins is going to grab this division I would expect they will have nine wins and so will we.
If 9 does it, then it'll be via tiebreaker as Typ0 stated. There's no way that N.E. goes any less than 4-3 vs. the schedule they have left and w/ all three divisional games at home.
We'd have to beat them in N.E., have a better divisional record which would likely entail the Pats then losing to both Miami and the Jets in N.E., and even then, w/ a tied divisional record, our Conf. record is 2-4 right now v. their and Miami's 4-3.
It's too much now. If we don't beat the Chiefs on Sunday, then we'd be 2-5 Conf. It's an uphill battle no matter how you slice it. Meanwhile, N.E. is fully capable of beating every single team on their remaining schedule and is better than all of them. In their current states, the best teams that they face are maybe Tennessee and Oakland, two teams that figure to both finish around .500.
I realize no one likes N.E. at the moment, but they should be given some credit. Brady has more TDs now than many thought he would post all season and is on pace to lead the NFL in passing TDs w/ near 40 and good numbers elsewhere. They're playing as a team and their stats will improve as the season goes on and they play the scrubbier teams.
colin
11-11-2002, 12:07 PM
NE has had two wins against terrible Ds, they will get spanked by the Raiders and will have need some breaks to win every game. We can decide our own destiny, and if we beat KC my money is on us winning the AFCE.
BillsNYC
11-11-2002, 12:08 PM
when is fiedler back?
TigerJ
11-11-2002, 12:40 PM
At the moment, comparing the remaining schedule, I think the odds are definitely in NE's favor. The closeness of the Chicago game shows they are no juggernaut, but the easy schedule and breaks from officials are hard to beat. Miami can't win enough games with Lucas at QB to stay in the race. They might be out of it by the time Fiedler returns. Buffalo has a very tough remaining schedule. I don't think they can do it on the strength of Bledsoe's arm alone. They have to get more of a contrubution from the defence.
You guys are a little harsh on N.E. I watched the entire game. While I realize that we got smoked by N.E. and that fan "fondness" of the Pats isn't at an all-time high, you've still gotta give credit to them.
Sure they came out flat. But then they also put up 27 points in a 27-3 streak on the road in the last 18 minutes of the game to win it. That's pretty impressive. They've quietly put up almost as many points as we have this season and Brady's put up more TDs than Drew. Their D is head-and-shoulders above ours.
So for anyone to think that we have a serious shot at winning the division, then it only makes sense to think that they have an even better one. We rave about our offense, yet theirs has done the same and against better teams.
Case in point;
They put up 33 v. Chicago in Chicago.
We put up 33 v. Chicago at home.
BillsNYC
11-11-2002, 01:44 PM
i think fielder is gonna come back and miami is gonna blow everybody away....i think the bills could pull it off...but the defense would have to improve 1000%...which after seeing belichek run circles around them...seams unlikely...
casdhf
11-11-2002, 02:18 PM
Maybe not even take 9, we could have someone freakin win at 8-8
BFBills
11-11-2002, 02:52 PM
i am gonna winn the AFC East!
Dah...you knew that!
mybills
11-11-2002, 05:10 PM
The real pisser here is that the S.B. Champs are supposed to have the toughest schedule. Can anyone say they've had it tough so far? I can't.
IMO, between their (not supposed to be easy) schedule and their zebra friends, it looks like they may have this division. But on the bright side, I don't see another S.B. for them this year.
They've had the same schedule we've had.
We got Cincy and Houston.
They got Tennessee and Pittsburgh.
iceblizzard69
11-11-2002, 08:50 PM
I think it will be close. The first team to fall off the map will be the Patriots. The barely beat the Bears who could be winless and have lost 7 straight and they don't have the talent to stay close. They had a very lucky game against the Bills, but that was a game that they really wanted to win. I think the Jets will fall off the map after the Patriots. They are riding on a hot streak right now, but it will end and they will return to their old form. That leaves two, the Bills and Dolphins. When Fiedler comes back, the Dolphins will have a good offense and defense. The Bills have a better offense, but their defense is a lot worse. With all of this in mind, I conclude that the Dolphins will win the division, with the Bills second, Jets third, and Patriots fourth.
DIHARD2
11-11-2002, 10:18 PM
If we don't win it ,I want to be the spoiler against New England and give it to the Jets. Even though I hate the Jets, I think after last night's game New England doesn't deserve anymore breaks. Their luck has to be running out if not, somebody is paying off the referees.
GO!!!...BUFFALO!!!...
Novacane
11-11-2002, 10:31 PM
It is amazing how things change from week to week. I would not put money on any team right now. Look at Denver tonight! They were thought to be the class of the AFC and they are getting their butts handed to them.
Mr.Reality
11-12-2002, 12:07 AM
I think it's pretty much a toss up. Everybody has a weakness. Miami's passing game is questionable. NE's running game is suspect. The Bills defense is average. The Jets are all over the place.
Really, I think NE has the cheesiest schedule and most likely able to beat a good team when they had to. But it could be anyone. It might comedown to a double tiebreaker.
mybills
11-12-2002, 06:45 AM
Originally posted by Wys Guy
They've had the same schedule we've had.
Exactly my point, wys! They're not supposed to.
Earthquake Enyart
11-12-2002, 06:58 AM
Since realignment, all the teams will have virtually the same schedule. In the past, the 5th place schedule was waaaay easier than the others. Now there isn't much difference between 1st and 4th. If these Bills had a 5th place schedule like the past, there would be no doubt they would make the playoffs.
TigerJ
11-12-2002, 08:33 AM
Ditto EE's post. Last place gives you squat anymore under the new system. Our schedule is comparable to the schedules of the other AFC East teams, but more difficult BECAUSE we were the worst team in the division and have to play the other teams in the division while the other teams GET to play us, who had the worst record in the division.
mybills
11-12-2002, 10:28 AM
Another lucky break for NE. :rolleyes:
Ebenezer
11-12-2002, 10:49 AM
why don't we start a poll???
lunatic_bills_fan
11-12-2002, 12:40 PM
If teams would learn to get in the face of those damn Patsi recievers and hit them hard at the line of scrimmage, knocking Bardy's timing off, they would learn that if Brady has to make a decision other than his first target, NE is in trouble. Yes there D is above average, but small. Any offensive line in the NFL should be able to run them back 5 yards up the feild every play. The problem is coaches always say, were goin in and gonna stick to our game plan. Problem is it doesnt seem our coaches take oppositions weaknesses into account for our gameplan. To rap it up, My prediction is NE losses all three of its remaining Divisional games. Coaches like Edwards and Wannstadt will figure them out. Williams on the other hand, well lets all just kneel and pray now.
WOW
As to schedule, it's a totally different ball game so-to-speak as it was say 10 years ago. As everyone has said, due to the parity changes, just b/c you have a schedule that is perceived as tough or easy, does not mean that it will be.
I think it's a lot more fair that every team in a particular division play virtually the exact same teams for the most part. Part of "parity" is the notion that the top team in the division has to play the strongest two teams in a given division while the bottom team has to play the weakest two. Those two games can be huge. If the bottom team is say a 5-11 team and the top team is say an 11-5 team, then those two games could mean 7-9 and 9-7 to make things much closer.
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