And now the moment Sir Andrew Bernard has been waiting for....
- New England Patriots (14-2) - The class of the division remains as such... Brady is back and healthy....Moss is full-strength (and the 2 of them looked to be in midseason form the other night)....Welker is the ideal slot man and the offensive line is a top-10 unit... Add in the addition of veteran Fred Taylor and a returning Laurence Maroney to compliment Kevin Faulk...the offense is the most talented unit in the league and can/should lead the league in scoring once again....you knew all that....the defense is better than it has been in recent years though....the defensive line in the 3-4 is CHALKED with pro bowlers...Vince Wilfork is elite at tackle, Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, and the like will dominate up there....and the linebackers are no longer the old, slow unit they have been...Jerod Mayo led the team in tackles a rookie and is a monster....newly acquired Derrick Burgess teams with Adalius Thomas to form possible the most electric OLB combo in the league flying off the edge....and the secondary gets a boost adding Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden....Can't bet against them and I won't....
- Buffalo Bills (8-8) - Big time drop off.... I like what Buffalo did in the offseason...for as much ballyhoo as the TO signing brought them...they got him relatively cheap and it's sort of a 1-year flier.... Aaron Maybin looks like an animal on defense and once Marshawn Lynch comes back from suspension, they have some pretty significant weapons (don't forget about Lee Evans)...I like Trent Edwards as a caretaker and not much more...there is talent...but not the explosion needed to contend with the Pats....one advantage to look for though? The electric return game Buffalo can trot out with Roscoe Parrish and Leodis McKelvin....
- Miami Dolphins (7-9) - The good: This teams returns virtually everyone from their 11-5 team....The bad: the 11-5 team was a fluke.... Chad Pennington played out of his mind last year...Ronnie Brown (and Chad, too) can't stay healthy for a full year and had a down year when you remove the fluky 5 TD effort he had early... The receivers are potentially dreadful again unless Ted Ginn can emerge... The defense could be quite good as they bring back Jason Taylor, draft Vontae Davis (who looks like a man), and bring in Gibril Wilson to anchor the back....I'm not as down on them as some...but no playoff repeat...
- New York Jets (5-11) - All about the QB here folks...I'm not sold on Sanchez as a guy that can play right away...he started 16 games in his entire college career...guys like that don't have immediate NFL success...factor in a mediocre (at best) receiving corps....and bleh....Dustin Keller is a brightspot at TE and Jericho Cotchery is overly consistent...but no explosion...the defense should be good with Rex Ryan bringing alot of his guys to town (Bart Scott included) but if they never get off the field...it'll be a long year....
No comments:
Post a Comment