The Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins have done what they can from the start of 2019 season to the present day, to make the division is competitive again. The Jets are trying to conserve their mediocrity and are the only weak spot in the division.
Shane Mickle of Clutch Point wrote an article ranking the east. I appreciate him taking the time to write his article titled " Ranking the difficulty of the 2020 NFL schedules in the AFC East."
Shane Ranks the Dolphins with the easiest schedule. He points out two oddities in his article. The first is the Jets and Dolphins play each other back to back. The second oddity is when he lists some of their opponents. "Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Chargers, and the Los Angeles Dolphins at home." Either this was a typo or Shane hates the Rams for some reason. The Dolphins' biggest weakness is they don't know who's starting week one.
In the first five weeks the Dolphins face The Bills, Patriots, 49ers, and Seahawks. That's a hell of a way to open the season. If the Dolphins started 1-4, only beating the Jaguars; it would not be a surprise. However, they will shock Buffalo and go 2-3.
They follow it up by going to denver, hosting both LA teams, then head to the litter box to play the cardinals and then host the Jets. The Chargers and Jets need too much work and should be easy wins for the Dolphins. The Rams, Broncos, and Cardinals could be good games to watch. The Rams are looking to return to a superbowl caliber team, while the Broncos and Cardinals are in the second year of rebuilding mode. I expect they'll go 4-1, losing to the Rams.
After the bye, they face three playoff teams in the Patriots, Bills, and Cheifs. They'll also be facing the Raiders, Jets, and Bengals. They should close out the last six games going 3-3. Adding everything up, I believe 9-7 is a reasonable expectation for the Miami Dolphins.
Mickle ranks the Jets as the 3rd toughest. With Adam Gates and Sam Darnold I am surprised that he doesn't have them ranked number one. Mickle list a seven game stretch that is is reason for him putting them above the Dolphins.
"The Jets play the San Francisco 49ers, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills, and Kansas City Chiefs in seven straight weeks."
That is a tough line of games for a normal team. Being the Jets are as good as a D3 college football team, that should be impossible for them.
The Jets start at Buffalo, Then face Jimmy G in Jersey, They travel to Indy and have two home games against the Broncos and Cardinals in the first five weeks. The Bills and niners are playoff teams, and the Jets are going to be slaughtered. Even with the Colts quarterback situation and the rebuilds taken place with the Broncos and Cardinals, the Jets don't stack up. Gase has no Idea how to use his Talent. The Jets will start 0-5.
The jets then travel to play the Chargers who need to figure out their quarterback. Then they come home to play buffalo. They head to KC to play the Superbowl champions*, before returning to face the Patriots at home and Dolphins in Miami.
The Bills, Patriots, and Chiefs are going to walk all over the Jets. The Dolphins are a year away from being a wild card owner. But are good enough to beat the Jets. They have a close game against the Chargers, whom have enough issues the jets will squeak out a win and go 1-4 over these five weeks.
The Jets have a bye and then host the Dolphins and Raiders before traveling to face Russell Wilson and Jarrett Goff. They then return home to face the Browns before Going to New England. Over this stretch the only game the Jets have a chance to hang in on is the Browns game. The Jets will go 1-5 over the last six games bringing their record to 2-14.
Mickle ranks the Patriots with the second toughest schedule. The biggest issue for the Patriots is the question at quarterback which sounds strange after having the GOAT for twenty years.
The Patriots host Miami for a tough contest with the Dolphins. Before going to Seattle for some coffee and a battle with Russell Wilson. They then host the Raiders and travel to Arrowhead to face the Chiefs, before hosting the Broncos. I know playing Miami is normally tough but I dont expect the dolphins to have their quarterback situation figured out and the Broncos are still figuring things out as well. Stidham's inexperience will be taken advantage of in the losses. The Patriots will start the season 3-2 over the first 5 weeks.
The Patriots then have a week 5 bye, like what's the point of having one. These byes before week seven are useless.
The Patriots then host the NFC champs, travel to the house Ralph Wilson Built in Buffalo to face a tough Bills team. They then Go to Jersey to play the Jets, followed by travelling to Baltimore and Houston.
The Patriots are going to crush the Jets. Depending on if the League has found the blueprint to the Ravens offense like they did the wildcat, will determine the outcome of that game. However Stidham's inexperience will have the Patriots going 1-4 over these five games.
The Patriots then host Arizona before heading to LA for a double header. They then Travel to Miami before hosting the Bills and Jets. The Patriots defense is too good and will be too much going down the stretch. The Bills are playing in Foxboro. If Stidham isn't developed by this point, Hoyer is good enough to get the Patriots to 17 points a game. They will win all six games bringing their record to 10-6.
So then we have the Bills who Mickle has as the favorites to win the east, he wrote."The Buffalo Bills got a couple of gifts with their schedule. The schedule is still tough, but they play some of the toughest games on their home field."
The Bills will beat the Jets at home before losing in Miami. They then will travel to LA to face the Rams before coming home to beat the Raiders. Following that they go to Tennessee, where Vrabel and Henry are going to run over them. The Bills will start the season 3-2.
They will lose to the defending superbowl champions at home before going to New Jersey to take it out on the Jets. Then they host New England and Seattle before traveling to Arizona. Buffalo will be too much for Stidham but not enough for Wilson. They will beat Murray in the desert. The Bills will go 3-2 over these five games.
After a bye week, Buffalo hosts Tyrod Taylor and the chargers before going to face the defending NFC champions in San Francisco. They then host Pittsburgh which is their wildcard game before traveling to Denver. They will then travel to New England before hosting miami. Buffalo will beat the chargers, Broncos, Steelers and Dolphins as the teams have too many issues but lose to the 49ers, and Patriots. Thus finishing 4-2 over the last six games for a record of 10-6.
The division will be close between both New England and Buffalo with both teams having one wildcard game that could go the other way.
Based off my record predictions based on my opinion of strength of schedule due to strength of rosters and coaching staff. I disagree with with Mickle, It would be more difficult for the Jets to get in the playoffs than the Bills or Patriots to finish with only seven wins. With that, I say the ranking goes as followed from easiest to hardest. Buffalo, New England, Miami and then the New Jersey Jets.
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