It’s Oct. 24 and the Patriots are in last place in the AFC East.
Regardless of New England’s results Monday night against the Bears at Gillette Stadium, Bill Belichick’s team will remain in last place in its division approaching November thanks to an opening day loss in Miami that gives the Dolphins the head-to-head tiebreaker.
This isn’t a slight against the Patriots as much as it’s a picture of an AFC East that’s better than anyone probably expected top to bottom.
Sure the Bills entered 2022 as a Super Bowl contender and have lived up to the hype, sitting at 5-1 with the best point differential in the NFL.
But the fact that the Jets (5-2), Dolphins (4-3) and Patriots (3-3) are all .500 or better is probably pretty surprising to most football analysts and fans.
Also notable is that if the playoffs started today – which would be way too early and way too weird – Buffalo, New York and Miami would all be part of the seven-team field in the AFC.
MVP candidate Josh Allen shows little sign of slowing down in Buffalo, the Bills coming off a bye heading into next Sunday night’s hosting of the disappointing Packers.
But are the Jets, who’ve already surpassed their win total from a year ago, going to sustain such success?
Are the Dolphins, who righted the ship with Tua Tagovailoa getting back under center for a much-needed win over the Steelers, built for the long haul under first-year coach Mike McDaniel?
And obviously New England must prove itself capable of winning games more than just during this current “soft stretch” of its schedule as second-year quarterback Mac Jones likely returns to the lineup against Chicago.
Is the AFC East the best division in football? Well, let’s just say there is a lot of football left to be played.
But it is the only division currently home to four teams with a record of .500 or better. One of only two divisions (NFC East) whose four teams won the last game they each played. It also joins the NFC East as one of only two divisions with three of four teams with a positive point differential. And only the NFC East has more total wins as a division (20) than the AFC East’s 17, four more than the AFC and NFC West divisions.
In a year when Tom Brady’s Bucs (3-4) and Aaron Rodgers’ Packers (3-4) both have losing records through seven weeks of action, the AFC East is the land of early-season winning.
What does this mean for New England? Well, the upcoming battles with the Jets on Oct. 30 and Nov. 20 may not be the “soft,” easily winnable matchups that many may have expected before New York’s recent four-game winning surge that includes victories over the Steelers, Dolphins, Packers and Broncos (Green Bay the only team in that stretch that used its opening day starter at QB).
A year after returning to the postseason as a Wild Card, New England has to fight through the Dolphins and Jets in the standings before any talk potentially closing the gap with the division-leading Bills can take hold.
Don’t look now, but the AFC East is one of the best divisions in the NFL early this season, a reality that has the Patriots sitting in last place despite a .500 record and a two-game winning streak heading into the Monday Night Football battle with the Bears.
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