(Excerpt: “Obviously, Brady is still the class of the division.  However, depth may be a concern.  Depth is not, however, a concern with the Dolphins, as they enter into camp with the best depth in the division and a rising star in Henne (12 tds, 14 ints, 60% cp, 75 .2 QB rating).  Sanchez, (12 tds, 20 ints, 53.8% cp,   63 QB rating) gets more hype but has yet to live up to it consistently.”)

A POSITION BY POSITION BREAKDOWN OF THE AFC EAST
by Ken Dasher
Phinfever.com

QB
New England:  Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer                     Rank: 1
Miami:  Chad Henne, Chad Pennington                      Rank: 2
New York:  Mark Sanchez, Kellen Clemens                Rank: 3
Buffalo Bills:  Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick            Rank: 4

Obviously, Brady is still the class of the division.  However, depth may be a concern.  Depth is not, however, a concern with the Dolphins, as they enter into camp with the best depth in the division and a rising star in Henne (12 tds, 14 ints, 60% cp, 75 .2 QB rating).  Sanchez, (12 tds, 20 ints, 53.8% cp,   63 QB rating) gets more hype but has yet to live up to it consistently.

RB
Buffalo Bills:  Fred Jackson, Marshawn Lynch, CJ Spiller            Rank:  1
Miami:  Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, Patrick Cobbs                Rank:  2
New York:  Shonn Green, Ladanian Tomlinson, Joe McKnight      Rank:  3
New England:  Lawrence Maroney, Sammy Morris, Fred Taylor    Rank:  4

Bills at the top?  Well, the combination of Jackson, Lynch and Spiller is dynamic and versatile.  Their problem is their offensive line.  This might be the last year of R &R in Miami, and their depth (Cobbs and Hilliard) may be among the best in the league.  The Jets swapped Thomas Jones (1402 yds,4.2 ypc,  14 tds) for Ladanian Tomlinson (730 yds,3.3 ypc,  12 tds) and Leon Washington (847 total yds) for rookie Joe McKnight.  Time will tell if that leaves them better off, but on paper, I’d say they took a step back.  The Patriots continue to play with a patchwork lineup of steady but unspectacular role players.

WR
New England:  Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Torry Holt                     Rank:  1
New York:  Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, Jericho Cotchery   Rank:  2
Miami:  Brandon Marshall, Brian Hartline, Davone Bess                  Rank:  3
Buffalo:  Lee Edwards, James Hardy, Roscoe Parrish                    Rank:  4

Tough one to predict.  So many questions… how long until Welker is playing at full speed?  How long until either Edwards or Holmes has a meltdown?  Will Braylon catch more than he drops?  Which Miami receiver will benefit the most from the presence of Marshall, and how long until he develops the chemistry with Henne to finally make opposing defenses respect the passing game?  The top 3 could end up in any order, with Buffalo’s receivers suffering from their woeful QB play (which in turn suffers from its woeful offensive line).

TE
New York:  Dustin Keller, Ben Hartstock                        Rank:  1
New England:  Algae Crumpler, Rob Gronkowski            Rank:  2
Miami:  Anthony Fasano, Joey Haynos                          Rank:  3
Buffalo:  Derek Schoumann, Shawn Nelson                    Rank:  4

Keller is the top TE in the division.  Crumpler is on the downside of a solid career, but Gronkowski could spell trouble for opposing d’s as he gives Brady yet one more downfield weapon if he can stay healthy.  Fasano may have a bounce-back year with the presence of Marshall softening opposing D’s.

Offensive Line
New York:  2,756 rush yds, 4.5 avg, 30 sacks                 Rank:  1
Miami:  2,231 rush yds, 4.4 avg, 34 sacks                      Rank:  2
New England:  1,921 rush yds, 4.1 avg, 18 sacks            Rank:  3
Buffalo:  1,867 rush yds, 4.4 avg, 46 sacks                     Rank:  4

New York gets the hype, but Miami and New England may not be far behind.  The Jets took a gamble by letting go one of the most respected OGs in the game in Faneca  (albeit at the end of his career) and replacing him with a rookie.  Buffalo waited until the 5th round of the draft to address their most glaring offensive weakness last year.
Defensive Line
New England:  Warren, Wilfork and Wright                    Rank:  1
New York:  Ellis, Jenkins, Devito                                  Rank:  2
Miami:  Langford, Starks, Odrick                                  Rank:  3
Buffalo: Kelsay, Johnson, Williams, Schobel                 Rank:  4

From top to bottom, this is a talented group of defensive lines.  Edge to New England based on the presence of Wilfork and their experience playing together.  New York, Miami and Buffalo all have questions to answer… will Odrick live up to his 1st round status and beat out Philip Merling?  Will Kris Jenkins stay healthy?  (If not, their ranking drops…)  How much do Schobel and Kelsay have left in the tank?

LB
New York:  Thomas, Scott, Harris, Pace                      Rank:  1
New England:  Woods, Mayo, Guyton, Banta-Cain        Rank:  2A
Miami:   Wake, Crowder, Dansby, Misi                        Rank:  2B
Buffalo:  Scott, Posluszny, Draft                                 Rank:  4

The Jets are stacked at LB, with pass-rush specialist Jason Taylor coming off the bench most likely in a rotation with Thomas.  Mayo and Banta-Cain provide enough talent and production to edge out Miami’s unproven core, though the addition of Dansby closes the gap significantly.  If Misi and Wake play at a high level, this becomes a formidable- and young- strength for the team.  Posluszny is a stud for Buffalo.

DBs
New York:  Revis, Cromartie, Leonard, Smith                      Rank:  1
New England:  Springs, Bodden, Merriweather, McGowan    Rank:  2
Miami:  Davis, Smith, Culver, Bell                                       Rank:  3
Buffalo:  Florence, Corner, Byrd, Wilson                             Rank:  4

The Jets trade for Cromartie and then drafting of Kyle Wilson adds to a secondary that was already among the best in the league.  Losing Kerry Rhodes hurts, though.  Springs and Bodden are just okay, but Meriweather and McGowan are a talented pair of young safeties.  How long before we see Devin McCourty starting?  Miami’s young, talented pair of corners took their lumps last year and will be pushed by Will Allen in camp.  A big question mark remains at free safety, which was a huge issue last year.  Buffalo has the electric Jairus Byrd at safety, but the corners are suspect.

Special Teams
Buffalo:                                       Rank:  1
Miami:                                        Rank:  2
New England:                              Rank:  3
New York:                                   Rank:  4

What are you looking for?  Exciting return man?  Buffalo’s Roscoe Parrish and Fred Jackson form a dangerous tandem in the return game, while Brian Moorman led the division with a 42.4 yd net average punting the ball.  Rian Lindell is steady, connecting on 84.8% of his attempts while scoring 108 points.  Miami’s Dan Carpenter (112 points, 89.3%) was a pro bowl alternate, and Brandon fields had a very respectable 41.4 yd average.  Both Miami and the Jets lost dangerous return men in Ginn and Washington, and the Jets also brought in a new kicker, replacing ex-Dolphin Jay Feeley (122 pts, 83.3%) with Nick Folk (career 79%) while the Patriots earn points for returning all starters.  Gostkowski  led all AFC East kickers with 125 points, with an 83.9% average.
Coaching
New England:                      Rank:  1
Miami:                                Rank:   2
New York:                            Rank:  3
Buffalo:                                Rank:  4

Until proven otherwise, Beli-cheat is still the best at what he does in our division, if not all of football.  Sparano has proven himself to be the prototype Parcells coach; tough, straight-forward, no-nonsense and effective.   Dan Henning and Mike Nolan form the most proven pair of coordinators in the division.  The Big MOUTH in the Big Apple, in spite of his silly outbursts and bombastic proclamations, is actually a gifted coach and seems to inspire great effort from his players.  Brian Schottenheimer and Mike Westhoff are talented coordinators.  New Buffalo head coach Chan Gailey has assembled a solid staff.  Defensive coordinator George Edwards is a familiar face, having coached linebackers in Miami last year.

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(David Grotefend) The Bloodfest is over, the initial surge as the most coveted free agents are courted by their prospective new employers. Now teams glean over the remaining talent pool, adding an element here or there, but sort of in a holding ‘wait and see’ mode. Of course, as a Dolphin fan I wanted to grade them all ‘F’s, but that wouldn’t be true or fair.

Buffalo has not been a big player so far, with only the signing away from Oakland of OT Cornell Green (an 11th year veteran who has only started 46 games in ten seasons). They did resign Bryan Scott for 3-yr, 9M and kept TE Klopfenstein (their RFA). They lost Jonathon Scott, a 4th yr OT to Pittsburgh, to a 1-yr deal no less.

A couple semi-notable names dot their FA board, but there’s not a whole lot to pick through. Josh Reed, Ryan Denney…

Analysis: Ho-hum, really. Scott is a solid depth player when he’s in there, but he’s only been able to start 18 games…in the last three seasons combined. There’s more interest in if T.O. is going to Cincy than the rest of the Bills FA follies combined. Gailey is a decent enough coach, but he’s going to need more than FA backups and journeymen…The Jill’s offense was 30th in yards, 30th in passing, 16th in rushing and 28th in scoring. Their defense was better, but still 30th against the run. Their pass defense was an over-inflated 2nd because in part other teams simply pummelled them on the ground. Without a franchise QB who can get the job done, they are going to struggle; without the addition of better overall talent they are going to struggle mightily. D, because they got little, and lost some of what little they had.

New England, on the other hand, has been busy. They moved quickly with a number of their players, resigning Banta-Cain, Bodden, Faulk, Neal and slapped the franchise tag on Wilfork. They did lose Chris Baker to Seattle (TE), Jarvis Green to Denver (DE), and Ben Watson to Cleveland (TE). The team has obviously taken a stand against others raiding their depth, but the state of the Patriots is easily determined by looking at one thing…Junior Seau is still on their FA board, apparently available for hire. They have not, conversely, gone after other teams’ players, with only the backup DE Marques Murrell being garnered from the Jets, which probably has more ego chest-beating value in the Boston-NYC feud than it ever will on the field.

Analysis: Wilfork is a beast, and his Hurricane lineage had me salivating at the prospect of bringing him home to be our monster in the middle. However, the Dark Lord has apparently closed the doors of Citadel Pestilence, allowing no raiding of the cupboard. Derrick Burgess appears to be the best of the remaining pickings, unless you count Gostkowski and Hanson, their Placekicker and Punter. B, though I am loathe to admit it. They kept a lot of their depth, which will be critical for an aging team.

New York is a rare case: they will continue to do things over and over again as a franchise though it has failed in every attempt. They passed on Pennington last season, shipping him out in favor of an aging veteran who turned into Mr. Interception and kept them away from the playoffs. Pennington had his best season and beat them in their house to rub salt in the wound. They passed on Jonathan Vilma, sending him to New Orleans and bringing in Calvin Pace. Vilma in ‘08-’09, 242 Tackles, 3 Sacks, 14 PDs, 4 Ints, 2 FFs and 3 FRs. Yeah, he was washed up.

This time, the Jets cut Thomas Jones, who is coming off a career year and FIVE consecutive 1000 yd seasons. They bring in the aging veteran LT to replace him, coming off his worst year. They stand to lose Leon Washington, because there will be someone take a shot at him: he won’t be looking for premium top-dollar coming off an injury. They will be counting on a promising Rookie (Shon Greene), an erratic Rookie (Mark Sanchez) and an aging star near the end of the line (LT).

Their splash has been defensively, as they bring in disgruntled problem child AC, and Cromartie paired with Revis has the already-bandwagon Jet faithful frothing at the mouth.

Analysis: Tannenbaum will continue to convince Woody that he knows what he’s doing. With the circus clown act their new coach has already made that position, it seems somehow inevitable that this Keystone Kops aspect gets exposed. The switch from Jones to Tomlinson is an upgrade? The Jets, though they played well in the Postseason, were an afterthought that got gifted into the Playoffs by their final opponents resting their players. Now they send away their best offensive weapon. Braylon Edwards wasn’t immediately resigned, either…they’re letting him test the waters, apparently. C-; as erratic as Sanchez was, why on earth wouldn’t you keep the part of the machine that WAS functioning properly (#1 rushing game) alone???

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