Not sure.
If the Pats fall apart - and bear in mind this team went 10-6 with Matt Cassel at QB - Buffalo is the clear front running beneficiary.
The Jets do have to replace X-receiver Robby Anderson, although Quincy Anunwa is a very underrated slot receiver. But Darnold is inconsistent to date as a QB, and he has to improve to make it matter. Also, Leveon Bell might not be the answer at RB much longer...
Unless the Patriots draft well this weekend, I see them as a 3rd place team. The roster is just too old, other than the secondary. I don't know how Stidham will turn out if they choose to rely on him, and they have major holes at WR and TE as we learned last year in December.
I agree with you on Bell, but Darnold played exceptionally well the second half of the season once he got his stamina back from mono, and stopped seeing ghosts. People forget that the Jets ended up at 7-9, 2 games out of the playoffs, and were perhaps the most under-the-radar team in the NFL, since many people gave up on them after the 1-7 start that was due in large part to injuries. Darnold did all that with not a lot of weapons at his disposal. Get a little help on the O-line, and I like what he can do. The defense is pretty solid, they just didn't stay healthy. CJ Mosley got hurt early in the year, Avery Williamson missed the entire year, putting way too much on Jamal Adams, who almost singlehandedly got the job done. Now if they could just hold onto him and not trade him like they're talking about doing during the draft...
Belichick doesn’t do third place...
Well then he better draft well this weekend.
I have so many friends that are convoluted Patriots fans. They think it's impossible for them to ever be bad. They were horrible once, they'll be horrible again. It might not be anytime soon, but they'll stink again. Just because they've been dominant as long as you've been alive doesn't mean they will always be dominant is basically what I always tell them.
I'm a Patriots fans too (and a Jets fan, don't ask), but I'm more realistic about the fact that they won't always be so good
The Patriots have had some horrific seasons. This is a team that won 19 games total in the 5 seasons before drafting Drew Bledsoe. They went 1-15 in 1990, only beating the Colts. And the general feeling was “what the fuck is wrong with the Colts?”
They had one year where they went 2-14 and the Colts also went 2-14. The difference was BOTH of the Colts’ wins were over the Patriots. (The Colts were in the AFC East back then.). Those were some bad, bad, bad teams.
But I’m not ready to write them off. I don’t have faith in Stidham, but I do have faith in Belichick...
Any predictions on the winner of tonight’s Aaron Rodgers Award given time the athlete who unexpectedly falls the furthest?
I’m thinking Justin Herbert. Based on nothing (but hope that he reaches New England)...