NFL Preview: AFC East!
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by JasonComack
I am a huge NFL fan. Much bigger than baseball, football is my game. With the Madden Clock winding down and training camps opening league wide it’s time to start talking football, real football…things that matter not 800 hours of Mike Vick Dog Fight coverage. (I’m looking at you ESPN)
For the rest of the week I am going to go division by division with my own analysis of every team, including key players, key addition/subtractions, and players to watch. Now players to watch is going to be someone you’ve probably never heard of who is going to impact your favorite team. I’m not going with the obvious here; Joey Porter is obviously going to shore up Miami’s defense, think more along the Marques Colston lines.
Let’s kick it off with the hometown Jets and the AFC East.
After having a season no one expected I think it will be hard for this season to not be a let down. If the Jets go 9-7 and miss the playoffs I think its still a successful season. Remember this is a team that is still supposed to be in rebuilding year number two. With that being said I have full trust in the Mangenious. Few coaches in this league really make their team that much better than the talent on the filed and Mangini is one of those coaches.
Key Addition: Thomas Jones
Jones is slightly overrated. Remember this is the same guy who couldn’t run his way out of a paper bag in Arizona. Certainly Jets fans hope he can replicate the success he had with the Bears the past three years. For those of us in fantasy leagues don’t expect Jones to have the same type of statistical year he did last year. The Jets are in a much harder division than the Bears, playing the Pats and Dolphins twice a year isn’t good for your stats. Also I think the Jets are still going to use Leon Washington a lot, much like how the Saints use Reggie Bush.
Key Subtraction: Pete Kendall?
The Jets haven’t really lost anyone of note. However, losing Pete Kendall would be a big blow to this team. The Jet’s already have a very young offensive line. Kendall is really the only veteran of the unit. Also with the line having such a good season last year why would you want to break up the continuity? Hopefully for Jet’s fans Kendall isn’t a hold out and reports to camp.
Player to Watch: Brad Smith / David Harris
I’ve already wrote a lot about Harris so if you’d like to hear me gush about him read this. Smith on the other hand is an intriguing player. He only had 9 catches and 18 rushes last year but he seemed to always make impact plays. He’s never going to be a constant threat as a wide out but he is likely to carve out a niche making trick plays. I think at least once a game this season Brad Smith is going to make an impact play. With Him, Leon Washington and Jones on the field at the same time the Jet’s are going to be able to cause a lot of mismatches.
Honorable mention goes to all the former first round draft picks the Jets signed, like Andrew Wadsworth and Michael Haynes. I like these signings a lot, there is a lot of upside and no real risk.
Tumultuous off-season for the Phins, we had the Nick Saban disaster, the Trent Green debacle and the Ted Ginn atrocity. However I think this team is going to be better than people think. The defense while a year older is certainly still one of the tops in the league, especially when you factor in the addition of Porter. While not anywhere near their primes Porter, Thomas and Taylor still need to be accounted for at all times on the field. Dom Capers is also a very underrated coordinator.
On offense if Green can be a game manager I expect this team to surprise people. Brown is developing into a stud running back; rookie Lorenzo Booker should be a great change of pace back. Chambers seems ready to break out every year and at best Ginn becomes Devin Hester. We also have to factor in the addition of Cam Cameron. He worked wonders with the Chargers offense. While he might have made a bad first impression on Dolphins fans with his Ted Ginn pick I think he will quickly redeem himself with his play calling.
Key Addition: Trent Green
The Phins QB situation was a mess last year. Green might be done, however if he can be a game manager type QB he should keep the Dolphins in every game.
Key Loss: Daunte Culpepper
I think it was really important for the Phins to ditch him. He was a distraction. Now this team knows Trent Green is the QB of now and Beck is the QB of the future.
Player to Watch: Samson Satele
Who? Samson is the center the Phins drafted in the second round. He’s going to emerge as a steal and help anchor their offensive line. He’s undersized but quick. Watch for him to land the job out of training camp.
Honorable mention goes to Booker, Martin and Chambers.
Booker might end up stealing more carries from Brown than people think. Martin is now the starting tight end after they released McMichael. Martin is a fast athletic tight end. I actually have expected him to break out forever in Green Bay. Using Antonio Gates as a reference it’d be interesting to see if Cameron can catch lighting in a bottle twice. I also have to put Chambers on this list. He has all the tools to become an elite Wide Receiver. Maybe Cameron will help him realize his full potential.
The Bills are a tough team to figure out. I don’t know if going from Willis to Lynch is an upgrade or downgrade. Willis never really broke out in Buffalo. He only averaged 3.8-4.0 a carry in his three years with the Bills. Certainly Lynch has the game changing speed that Willis didn’t. If Lynch, Lossman and Evans all develop the Bills should be set on offense. The defense looks like a mess. They lost Spikes, Fletcher and Clements. The D-Line doesn’t have any real play makers and the linebackers and secondary are very young. It’s hard to imagine this team any better than 7-9.
Key Addition: Lynch
Willis really was over hyped. He’s gotten by on name value so far in his NFL career (you can thank super agent Drew Rosenhaus for that.) However was he really ever that good? His yards per carry really wouldn’t indicate so. Lynch should really spice up Buffalos offense with his game changing speed. Also the Bills upgraded their O-Line this off-season. While they overpaid for Walker and Dockery there still both solid road grader type players who should help Lynch become a stud.
Key Loss: Clements, Fletcher, Spikes
Awful, I mean talk about ripping the heart out of your defense. I like Paul Puz a lot but too much is going to be asked and expected of him as a rookie. I really think this defense is going to be really bad.
Player to Watch: Jason Peters
Quietly Peters has emerged into one of the standout left tackles in all of football. Look for him in the Pro-Bowl this year. It’s a shame no one outside of Buffalo knows about this guy
Honorable mention goes to Dwayne White. Much like Lorenzo booker he’s a change of pace type back. Dick Juaron has said how he’d prefer to rotate running backs. While this would drive every fantasy owner nuts it would make sense for the Bills offense. Look for White to leapfrog over Anthony Thomas and become the Bills backup running back.
Clearly the best coached/managed team in all of sports. Tom Brady put up pro bowl numbers with smoke and mirrors last season. Now add Moss, Welker and Stallworth to those smoke and mirrors on offense and Adalius Thomas on defense, truly scary for any team in the AFC. Barring horrible injury I see no way this team doesn’t end up in the AFC Championship game.
Key Addition
Moss/Stallworth/Welker/Thomas
I can’t just pick one. Adalius Thomas in the Patriots scheme is going to wreck havoc all season. He didn’t get that much hype in Baltimore because of Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs. In New England he’s going to be the anchor of the line backing core.
On offense all three wide outs are going to help Brady equally. Welker is going to play the slot and do Troy Brown type things. The Pat’s haven’t had a wide out like that in forever. Moss and Stallworth are both talented yet troubled wide receivers. However with both of them on the field you can just loft the ball downfield and expect them to make a play. I don’t know how you defend against this team.
Key Loss: No one?
The key loss for this team might have been Marty Schottenhiemer from San Diego.
Who else is excited for Nurv Turner to run the Chargers into the ground?!?
(Let me express my hatred for Norv Turner. As a Niner fan I really resent the bullshit he spewed this off-season. He flirted with the Cowboys and we understood I mean he has ties to Jerry Jones, conceivably that’s the only team that would be willing to give such an unsuccessful head coach another shot right? Well after he didn’t take that job he signed an extension with the Niners. He expressed how much he loved the Bay Area and didn’t want to leave. Of course when the next team comes calling he packs his bags and leaves. Good for him, he could have increased his legacy by rejuvenating the Niners into playoff contention. Now he’s going to ruin his legacy by running a super bowl favorite into the ground. Good for you Norv.)
Player to Watch:
Welker/Warren
Though the Pats added big name home run threats in Moss and Stallworth, Welker might end up the Pats most consistent target. Moss and Stallworth don’t go over the middle, they don’t return kicks, and Welker does all those little things. He’s like a faster Wayne Cherbet.
Ty Warren on the other hand is a stud and no one realizes it. He plays on a D-Line with Wilfork and Seymour so it’s easy to see how he gets lost in the shuffle, especially as a 3-4 lineman. He’s not asked or expected to get sacks. However watch games. He’s constantly taking on blockers and making plays. He’s just as important to that defense as Seymour is.
That’s all for now, back soon with The NFC East and some giant bashing!
As always read more at: http://3rdstringsafety.blogspot.com/
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