AFC East Preview

Alright, lets get down to bizness here. The lockout has been over for quite sometime and this “short” pre-season seems to have been dragging on for way too long!

D$ has broken down some win totals quite nicely and J-Dawg and I have been on the phone licking our chops at a Week 1 schedule that will be a money-maker SHAKER!!! As with most opening weeks, the oddsmakers don’t have a huge take on the teams just yet and hence spreads should be quite conservative with the highest spread being -7 pts. or even -9 pts. So, there should not be any double digit spreads where there will definitely be some double digit blow ups. I’m looking in your direction Shit-attle @ San Fran, Minnie-me-sota @ San Dee-ahhgo and the New York Football Giants @ the Wash-going-after-Andrew-Luck-ton Redskins!

But before we look deeper into the Week One sked, lets take a quick glance at all the teams. Perhaps there will be a self serving gripe or two towards some teams. Will you agree or disagree?

Lets get right into it alphabetically and geographically:

(enter the Monday Night Football symphony…..bahhhh dah ba da daaaahhhh)

AFC EAST

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
The class of the Division and supposedly the conference. I’m going anti-Dennis Green and won’t be so quick to crown The Hoodie’s and Tom Brady’s assess. Yes, they should get their 13-14 wins this season. As much as I respect the Hoodie’s program, everybody from Football blogging honks to the media are so quick to crown ‘dare asses-ezz!

The Pats offense will fly again year with a two Tight End set that will still give d-coordinators more anginas and heart palpitations then they’re already used to with their overworked, workaholic coaching lifestyles. I think the Hoodie has more wrinkles with this set that will surprise even Rex Ryan into preferring manicures. Now add the deep threats of Chad Ochocinco and Wes Welker and an under-rated running game! There is a potential for Madden stats ala 2006 again. Just not a 16-0 run though.

No 16-0 run?...well, the defense has to get better in clutch situations, such as on 3rd down, but we’ll have no take on this until games really matter deep into November-December anyways, so lets just be patient on Haynseworth and the D. The offense alone should win us some easy money within the first half the season?

Here’s the thing with not crowning The Pats so quickly…..everybody is so quick to either crown them or de-throne them that few will see the Pats for what the actually are, somewhere in the middle.

There is just a mini-gripe where last season everyone wanted to see the Pats rise to top so badly after a relatively tumultuous 10-6 record in 2009 and a 2008 Brady-less season, that few saw the Pats liability on defense that led to their “early” exit to the Jets in the playoffs.

This should occur this year when Brady gets 350 yds passing in Week 1 and he’ll be the second coming of Steamin’ Willie Beamon! Listen, the Pats are a Top 3 team and definite Super Bowl contender, but the NY Jets are a formidable division foe as well; Again, lemme be clear here, the Pats should get 13-14 wins, but just be careful betting for the Pats this year.

The huge love-in could overvalue the Pats with the spread pushed 2-3 points more than it should be. This may be a money-maker betting against the spread as the Pats may not cover in their straight-up wins with over-valued double digit spreads. Week 1 however? Bet the Pats hard on the road vs. a still unsure Fish team that played better away from Sun Life Stadium last season.

NEW YORK JETS
Killer defense and over-rated QB. Over-rated is too harsh, but credit should be given to the Fraud-chise I guess. He wins, but wins ugly. This year though, he has lost a lot of weapons on offense and it’s tough to say that Sanchez can carry a team like a healthy Peyton or Brady. Sanchise is more comparable to Ben Roethlisberger, but again, he doesn’t have the weapons Roth-less-assault-charges-this-summer-er has.

The schedule favors the Jets this year for 11-12 wins, but be prepared for an over-valued spread in the playoffs to win big money against the spread and especially on the moneyline. The Jets will fall….eventually.

MIAMI DOLPHINS
A lot of Joe Flacco-type flack goes out to QB Chad Henne, masking a killer Fish Defense. He may look a bit better than he is with the addition of Reggie Bush. I haven’t taken the kool-aid on the former Mr. Kardashian, but he does offer a formidable threat as a running back, and especially as a receiving back that is tailored towards the Fish’s offensive set. For the Fantasy Football honks out there, Reggie could be a mid-round steal.

With a defense as good as Miami’s, they will surprise some teams and possibly make the AFC East the deepest division with in the NFL with three 10-win teams. Definitely take the Fish at over 8 wins though. Sorry D$.

The Fish’s non-division games have a lot of winnable games. Add in an upset or two in the home-n-home games v. New England and the Jets games and on the road at the NY Football Giants and Philly. Remember, last year the Fish were a tough road team. This looks like a stay away bet now with the opposite team takes from D$ and Adolph. We’ll talk more in the conference room of course.

BUFFALO BILLS
Hmmmmm, no O’Line? No deep threats? No running game? No defense? Too bad for a gamer QB in Ryan Fitzpatrick. They offer great effort game in and game out, but just do not have the horses. There should be some money won here before the double digit spreads creep up. But they could make some moneyline cheddar at an equally horrible Chiefs squad in Week 1.