The AFC East begins and ends with the New England Patriots, who have won the division title 14 times in Bill Belichick’s 17 years at the helm. They are overwhelming favorites to win the division again this season according to the futures odds at BetOnline and it is hard to argue against the reasons why.
It is New England against the field in the race to the 2017 AFC East Division title and only one team in the field appears to have any shot at making things interesting over the course of the upcoming 16-game regular season.
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New England Patriots -1000
It is no big surprise that New England is a prohibitive favorite to win another AFC East title. Its odds to win the AFC are set at +175 with a projected win total of 12.5. The Patriots continue to make personnel moves that make this team better on paper and they have already proven they can win games without Tom Brady in the lineup. Compliancy with so much success could be an issue, but it is highly doubtful that future ‘Hall of Fame’ head coach Bill Belichick would allow that to happen.
New England went 14-2 last season after posting 12 victories in each of the previous four campaigns, so it is almost a given that it will take at least 12 wins from another team in this division to knock the Patriots from their lofty perch. However as a bettor, is it worth the $1000 risk to make $100 betting on New England to stay on top?
Miami Dolphins +850
Miami moved in the right direction last season to a 10-6 record after winning just six games the year before, so the big question for second-year head coach Adam Case is can he move his team forward enough to further close that current gap with New England? There actually could be enough overall talent on this team to get the job done, but he is going to have to squeeze the most out of every single player on the Dolphins’ roster to make it happen.
This could be a make or break season for six-year quarterback Ryan Tannehill. He missed three regular season starts and one playoff game due to injury after throwing for more than 4000 yards in his previous two seasons. He is surrounded with solid talent at the skill positions, but he will still need to elevate his game to give his team any chance at winning this division.
Buffalo Bills +1200
The Bills have won at least six games in each of their last six seasons and they went 9-7 in 2014, but they are like a Jeep stuck in the mud with no traction to take that big step forward. The burden of closing the gap with New England now falls on the shoulders of new head coach Sean McDermott, after serving as Carolina’s defensive coordinator for the past six seasons.
A stout defense may be Buffalo’s best chance at winning games this season along with a running game that ended last year ranked first in the league with an average of 164.4 yards a game. The success on the ground was probably more a product of a passing offense that was ranked 30th.
New York Jets -6600
It was not all that long that the Jets were actually considered contenders in this division race. Unfortunately, a myriad of poor personnel decisions over the past few seasons has left this franchise rather barren of talent on both sides of the ball. New York won just five games last season and its win total projection for 2017 is 4.5 with the moneyline odds of -170 heavily favoring the UNDER.
The Jets are probably a total rebuild and the addition safeties’ Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye with the their first two picks in this year’s draft are just a drop in the bucket towards turning things around anytime soon.
