The New England Patriots seem to be the perennial favorite to win the AFC East this season, at least in the eyes of most mainstream media. Former NFL head coach and ESPN analyst Herm Edwards discussed the possibility of the Bills and Jets battling for a wild card spot behind the division champion Patriots, giving a slight edge to the Bills. Edwards likes where the Bills are offensively as compared to the Jets, but favors Rex Ryan's defense, which is interesting considering the upgrades that Buffalo has made. Nevertheless, the Bills, who recorded only 23 sacks last year, and their new defensive weapons have to get it done on the field.
ESPN consulted 22 of their NFL analysts to come up with five teams who missed the post-season last year that will reach the playoffs in 2012. Thus, five teams who made it last year will not make it this year. This exercise was performed because over the last 16 NFL seasons, at least five teams have made the playoffs who failed to do so in the previous year. The Bills were featured on ESPN's NFL Live and NFL32 as one of the five teams "in" the playoffs for 2012. Edwards again agreed that the Bills have a slight edge over the Jets, as well as the idea that their schedule is favorable. The Bills, as Edwards points out, play only one ELITE level quarterback this year, that being their pair of matchups with Tom Brady and the Patriots. Mark Schlereth agreed with this notion, and added that the Bills offensive linemen were "mashing people" up front before the injury bug caught up with them.
Hard to disagree with any of that, except maybe the part where the Bills can only compete for the wild card spot. This is a team that defeated New England last season when healthy, and jumped out to a 21-0 lead in New England last year with no playoff aspirations. Given ten returning starters on offense, some major upgrades on defense, I don't see any reason why the Bills can't compete with New England for the AFC East crown.
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