The AFC East has a new dominant force now in the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo has won the AFC East for the past two years and they are expected to win the division for the third consecutive year. The Buffalo Bills are the modern-day New England Patriots and New England’s glory days are long gone.
Buffalo will potentially be the favorites to win Super Bowl LVII. Sports news outlets are potentially talking about them as well. What will the AFC East Standings potentially look like in the 2022 NFL regular season?
1. Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills could have won the Super Bowl (LVI) last season if it wasn’t for their defense not attempting to make a stop in the final 13 seconds of regulation in the AFC Divisional Round against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Josh Allen has taken his game to another level and he is ready to be an MVP in this league and take them to the promised land.
Buffalo has not been to a Super Bowl appearance in over 20 years and they have yet to win a Super Bowl title in franchise history. The Bills might have the most talent in the NFL this season. Their running game is average at best and so is the offensive line. However, they have playmakers all over the place like Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis, and Dawson Knox.
On the defensive side of the football, they signed Von Miller to a big six-year deal worth $120 million by general manager Brandon Beane in the offseason. Head coach Sean McDermott has had his culture in place for years now and hopefully, it will lead to a Super Bowl title for the Bills Mafia fanbase.
Ken Dorsey was promoted from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator after Brian Daboll took the New York Giants head coaching job. Leslie Frazier is the defensive coordinator of this football team and hopefully, Ed Oliver and Gregory Rousseau take bigger leaps in their game this year.
2. Miami Dolphins
After starting 1-7 last year, they finished 9-8 overall. The Miami Dolphins missed the playoffs, but they fired head coach Brian Flores. That seemed to be questioned by a lot of people. Mike McDaniel is the new head coach of this football team. He is an offensive mind and was the San Francisco 49er’s offensive coordinator last year.
Tua Tagovailoa will have one more shot to prove himself as the franchise quarterback. Miami acquired wide receiver Tyreek Hill from the Kansas City Chiefs for several drafts picks. The Dolphins have him and Jaylen Waddle. Mike Geiscki is the tight end of this football team and he is also another nice offensive weapon.
The question will be how good will the defense be this year and also, who will be the running backs? It will be a running back by committee most likely and the defense will be good, led by Xavien Howard and Byron Jones on the back end.
If the Miami Dolphins don’t show improvements this year, general manager Chris Grier and owner Stephen Ross will have a lot of questions to answer to the media.
3. New York Jets
This might finally be the year that the New York Jets finally don’t finish in last place in the AFC East. New York has drafted really well over the past two years, especially in 2022. The Jets might have a lethal offense finally but will go through some growing pains. Zach Wilson, Michael Carter, Breece Hall, Elijah Moore, Garrett Wilson, and Jeremy Ruckert will be the offensive pieces for this football team.
They should be much improved on defense this year with the draft choices of Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and Jermaine Johnson III. Head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglass will see some light at the end of the tunnel this year.
4. New England Patriots
The New England Patriots made it to the playoffs last year, but quarterback Mac Jones is going to go through a sophomore slump because he has no outside wide receivers’ help. He also has Josh McDaniels gone as the offensive coordinator to be the Las Vegas Raiders’ next head coach.
Joe Judge as potentially the offensive coordinator isn’t going to help things. Well, remember the third-and-nine quarterback sneak last year with the New York Giants? He is a stagnant offensive mind and head coach Bill Belichick is past his prime and is nothing without quarterback Tom Brady. The first-round pick of Cole Strange out of Chattanooga is a crazy one for this football team and he was a third-round/fourth-round talent in the 2022 NFL Draft.
