How do you all think the teams in our division have fared this offseason? Got Better: Jets- think we filled our biggest gap/weakness in the offseason with Jones, need an O-lineman and maybe another TE, Defense has obvious needs on the D-line and Corner and we haven't lost anyone valuable though Pats- Obviously filled big need at LB and a hole at WR, also haven't lost anyone valuable Teams that Got Worse: Bills- didn't think their passing game was strong, now its not going to get easier with the loss of McGahee (also helped us a lot since we struggle with him greatly,though I believe we play the Ravens), also passing D declined with loss of Clemente Dolphins- who's quarteringbacking this team in '07? they have faith in Culpepper? Always thought McMichael hurt us, losing him helped us I believe. Also inexperience at head coach and change can slow their development. Overall I believe it'll be us and that Patriots again but hopefully the Bills and Dolphins will be easier division games if they continue to lose talent. Any thoughts or opinions?
Only opinion: Too early to say. Guess/Prediction: Pats/Jets/Phins/Bills in order of level of 'improvement'
I dont think the Dolphins got worse, culpepper could be healthy and tehy still have the 9th pick in the draft...but porter rushing the passer from one side and jason taylor from the other will be lethal so i think they got better
what is with all the dumb "you must have x amount of posts to do y" no other jets message board has it. and before you say go there and post and leave you guys alone, consider it done.
It keeps people like you who are uncommitted from showing up and sticking around. Go moderate a message board for a while and you'd understand.
I think the rankings go as follows: Patriots - A good team got better Jets - A good team with many starters returning. Upgrading on positions that struggled. Dolphins - I don't think they got worse, I think they may have gotten a little better. Nothing to make me scared as a Jets fan. Bills - The Bills bolstered there O line. However, I think there O-line came around at the end of last year and actually played pretty well. They haven't done anything to help there passing game as far as a TE or WR to compliment Evans. The D got significantly worse.
Here's my humble take: Pats - Got better. Thomas will make a big impact. I don't see Stallworth or Welker doing anything spectacular as far as the passing game goes. Plus, can Maroney be the sole back? Can he hold up a whole season? I have my doubts. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is still getting older. But coaching can make up for a lot and there's not much to make up for here. They are still team to beat every year, for the entire NFL. Bills - They improved the O-line a lot. They'll find some RB that will have a better attitude than McGahee and give them similar production. Probably better production, actually, with the better line. But Losman is still a scrub - I don't care what anyone says. Yeah, he can throw a bomb but he somehow can't connect on a 3 yard dink. Plus, no one seems to notice that the Bills defense, which wasn't all that special last year, is now missing its best player. But the Bills played the Jets tough last year - I'm still slightly afraid of them. Dolphins - The only team in the AFC East that is subtely admitting they don't have what it takes to make a run next year. If Chambers can't produce for them again, they have pretty much no receiving options. And they still have no QB. Brady Quinn would be a great grab for them. But their biggest weakness last year was O-line and they've done nothing to improve it. Taylor, Thomas, and Porter will make a very formidable defensive front. But the CBs are still mediocre and even Quinn won't be able to do anything behind that crap O-line (nor will Ronnie Overhyped Brown). Not afraid of them at all.
Miami has made the most changes, and it's been long overdue..... I'm not saying that the Phinz have had the best off-season, and there's still plenty of work to be done, but we've certainly dedicated ourselves to making the changes needed in order to move forward in my opinion.... The Pats / Phinz / Jets have all done well for themselves in my opinion. The Bills have done nothing thus far to upgrade. They've lost a lot more than they've gained this year.....
Uber quick take on offseason so far............. sorry it is really pared down. I do not see how the Bills have upgraded. They have lost way more talent then they have accumulated so far. They have picked up a few O-Line sure but are those guys anyhting more then mediocre? The Pats have certainly plugged a bunch of holes so they improved. The Dolphins- the jury is out. Their defensive playmakers are ancient by NFL standards although Porter is a very good addition. He will team with Taylor and create some havoc. However their secondary and offense which suck have not improved much if at all. Jets- Got a very good RB in an excellent trade. Fixed some holes, they have done a decent job so far but have a ways to go. They have improved themselves though.
The Jets and Pats has improved the most. The Dolphins improved with the signing for Porter. The Bills improved the O-Line but lost a Jets killer McGahee. However, the Jets still has a lot of needs on Defense. I think we only need one more O-Line player for offense and we are set. I would like and think Mangini will draft mostly Defensive players in the draft.
Pats improved for next season but gave up some long-term value to do it. In my opinion they have had the best offseason so far in the AFC East. Jets improved for next season, but not at quite the same level as the Pats. The long-term value is pretty neutral at the moment going into the draft. Dolphins improved for next season but still will win only 6-8 games so who cares given the age in the defensive front seven. Long-term value is apparently a foreign concept in Dolphin-land although I'll be happy to revisit that after the draft if they make smart picks for a change. Bills have declined this offseason so far and appear to have remorphed into the best shot at going 4-12 in the AFC East next year. They go from promising finish to lapdog in this endless little 2 to 3 year cycle. It takes talent to do that...
Our improvement won't just be in terms of players...I'm sure Mangini and Schott learned some valuable things over the course of the year that will benefit them throughout this season.
Zach Thomas- lead the league in Tkls Channing Crowder- 2nd year, 60 tkls, 43 asst. 1 sack 1 pass def Joey Porter- 40 tkls 7 sacks 2int's 1 TD Matt Roth- 2nd year 3.5 Sacks 23 tkls out of a rotation Vonnie Holliday- 7 sacks 46 tkls tied career high. Keith Traylor- career high 4 sacks 43 tkls. JT- 60 tkls 13.5 sacks 2int's 2ff 2 TD's....oh and defensive MVP while using his walker and in between his geriatric treatments. Will Allen- 56 tkls 1 sack 1 int 3 FR Renaldo Hill- 86 tkls 2 int's 1 fr 1 TD Yeremiah Bell- 68 tkls 2 sacks 2 FR Andre' Goodman- 41 tkls 2 FR Those are just the starters, 1) Miami ranked 4th overall in total D 2) Maimi ranked 8th in rushing D only allowing 7 TD's on the ground 3) 5th in scoring D 4) 5th in passing D Now I know you're a Jet fan, but how does Miami's age effect their play?? Obviously very little if at all. You're obviously lacking in the knowledge of this unit aswell, we lost Surtain and Madison in the last two seasons and all our starters were new to the unit last year yet still manage to finsh the league 5th best. BTW, the Jets secondary finished 14th. Daunte Culpepper has played in just 10 games since the start of 05, he was 3-3 in Minn in 05 and 1-3 last year, however Daunte was clearly not 100% at the start of last year. If haelthy there is no reason to bealieve he can't regain his previous playing status. He is a better QB then any the Jet have had since Namath. So for Jet fans to say anything negative about him is simply speculation and hope. We still have Chris Chambers- (who does have a probowl) Marty Booker- Who also has a probowl, Ronnie Brown who's one of the most talented young backs in the division. We have 3/5 of our Oline still intact and we have two young T's that are thought to be very good In Anthony Albi and Joe Toledo. We will still be in the market for a T and G and maybe C, but we do have talent and option on the line. Maimi has 9 DP's in the upcoming draft and 3 in the first 60. At 9 we have options, we can trade up, trade down or stay where we are. This is the first time in a very very long time Miami's had this many DP's. Last but not least Miami now has Cam Cameron, he has been probably the best OC the last 4 years. This is also the first time in Dolphin history we've had an Offensive minded HC. Miami's biggest weakness since Shula retired has been scoring points, that will change this year...I guarantee it. If you think teams can't turn things around in one season with a new HC, you need look no fruther then your own team. And you didn't have a great D either, so if you think Miami has no chance then you're not being a realist or honest with yourself.
Personally our conference is going to be hard to judge until we see the guys on the field. The patriots are always good, defensively the patriots are gonna be great again. Offensively, I question whether Maroney can hold down the fort. Tom brady will make Wes Welker into something better then a slot guy. I think the Jets have to have a good draft before we can say anything about them. They've improved, but how much? TJ is a major upgrade over what we put on the field last year. As of now, our blocking is just as good, or bad, as it was last year. Our defense is only gonna be as a good as Vilma is next year. Coleman is an upgrade over Kimo van suckoften but without a big blocker Vilma is nothing but average. The dolphins losing OSaban been lying is automatically an upgrade. Depending on Rickey Williams will determine how good Ronnie B is. Hes good without Rickey, but could be better with him. QB... How good is Daunte gonna be. If he plays like he did last year. The dolphins are fucked... Losing McMichael hurts, because when he's not dropping passes, or beating his wife, he's been there go to guy, more so then Chambers. Defense... Miami is always good defensively.. adding Porter to the roster is just plan scary IMO. In this day of football, age doesn't mean as much as it did 10 years ago. Jason Taylor is as good as he's ever been. Zach Thomas is always solid. If Porter proves he wasn't a product of the pittsburg system, opposing QB's could be in for long games. I can't comment on the Secondary don't no what to say there... I think there stats are better then how they play, but i just dont no. The Bills... It all depends on how quickly the Oline improves. I like how they went out and did something about the horrid line, but it all comes down to how well they will mold as one. I wouldnt have gotten rid of Willis, even if his best games are against us...I don't think the upgraded at RB. And as of right now, i still have no respect for them.
feelthepain, you make some valid points but listen: You can't seriously be comfortable with Culpepper as your QB, healthy or not (more often, not). Don't cite defensive rankings. The worse the record, the higher the defensive ranking becuase you play teams and they get a comfortable lead and then phone it in. That, in combination with, the offense on the Phins was so bad, teams were comfortable with a 7-point lead. The O-line is still a mess. Being old doesn't effect your performance as player until you get too old. And Taylor and Thomas are both in danger of crossing that line soon.
In order to really compete next year the Dolphins need a QB, a #1 WR (and I've finally given up on Chambers as any chance to be that guy), a pass-catching TE or a hellacious blocker to spring Ronnie Brown on a regular basis and a few guys on the OL to step up and have fine seasons. And they need to get lucky with the injuries. The only guy who is absolutely ready to go on O next year for them is Brown. That's a lot of ifs before the Dolphins are even mildly competitive in my opinion. The defensive side is aging and that may be a bad thing or it may not depending on how many 30+'s can have another great year. The NFL law of averages says it ain't gonna be as many as last year so a couple of young guys like Crowder and Roth are going to have to step up with leadership production instead of just complementing the aging all-pros. All things considered I think the Dolphins chances to turn things around in one season are a lot less than the Jets were last year. The Jets collapse on offense was fixable if Chad could play and they could fill 3 holes on the offensive line and they could cobble together some kind of ground game. They had the draft picks to fix the line and a QB that had always won and made the playoffs when healthy going for them. That left the ground game and they kind of figured that out.
