Quote:
Originally Posted by PoorMansCamaro
I don't know about open. Unless you think the Pats have only been good because they are in the AFC East, and that's it.
Also, I think it's debatable that the afc east is the weakest division. No team in the east had less than 5 wins. the South had two teams with 4-12 records.
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I do firmly believe that about 45% of the reason why the Patriots have been so good is because they play in a weak division. The Bills finally made the playoffs after almost 20 years. They haven't won the division since...1995? The Jets have won the division twice since 2003. The Dolphins? Once..
Meanwhile, in the AFC South, every team has won the division at least once in the last 18 years. Every team except the Jaguars has won it at least 3x. All the teams in the division have made the AFC Championship game in the last 20 years except the Texans, altho they did make the divisional rounds several times.
You bring up the Texans and Colts going 4-12....the Colts went 4-9 in games they had a lead in either the 3rd or 4th quarter....and that was with a backup QB that barely knew the offense. As for the Texans, they won the division last year and won a playoff game as well. They had a brand new QB that had the team rolling until an unfortunate ACL injury.
Yet, both the Titans and Jaguars made the playoffs.
The East has been open...the Patriots have had seasons where they went 3-3 in the division multiple times...unfortunately...the teams fell apart after mid-season. Put New England in the AFC West or North...and I can promise you that they don't go to the playoffs for 5-6 years in a row as division champs....same goes for the AFC South as well...