New York Jets Will Be a Rumblin' and a Tumblin'...but Will it Be Enough?

The schedule also gets rougher for Miami, having to take on the Chargers and the Steelers in addition to a run through the AFC South and NFC South. 

I don't see Miami sneaking up on teams this year, and they will have trouble masking serious holes in their wide receiving corps and their secondary.  Not to mention, Joey Porter had a career year at the age of 31... who knows if he'll replicate it?  Beyond Porter, there is a barren wasteland when it comes to pass rushers.

The eternal stepchild of the division, the Buffalo Bills, are pretty tough to read.  You have to like their explosive set of wide receivers with Lee Evans and Terrell Owens.  Marshawn Lynch, though he'll be suspended to start the year, is a powerful back with a non-stop engine. 

The defense has some good, promising players with LB Paul "Poz" Posluszny, DE Aaron Schobel, CB Terrence McGee, CB Leodis McKelvin, DT Marcus Stroud, S Donte Whitner, and rookie pass rusher Aaron Maybin. 

But after failing to properly replace departed tackle Jason Peters, will the Bills be able to keep Trent Edwards upright?  And is Trent good enough to get the ball to his receivers?  I don't believe so.

As such, I do believe the Jets can and will finish No. 2 in the AFC East.  The combination of defense and run game will be good enough to simply overpower some teams on the schedule.  The Jets struggled down the stretch when Brett Favre played like, well, Brett Favre, and were hurt by a ton of turnovers. 

Rookie quarterbacks don't usually translate immediately to the NFL (despite the successes of Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, and Ben Roethlisberger), but if (when) Mark Sanchez gets the starting nod he is in a good position to act as a game manager while he gets used to the pro passing game. 

Great run game + game manager QB + great defense = very good, but not quite Patriots.

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