Catching the Tuna: Revitalized Patriots Aiming At Own Success Story

(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

The New England Patriots’ six division titles (and four Super Bowl appearances) over the past eight seasons brought plenty of clarity to the American Football Conference’s East division throughout the past decade, but last year’s battle-until-Week-17 fiasco kept the winner as open-ended as it was in the late '90s (when the Indianapolis Colts were still a part of the division). 

The up-and-down year among the four AFC East teams—the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, and Patriots—was anything but expected, with the Dolphins successfully resurrecting the Wildcat formation, as well as quarterback Chad Pennington, to take the division and make the playoffs, while the Jets nearly made a run of their own for the playoffs before falling along with Brett Favre’s aged arm.

Buffalo started the season off looking the most promising of all the teams in the division, and possibly the entire conference, but that quickly changed after the Bills had to start playing division opponents.

The boys from Orchard Park, NY, didn’t win a single game all season vs. an AFC East opponent, finishing a dismal 7-9 for the third straight year.

The Patriots had a crazy year of their own. With quarterback Tom Brady going down in the team’s season opener with a knee injury that ended his season, career backup Matt Cassel was required to step in and fill some big shoes.

Brady, the 2007 NFL MVP, was certainly missed, but Cassel did his best to lead New England as far as possible. Despite an 11-5 record among a plethora of team injuries, the Patriots fell short of the postseason, the first time a team with that record missed the playoffs since the 1985 Denver Broncos.

This year will certainly be another roller coaster ride.

The Jets released the nearly 40-year-old former league MVP (1995, ’96, ’97), Favre, and fired head coach Eric Mangini, who was soon replaced by Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan.

Less than two weeks after being fired by the Jets, Mangini was hired as head coach of the struggling Cleveland Browns.

After both coaches began their new coaching journeys, Ryan and the Jets used a pre-draft trade with Mangini’s Browns to move into the No. 5 draft position to draft decorated University of Southern California quarterback Mark Sanchez.

And although Kellen Clemens and Erik Ainge currently remain higher on the depth chart at the quarterback spot, Sanchez has already taken on the role as the face of the New York franchise.

The Jets weren’t the only AFC East team working hard to fix the mistakes of last year, though.

The Buffalo Bills’ offseason was headlined by the acquisition of recently released Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens.

Owens, who is no stranger to rumors or the media, was signed to a one-year contract in a smaller market than he’s ever played in before, but, along with his Buffalo teammates, has had nothing but a promising outlook on the upcoming season.

Although Owens has had his fair share of plans go awry in the past (he’s yet to win a ring), if Trent Edwards stays healthy and gets the ball to Owens enough throughout the season, the Bills offense could put up a lot of points.

If the Buffalo defense does its share of hard work, the team could emerge as a legit contender in the AFC East.

Last year’s division champs, the Miami Dolphins, seem to once again be the Patriots’ toughest challenge to getting into the postseason.

With Bill Parcells steering the ship in Miami as vice president of football operations, along with second-year head coach Tony Sparano, who proved himself last year as a genuine leader, the Dolphins made an impeccable comeback in 2008, one year after winning only one game all season.

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