2013 NFL Recap: AFC East

My Preseason Projections:
1.New England Patriots (11-5)
2.Miami Dolphins (8-8)
3.Buffalo Bills (5-11)
4.New York Jets (2-14)

Actual Standings:
1.New England Patriots (12-4)
2.New York Jets (8-8)
3.Miami Dolphins (8-8)
4.Buffalo Bills (6-10)

Buffalo Bills: It was like groundhog day for the Bills this year as they once again showed flashes of grand potential, but ultimately ended up as another disappointing season in Buffalo. A lot of the hiccups can be attributed to the offensive side of the ball, where the injury bug came out in full force. Rookie quarterback E.J. Manuel missed six games with a knee injury while top weapons C.J. Spiller and Stevie Johnson missed numerous games with injuries and weren't healthy for a majority season when they were on the field. Spiller was especially disappointing, after his breakout 2012 campaign and this was supposed to be the year where he became the sole feature back. While flashes of his explosiveness remained in-tact and Spiller didn't have a completely terrible year overall, it's still a huge letdown that he ran for under 1,000 yards and only 2 touchdowns on the year. Injuries aside, Manuel was pretty decent when he was on the field this year. His receivers were also inexperienced (save for Johnson and T.J. Graham) and his offensive line struggled at times, but Manuel looked pretty comfortable calling the shots and made some really great plays throughout the year. His rookie year was far from flawless, but I really like his odds going forward if the Bills surround him with weapons or Robert Woods or Marquise Goodwin develops as an effective compliment to Johnson. Easily the biggest positive on offense this year was Fred Jackson. Jackson finally remained healthy for an entire season and was effective both rushing and catching passes. With Spiller's injuries leading to a down year for him, Jackson picked up the slack and helped the Bills become the number 2 rushing offense in the league. 2013 proved that Jackson still has something left in the tank at age 32. Where the Bills really flourished in 2013 was on defense. The defensive line is about scary of a pass-rushing unit as you can have in the league. Mario Williams once again proved worthy of his huge contract finishing the year with 13 sacks, Kyle Williams continues to fly under-the-radar and put the best numbers of his career with 10.5 sacks and Marcell Dareus is beginning to emerge as one of the premier two-way defensive tackles in the league with 71 combined tackles and 7.5 sacks. The Bills also have to be thrilled with the improvement of their secondary. Stephon Gilmore is finally playing up to his first-round potential and Jarius Byrd remains one of the most dominant safeties in the league (it's essential that they lock him down long-term this offseason.) The biggest story of 2013 for the Bills defense though is rookie linebacker Kiko Alonso. No rookie linebacker was even close to as productive as Alonso this season. Alonso made an immediate impact with his excellent tackling, coverage skills and great hands (he tied for the team lead in interceptions with 4). The Bills look like they have the next dominant linebacker in the league on their hands with Alonso. I like what Doug Marrone is doing up in Buffalo and if they get some more weapons in the passing game to help out Manuel, get Spiller healthy and back into top form and some guys that can stop the run, they'll be right be in the thick of things in the AFC East sooner rather than later.

Miami Dolphins: The 2013 Dolphins will forever be remembered as the year of the Jonathan Martin/ Richie Incognito bullying scandal, which is a shame because they actually did a lot of good things on the football field this year. Prior to the season, general manager Jeff Ireland threw a lot of money at various free agents to help improve the team and these moves worked for the most part. Cornerback Brent Grimes was the cream of the free-agent crop with an absolutely stellar year that silenced anyone that doubted his ability to come back from a torn ACL in 2012. Linebackers Phillip Wheeler and Dannell Ellerbe were solid as well, finishing first and third respectively on the team in tackles and were a big improvement in the middle of the field (Ellerbe's pass coverage skills were vital in helping the team overcome various cornerback injuries late in the year).  The biggest pickup, wide receiver Mike Wallace, was spotty as expected, but finally started to develop a chemistry with Ryan Tannehill in the last month of the season. If Wallace can keep improving his rapport with Tannehill, he could end up being worthy of the huge contract the Dolphins gave him. Really the only total bust Ireland made was bringing in tackle Tyson Clabo, who was absolutely awful all season long and the only guy on the o-line that didn't improve once Incognito and Martin were sidelined for the season.  The worst move Ireland made wasn't even in free agency, it was in the draft trading up to number 2 overall to snag Dion Jordan. Jordan was pretty much invisible all season long as his struggles kept him near the bottom of the Dolphins defensive end rotation. Thankfully for Ireland, second-year end Olivier Vernon had a breakout year and did exactly what Jordan was expected to and got to the quarterback picking up 11.5 sacks. Personally, I think the emergence of Vernon saved Ireland's job (for now) and a lot of scrutiny for Jordan's poor rookie year. What really impressed me about the 2013 Dolphins aside from their ability to overcome all the adversity from the bullying scandal was how much quarterback Ryan Tannehill improved. Tannehill became much more poised in his second season and made a lot more plays that helped his team win games. He doubled his touchdown total, finished just shy of 4,000 yards passing and completed 60% of his passes, all while being constantly under pressure and being sacked an astonishingly-high 58 times. Even with Tannehill's improvement, the Dolphins offense was where a majority of the team's struggles came. Their running back committee was a complete disaster. The team wouldn't commit to either Lamar Miller or Daniel Thomas and I think it hurt both of them. The only thing that hurt the running game more than the indecisiveness of what back to use was the fact that the offensive line play was so bad. Really no holes were opening up and when someone broke a big play (typically Miller) it was pretty much a solo effort. The Dolphins go into next year turning over a new leaf with the bullying scandal behind them and some real potential on both sides of the ball.

New England Patriots: The 2013 New England Patriots were nothing short of magical (I wrote a whole piece on it last month, which can be read here: http://maitlandsmadness.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-magic-of-new-england-patriots.html) Their success this season defied logic and really the only player in the league that can overcome this much adversity and still win games/contended for a Super Bowl is Tom Brady. Brady wasn't even close to the best numbers of his career in 2013. Hell early in the season he looked like his days of greatness were behind him. But as soon everyone started to doubt him, he kept coming through. The comebacks he orchestrated against the Saints and the Broncos were completely absurd. He didn't make plays all the time, but when he needed to, he came through. This is undoubtedly the least amount of talent Brady has had around him his entire career, yet he is still finding ways to win games. Despite them being not as talented as before, there was still quite a few guys that made an impact for the team this year. Julian Edelman was a godsend at wide receiver with his steady hands and great route-running ability. With Danny Amendola not living up to the hype, Rob Gronkowski missing most of the year and all of the rookie wideouts being so inconsistent, Edelman has been the only guy Brady can really trust in the passing game. The running backs also have stepped up nicely. 2012 stud Stevan Ridley had a year to forget with all of his fumbling problems, but Shane Vereen, LaGarette Blount and Brandon Bolden filled the void and helped this backfield become a top 10 rushing unit. Not everyone delivered individually on a week-to-week basis, but there was always someone in that backfield stepping up each game. There's not a dominant back in the bunch, but there's a whole lot of solid ones and that depth makes them a dangerous unit. As usual with the Patriots, the defense is where things started to fall apart. Aside from a strong start in the passing defense fueled by Aqib Talib's freakish play in the first month and a half and Chandler Jones's excellent second season that solidifies him as an elite pass-rusher, the defense was pretty awful. They lost their two best players and trusted leaders Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo for the year by mid-October which made their rushing defense absolutely laughable. They're lucky that their schedule featured minimal great running backs because if they faced a guy like LeSean McCoy, Marshawn Lynch, Jammal Charles or Adrian Peterson, it would've gotten real ugly real fast. The secondary started slipping as soon as Talib hurt his hip against the Saints in October. Talib missed a few games and has struggled since returning, while the rest of the guys save for safety Devin McCoruty (who's All-Pro spot was well-deserved, he was excellent all season) and rookie slot corner Logan Ryan (who could potentially be the first good corner Belichick has ever drafted) are either banged-up or just playing awful. In typical Patriots fashion, they've overcome these defensive woes thanks to their amazing offense. Really the only looming problem with the Patriots moving forward is whether or not Gronkowski can continue to return from these major injuries. The guy is clearly a rare talent, but how many times can he successfully comeback from getting badly hurt and still be productive? The team invested a lot of money in him and while he's been amazing when he's on the field, his injuries continue to be a huge concern, even for a team that is as seemingly invincible as the Patriots.

New York Jets: Saying the New York Jets were a roller-coaster ride this season would be completely underselling just how erratic they were. Just when you thought you had a pulse on them, they would prove you completely wrong time and time again. Consistency was completely out the window as they did win or lose consecutive games till their 3-game losing streak in late November/early December which was the counteracted by them winning 3 of their last 4 games. I know it's crazy to say given that they finished 8-8 this season and were so up-and-down, but no team impressed more than the Jets this year. No one gave these guys chance to win more than 4 games this season yet they picked up victories over playoff teams like the Saints and the Patriots. Pretty much their only strength in 2012 (passing defense) became a weakness (the failure of first-round pick Dee Milliner certainly didn't help matters) yet they end up with a better overall defense. They have no major weapons on offense and roll with a carousel of subpar running backs and below-average wideouts and they still go .500? It just doesn't make any sense. This overachieving boils down to the man running the show: Rex Ryan. Say what you want to about the guy, but he knows how to coach and get the most out of everyone on the roster. Is he arrogant? Absolutely. Does he run his mouth when he probably shouldn't? Sure. Is he as good of a coach as there is in the league? In my opinion, hell yes. Ryan was prematurely given his death sentence as coach prior to the season starting then he turns around and makes this football team a near-playoff contender with one of the most talent-scarce rosters in the league. That's incredible right there and just about any other coach in the league would've folded under those circumstances. The perfect embodiment of the Jets's roller-coaster season was the play of rookie quarterback Geno Smith. At times, the man looked brilliant. Better arm strength than he exhibited in college, quick release, ability to run with when needed: Smith had proved naysayers like myself wrong with his abilities. Then there were weeks where Smith looked like he never played football before in his life. He was a turnover machine who made throws that simply shouldn't have been made and cost his team numerous games because of his inability to take care of the football. Even with all his mistakes, Smith showed that he is capable of being a quality starter in this league if he becomes more patient and smarter with his throws. About the only aspect of the Jets team that was consistently impressive this season was the rushing defense. Rookie Sheldon Richardson and third-year player Damon Harrison are anchors in the middle of the line and are single-handily responsible for the reinvention of the defense. Not only can these guys plug up holes in the running game, they open up lanes for guys like Muhammad Wilkerson and Calvin Pace to terrorize opposing quarterbacks (and terrorize they did: Wilkerson and Pace combined for 20.5 sacks on the year.) Richardson is my personal pick for 2013 Defensive Rookie of the Year and has all the potential to become the league's next dominant defensive tackle. In order for the Jets to reach the next level, they need more weapons offensively. You can make do with their running back tandem of Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell, but this team desperately needs a playmaking wide receiver to help out Smith. Their leading receiver this year, Jeremy Kerley, would be lucky to be a number 3 wideout on most other teams in the league and surely won't cut as the top wideout again. With Ryan at the helm and a defense that can cause problems, the Jets could potentially be going places if their offense falls into place.