No excuses. And be ready when the gates open.
That is all that can be said to the Dolphins, Bills and Jets with the news Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been suspended for the first four games of 2015 due to the NFL’s depiction of his role in #DeflateGate, as well as the league’s dissatisfaction with his cooperation with the Ted Wells-led investigation.
There are no excuses for the Dolphins, Bills and Jets now. The Patriots look set to be without their most integral player for four games, with the untested Jimmy Garoppolo taking his place in the lineup. New England might be vulnerable in those first few weeks, so Miami, Buffalo and New York better be set when the running starts in September.
This point can’t be stressed enough. The Patriots last failed to win the division in 2008, when Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week One. The Dolphins capitalized, winning the East at 11-5 — but only on account of a better AFC record than the Pats, who also won 11 games. In short, it still took a big effort from Miami for the Patriots to lose the East, and that was with Brady missing the whole season unexpectedly.
So maybe Brady missing four games isn’t a huge opening for the Bills, Jets and Dolphins. But it is a ray of sunlight nonetheless, and that is something, and it’s more than most teams get.
Maybe it’s Miami that kicks the door down. The Dolphins begin the regular season with favorable road trips to Washington and Jacksonville and return home to play the Bills and Jets. A strong opening to 2015 would reflect well on head coach Joe Philbin, who has yet to lead Miami to the postseason in three previous seasons.
Buffalo gets a favorable start to the season, too, with three of the first four games at home, including a visit from the Patriots win Week Two. The Bills also draw the Colts and Giants at home. With new head coach Rex Ryan at the helm, the Bills figure to carry themselves with more swagger, and a hot start could propel them forward.
New York appears to have the toughest early schedule of the AFC East upstarts, with a road trip to Indianapolis and a home game vs. Philadelphia in the first four games. Still, the Jets have a ferocious defense.
So who’s going to step up when the Patriots aren’t at full strength? Outside of how New England fares without Brady, it’s the storyline to watch in the first four weeks. If a team or two rises to the occasion early, the final three-quarters of the season could be fascinating.
But if the Jets, Bills and Dolphins stumble about in the first quarter trying to find their bearings, it could be a long season — and subsequent offseason — for them, and especially for the Dolphins and Philbin. The Patriots are always rolling down the stretch, and they figure to be in less-than-a-pleasant mood in 2015. If somebody else doesn’t get the jump in these first four weeks, the Pats might find themselves right where they typically are — right in position to seize control of the AFC East and leave their competitors flailing at shadows.