I’ve resisted commenting on the goings on (or lack of goings ons… cough Dolphins) around the rest of the AFC East until now but it seems like a good point to review the moves made thus far by the Patriots main opposition, and by that I mean Bills and Jets since I have no idea what the Dolphins are doing.

The road to the playoffs goes through the division, and the Patriots have won the division nine of the last eleven years. So what have the Jets and Bills been doing to close the gap?

Let’s start with the Bills. By now everyone knows they’ve signed the big fish Mario Williams, adding him to a defensive line with Marcel Dareus and Kyle Williams. Then they added Mark Anderson as the other bookend.

I have mixed feeling about Anderson. He’s like that guy you let stay in your castle and he’s a valued warrior in a couple battles, then the next thing you know he’s taking a buttload of money to go fight for one of your direct rivals. (I’ve been watching a lot of Game of Thrones lately if you can’t tell). So whatever Mark Anderson, you got paid and that’s fine. Just keep any celebrating you do at the Pats expense to a subdued minimum. You owe us.

On paper, and with a pending 10th overall draft pick, the Bills look formidable. Seems like they’ve seen what the Giants have been able to do to the Patriots and are trying to replicate it, to their credit.

The problem however is the same problem they had last year, and that is lack of depth. The Bills were off to a great start until the injury bug hit them, and then they finished 6-10.

The Patriots off-season has illustrated yet again why they value the middle of their roster as much as the top, and there has yet to be an injury, no matter how major that the Patriots haven’t overcome in the last decade.

So the question is, can the Bills stay healthy? If they’re the rare team that escapes the injury bug they should surely challenge the Patriots. If they can’t keep Anderson, Dareus, K. and M. Williams on the field it could be lights out just like it was last year. And by lights out I mean Sean Merriman who hasn’t quite turned all the lights out since 2007.

I like Ryan Fitzpatrick but it’s all going to have to line up perfectly for him. If the Bills defense stays healthy they should be able to keep Fitzpatrick in a good position. If they don’t, and Fitz is forced to play from behind or “keep up” he will struggle.

The other question is can Fred Jackson continue the kind of dominant performance he turned in last year before getting hurt. He’s a huge key to everything they do on offense and they need a full year from him.

I expect the Bills to get off to a good start, how long they stay on that course will directly relate to how healthy they stay. But for the first time in a long time the Bills games will be ones that Patriots fans circle before the season.

And then there’s the Jets.

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This was not called a facemask btw.

I’m as biased as they come but I think even a non-biased point of view could successfully argue the Pats are set up better than any of the other AFC East teams for the next 5 years.

The obvious point is made by Williamson:

The Patriots are set up for the long haul better than any team in the division — or maybe better than any team in the entire league. They have an extremely impressive very young core of talent at most positions. And no team stores away draft picks for a rainy day like New England.

Even if Belichick leaves (Hoodie forbid!!) the young talent on both sides of the ball should only get better as they get more experience, especially when you factor in what kind of dedication those players have. After all the drafts of the mid-to-late 90s played an enormous part of the success in the early 00s, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

My expectations are high for 2011, but I don’t think we’ll truly see this young defense begin to peak until 2012/2013 when I expect them to ascend to a defense that can win games on their own. A defense that can shut down a star quarterback on the biggest stages like the dynasty defense was capable of.

Until then BB will just continue to add high character, high round draft picks.

Tim Graham over at the ESPN AFC East blog has put together a poll asking what was the defining moment of the Patriots franchise. Here are the choices:

Bill Parcells/Drew Bledsoe arrive in 1993 
Robert Kraft purchases the team in 1994 
Bill Belichick is hired in 2000 
Tom Brady is drafted in 2000

This is a tough call, because clearly all of these factors were absolutely necessary in building the Patriots franchise into what it is today.

If Parcells hadn’t arrived in 1993, Robert Kraft never would’ve met BB and sown the seeds of their relationship today.

If Kraft hadn’t bought the team we could still be stuck with an owner more interested in turning a profit regardless of wins. Cough Jeremy Jacobs…

Belichick and Brady were obviously the final pieces of the puzzle, but without any of these factors the Patriots would never have become the model franchise of the NFL.

My choice? I’m going with Robert Kraft buying the team. He had some growing pains early on, but his style of ownership is what set the stage for how good the Pats have been since 1996 (3 Super Bowl Titles, 5 AFC Titles, 8 AFC East Titles in the last 10 seasons). Nobody was overjoyed with the hiring of BB in 2000, but it was Kraft’s vision that established an environment conducive to winning football games.

Place your vote here.