AFC East Betting Picks & Previews!

For sixteen of the last eighteen NFL seasons, the New England Patriots have been the AFC East divisional champs, and under center for them that entire time has been quarterback Tom Brady, who turns 42-years-old in August.

It looks like it’ll be the same divisional battle in 2019, with Brady and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick returning for the nineteenth time, so it will be up to either the Buffalo Bills, the New York Jets or the Miami Dolphins to knock Brady’s Pats off the top of the AFC East mountain, or at the very least to post a regular season record worthy of a Wild Card spot.

Teams from the AFC East have been represented in nineteen Super Bowls and have won eight of them, and here we take a closer look at this NFL division, including its history, the success of its teams and the odds and predictions of how they will fare in 2019.

For the NFL newbies, what exactly is the AFC East?

If you’re just learning about the NFL, here’s a quick primer on how the league divides its teams based on the regions where each resides in order to build a fair schedule.

The National Football League (NFL) formed in 1920 and faced competition from many other leagues until 1966, when the NFL finally merged with the fourth American Football League (AFL) and held the very first Super Bowl at the end of that season.

After adding some expansion teams over the years, the NFL now has thirty-two teams that are split into two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).

Each of those two conferences is then split up into four regions – North, South, East and West – with four teams in each, and in this article, we will be focusing on the AFC East, which got its official start in 1970.

The teams of the AFC East are:

1. Buffalo Bills, who play at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York
2. Miami Dolphins, who play at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida
3. New England Patriots, who play at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts
4. New York Jets, who play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey

Which team has the most AFC East titles?

The New England Patriots have won the most AFC East titles with twenty.

The Miami Dolphins have thirteen AFC East titles, the Buffalo Bills have seven and the New York Jets have two.

In the long history of the AFC East, when the Baltimore / Indianapolis Colts were a part of the division they also won six titles.

Which AFC East team has the most Lombardi Trophies?

That honor also goes to the New England Patriots, who have won eleven AFC championships, which they have turned into six Super Bowl wins: XXXVI in 2001, XXXVIII in 2003, XXXIX in 2004, XLIX in 2014, LI in 2016 and LIII in 2018.

Next in line are the Miami Dolphins, who have won thirteen AFC championships, which they have turned into two Super Bowl wins, VII in 1972 and VIII in 1973.

Next are the Buffalo Bills, who have won four conference championships, which they have turned into zero Super Bowl wins, though they did have two AFL championships in 1964 and 1965.

Finally come the New York Jets, who have won two AFC championships, which they have turned into one Super Bowl win, III, the AFL-NFL matchup in 1968.

How many Super Bowl rings has the AFC East won?

The AFC East has won nine Super Bowls among its four teams.

The NFL division with the most Lombardi trophies is the NFC East, with a combined thirteen Super Bowl Championships.

The NFL divisions with the least amount of Super Bowl rings are the NFC and AFC South, with two Super Bowl rings apiece.

How did the AFC East do in 2018?

The New England Patriots, the only AFC East team to play in the 2018 postseason, snagged the AFC’s second playoff seed and beat the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Chargers in the Divisional round, 41-28.

The Patriots then beat the AFC number one seeded Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC Championship in overtime, 37-31, and then went on to beat the NFC’s second seed, the Los Angeles Rams, in Super Bowl LIII by a score of 13-3.

What are the odds and predictions of the AFC East in 2019?

In terms of the entire league, the New England Patriots are predicted to be the AFC Champions during the 2019-20 NFL season, with +315 odds, while the Kansas City Chiefs are next in line with +360 odds.

The Patriots are also predicted to be the next Super Bowl winners, with +700 odds, while the Chiefs are next in line with +800 odds.

The Jets’ AFC Championship odds are +2500, the Bills’ are +5000, while the Jets’ Super Bowl odds are +5000 and the Bills’ are +10000, or, in other words, highly unlikely.

Here’s how the AFC East is expected to rank during the 2019-20 season:

4) Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins are predicted to finish last in the AFC East, and many football experts suspect that may be on purpose, with the goal being to snag next year’s first overall pick, which many assume will be the big-armed scrambler from Alabama, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

In the meantime, the Dolphins have hired a new head coach, Brian Flores, traded away their franchise quarterback Ryan Tannehill to the New York Jets and have signed journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and traded for a second-year former first-rounder quarterback, Josh Rosen.

With all that topsy-turvy action with the Miami leadership roles, the 2019 Dolphins are not expected to do well in the AFC East or in the league, so gamble accordingly.

3) Buffalo Bills

The 2019-20 Buffalo Bills have a second-year quarterback under center, Josh Allen, and general manager Brandon Beane has done his best to protect him by signing five offensive linemen this offseason in free agency and moving up two spots in the second round of the draft to select Cody Ford, the impressive Oklahoma lineman.

Head coach Sean McDermott proved two seasons ago that he could lead this struggling Buffalo franchise to the postseason, but thanks to losing so many players to trades, roster cuts and retirement, the team’s 2018 season came up short, posting a 6-10 record and ending up in third place of the AFC East.

The odds makers predict a similar finish for the Bills in this upcoming season, and the offense must begin to click because as we saw last season, their defense, though ranked second, can’t carry the team by itself.

2) New York Jets

The 2019-20 New York Jets are predicted to be a lot better than they were last season, and that’s despite the thorough cleansing owner Chris Johnson put them through this offseason, hiring a new head coach, Adam Gase, and new offensive and defensive coordinators, Dowell Loggains and Gregg Williams, respectively.

Speaking of new, the Jets front office has given second-year quarterback Sam Darnold the best welcome back present imaginable, which is dual threat running back Le’Veon Bell, who, after sitting out last season over a contract dispute, comes into the season with fresh legs and soft hands, ready to take advantage of Darnold’s powerful throwing arm.

Also added to the pile of Darnold targets was free agent wide receiver Jamison Crowder, who hopes to return to being healthy and productive after playing in just nine games for the Washington Redskins last season, Crowder now part of a Jets franchise that hopes their new leadership can figure out how to win a lot more than four games like they did in 2018.

1) New England Patriots

Predicted to be first in the AFC East for the eleventh season in a row are the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots, led by old-timey quarterback Tom Brady and his mentor head coach Bill Belichick, a combo that’s brought six gigantic Super Bowl rings to team owner Robert Kraft and who have ticked off many a fan not from New England with their brilliance.

Of course, the Patriots will have to face the upcoming season without a couple of the weapons that made them stellar in 2018, like future Hall-of-Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski, who has retired after nine seasons in the NFL, and wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who was also a Second Team All-Pro kick returner.

But that’s what makes the Patriots so bloody frustrating – just when you think they’ve lost enough key players to not be dominant anymore, Brady and Belichick find a way to get a roster full of no-names and castaways to play like champions, and there’s no legitimate reason not to think they’ll be able to do that again in 2019.