Lost In DeflateGate Drama: Patriots Will Still Win AFC East
BOSTON (CBS) - On Tuesday night, 98.5 The Sports Hub's Adam Jones and Rich Keefe read from Manish Mehta's latest column in the New York Daily News, titled "Rex Ryan And Bills In Position To Take AFC East After Tom Brady Suspension."
Mehta notes that among the AFC East teams, the Bills have the easiest schedule through the first four weeks of the season, and concludes that Buffalo has the best shot at dethroning the Patriots with Tom Brady on the bench.
That's not going to happen, according to Jones and Keefe, who believe even if the Patriots start off 1-3 with Jimmy Garoppolo, 12 games is still plenty of time to make up any lost ground.
"[Bill] Belichick is going to be on a mission this year. When Brady comes back, he is going to be on a mission," said Jones. "I'm not even convinced that Garoppolo won't be on a mission for the first month."
"[Garoppolo] could tear it up. Who would you rather start in Week 1: Matt Cassel or Jimmy Garoppolo? There's a lot of unknowns, but give me those unknowns rather than Matt Cassel," says Rich Keefe.
Jones adds that when Brady went down in Week 1 with a knee injury in the 2008 season, the Patriots still won 11 games without him. Jones would be more concerned about the Patriots if Belichick were to miss the first four games.
"The Bills are not winning the AFC East. Are you kidding me right now? Rex Ryan and the Jets had no defense and no quarterback last year and they were horrible," said Jones. "Now he goes to the Bills and all of a sudden he's going to beat the Patriots, who are highly motivated to embarrass the league [trying] to kick ass and take names? Now Rex Ryan is in position to win the AFC East? That's dumb."
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