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2002 realignment was the worst thing to ever happen to the AFC East


CKS97

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There was once upon a time when the AFC East was actually, believe it or not, a competitive and thrilling division,

5 teams. Sometimes, you had great teams (Buffalo, Miami). You had competitive division battles for the most part (Save for 1988 and 1991, most AFC East division races were  compelling free-for-alls

1998- FOUR teams made the playoffs

1999- nobody finished with a losing record

2000- Four horse race most of the year

2001- New England actually had to fend off MIA/NYJ and did not clinch until the final Sunday.

And other years had good 2 or 3 horse battles

 

But since 2002 realignment shipped out Indianapolis, it has become the worst division in NFL history, if not sports history.

say what you want about 8-8/7-9 division winners (or 7-8-1 Carolina), but at least those division races were  compelling and close and had drama. (2010 NFC West, 2011 AFC West, 2014 NFC South). I’ll take a turtle derby any day of the week over the AFCE

Save for 2 big time outliers (2002 Jets, 2008 Dolphins), it has been the least competitive and least interesting division ever. New England ALWAYS wins.

More often than not, Brady and Belichick have lapped the field in comical fashion. They have ridiculous stranglehold’s on Miami at home and Buffalo in general, and the Jets bumble around too much in general against everyone else.

it’s not even fun anymore. Do Patriots fans enjoy these joyless cakewalks with no competition? God forbid your team for once has to actually fend off someone in the AFC Least and actually sweat out a division title like every other fanbase

To think, all it took was one team leaving to turn this division from entertaining to anything but. 

Even the 49ers dynasty at least had to occasionally fend off decent Rams and Saints teams when they won all but 3 NFC West titles from 1981-1997 (not counting the 1982 season where there were no division titles and the playoffs were pure seeding)

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Most of our interdivisional games are highly competitive; we actually have a losing a record @MIA in the Brady/Belichick era and I can't tell how stressful games against NYJ can get. NE consistently wins the division because we're much more well managed and coached than the Three Stooges.

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59 minutes ago, CKS97 said:

But since 2002 realignment shipped out Indianapolis, it has become the worst division in NFL history, if not sports history.

We could have had Brady/Manning as a division rivalry. I always felt as if Miami was a better choice for an AFC South team - could have really built up a Jags/Dolphins rivalry, then Tennessee/Houston would have it's rooted rivalry with new Houston franchise vs old Houston franchise...

Yeah, this could have been better.

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13 minutes ago, ET80 said:

We could have had Brady/Manning as a division rivalry. I always felt as if Miami was a better choice for an AFC South team - could have really built up a Jags/Dolphins rivalry, then Tennessee/Houston would have it's rooted rivalry with new Houston franchise vs old Houston franchise...

Yeah, this could have been better.

Dang...if only we could have avoided getting slaughtered by Manning all those years and faced Miami instead...it felt like Indianapolis had a similar strangle hold on the AFCS except for when we won it in 2002 and 2008. Jacksonville had some good seasons in 2005 and 2007 finishing 12-4 and 11-5 respectively, but still finished 2nd in the division. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the AFCE, but the realignment bringing Indy to the AFCS also had a monumental impact on our division. Shame Indy didn’t stay in the AFCE and we didn’t get as much Manning vs Brady as we could have.

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3 hours ago, ET80 said:

We could have had Brady/Manning as a division rivalry. I always felt as if Miami was a better choice for an AFC South team - could have really built up a Jags/Dolphins rivalry, then Tennessee/Houston would have it's rooted rivalry with new Houston franchise vs old Houston franchise...

Yeah, this could have been better.

Also that Miami is actually in the South.

Colts-Jets was also a great historic divisional rivalry dating all the way back to Super Bowl III, now I'd wager most people wouldn't even be aware that it was a rivalry in the first place, let alone remember it.

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5 minutes ago, ET80 said:

Indy is as South as Dallas is East...

Can't use Dallas as the standard for geographic appropriateness. Also I'd argue that out of the four cardinal directions, South is the one that makes the least amount of sense for Indy

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1 minute ago, rich homie said:

Can't use Dallas as the standard for geographic appropriateness. Also I'd argue that out of the four cardinal directions, South is the one that makes the least amount of sense for Indy

No, I get it - was a tongue in cheek joke. 

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3 hours ago, ET80 said:

We could have had Brady/Manning as a division rivalry. I always felt as if Miami was a better choice for an AFC South team - could have really built up a Jags/Dolphins rivalry, then Tennessee/Houston would have it's rooted rivalry with new Houston franchise vs old Houston franchise...

Yeah, this could have been better.

Wait a second. Just hold the hell on here, ET.

You think a team...from the south...would've made a better AFC South member?! Now what kind of heathen logic is that?!

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