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


CKS97

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On 10/26/2018 at 8:33 AM, dtait93 said:

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.

Right? Imagine how long our division would have been a laughing stock from top-bottom lol

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On 10/26/2018 at 7:01 AM, CKS97 said:

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)

I'm confused. Are you saying the realignment did all of that? If so.... how?

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The division didnt become horrible through realignment. The division has just appeared to be horrible because one of the GOAT coaches and one of the GOAT QBs have been raping most of the league for almost 20 years on one of the GOAT teams, which happens to be in that division. You're making a correlation = causation error.

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Really I think the best way to go through this is just decide what years the Colts would have won the division since 2002 if you replace the Dolphins with the Colts.

 

2002: Neither the Colts or Pats were particularly good that season. Jets probably still win.

2003: Patriots win the division. Colts are a wild card.

2004: Patriots win the division, Colts are a wild card.

2005: Colts win the division, Pats possibly miss the playoffs. 

2006: Colts probably win the division, (They had the same record but Indy beat NE twice that year. Once in regular season, once in playoffs) Pats are a wild card.

2007: Pats win the division. Colts are a wild card.

2008: Colts win the division. Pats possibly miss playoffs.

2009: Colts win division, Pats are a wild card.

2010: Pats win division, Colts possibly miss playoffs.

Every year after would likely be the Pats winning the division.

So yeah, it would have been a more competitive division during that span, but it would have ended up with the Pats ultimately running away with it ever year anyways after 2009. And the Colts/Pats was still a very exciting rivalry despite them not being in the same division.

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