Who will win each of the AFC divisions?

AFC East – Division Favorite

New England Patriots

Bill Belichick’ s well-earned reputation as a defensive mastermind was hatched by his transcendent unit in the Giants’ title run of 1986, and burnished by an underdog New York group that put the brakes on one of the greatest offenses of all time in Super Bowl XXV.

The makeup of the team he has in front of him now feels a lot more like the 2003 or 2004 Pats — or even the 1990 Giants — than the New England outfits of 2007 and 2011. Outside of Rob Gronkowski, the offensive arsenal screams workmanlike more than wow, and the defense is where the heavy capital — in draft picks and salary — has been spent.

After winning back-to-back titles in 2003 and ’04, ranking as a top-10 defense in each season, the Patriots sank to 26th in total D during the 2005 campaign. From there, they recovered to finish in the top 10 the next three seasons, and 11th in 2009, before collapsing to end up in the bottom quarter of the league in each of the last four seasons.

Unsaid in those statistics: It’s really been almost a decade since the Patriots were better on that side of the ball than on offense.

For the first time in a long time, the Pats defense will be “good”.

New England has eight former first-rounders on defense, and 15 guys drafted in the top 100. The Patriots had to rebuild at the end of the last decade as Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison and Mike Vrabel left the building, and Brady’s excellence bought them plenty of time to do it.

They’ve also added Darrelle Revis, the best corner on the planet when healthy, to replace Aqib Talib who departed to the Broncos.

All that said, with a defense stocked with pedigreed talent, and Brady spearheading the effort on the other side of the ball, this team has the look and edge of a champion — one that should expect to be back in the conference title game for a fourth straight year. The Patriots are the division favorites in the AFC East.