One dark horse NFL team for every division

AFC East: New York Jets

Actually, almost any team not named ‘The New England Patriots’ could be a dark horse selection, but most pundits expect the Miami Dolphins to be pretty good this year, so I’m removing them.

That leaves the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets. Both teams are actually in pretty much the same shape: solid to exceptional defenses, decent offensive lines, solid run games and nothing resembling a quarterback.

Well, that’s not quite true. As bad as both groups are, the Jets’ Ryan Fitzpatrick is probably the best of the bunch. Certainly, Bills fans have seen his highs are higher than the rest.

While LeSean McCoy is a better runner (or has been in the past) than Chris Ivory, the rest of the offense isn’t that far off. Sammy Watkins is likely the best of the bunch, but Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker are excellent receivers, better than Robert Woods and Percy Harvin.

Harvin brings up another question—Bills head coach Rex Ryan wanted to ‘put a bully together’ and added Richie Incognito and IK Enemkpali. Combine that with Harvin and McCoy and you have a potentially messy situation. Both Harvin and McCoy have both openly complained when their teams struggled—and the Bills will struggle. Will Ryan be able to keep them together?

OK, enough about why the Bills won’t contend, let’s talk the Jets and why they could make a run.

First of all, as mentioned above, the Jets have a chance to field one of the better defensive units in the NFL. Both Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie are clear upgrades over last season and Buster Skrine is a great third corner. Marcus Gilchrist is a good upgrade at strong safety and should allow Calvin Pryor to roam free in a more natural way than he did when he was forced to play more cover.

While missing Sheldon Richardson for the start of the season is tough, rookie Leonard Williams has played very well this preseason, and overall the starting front seven, if not the best in the league, should be formidable.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is more than capable of running the Jets’ offense and is very familiar with offensive coordinator Chan Gailey from their time together in Buffalo.

Finally, you have to like the overall look of the Jets schedule. There are certainly some tough games, such as against the Colts and Eagles early, but they see a lot of the lower tier of the NFL as well. Washington, the Raiders, Jaguars, and Titans should be wins, the Texans are beatable as are the Giants.

If the Jets can do well within the division (no easy task admittedly) they could creep into the playoffs.

Next: AFC North: Cleveland Browns