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CBS Sports is very confident the Buffalo Bills are going to repeat as AFC East champions again in 2022.
The outlet ranked each division winner from last season in terms of how confident they are the team will defend their title. The Bills earned the second-highest slot.
The reasoning came down to quarterback play.
Here’s the breakdown:
The Josh Allen effect. QBs don’t sway every division race, but in this case, they do. Allen plus Buffalo’s playoff-ready supporting cast is just that much more explosive than anything in Miami, New England and New York. Sean McDermott’s defense should also be just as stingy. That doesn’t mean the Dolphins or Jets won’t be better, or that Belichick’s Patriots won’t play spoiler. But the Bills have flirted with true title contention for several seasons now, and their lineup remains lethal.
Aside from the Bills, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the only team CBS Sports is more confident in regarding their chances to repeat again.
In terms of the AFC East, the quarterback situation has long played into the equation. Pre-Allen, it was always the man who is now in Tampa having a stranglehold on the AFC East: Tom Brady.
Until one of the other younger quarterbacks in the division bridge that big gap that was evident last year between Allen and the likes of Mac Jones, Tua Tagovailoa and Zach Wilson, there’s little reason to think the Bills won’t repeat. Just look at the Patriots for proof.
Between 2003 and 2019, the Pats only lost the division once (2008).
It could be Buffalo’s time for something similar.
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