With the Bills’ loss to the Colts on Sunday, the AFC East is far more of a coin flip between Buffalo and New England than the runaway it appeared to be at the beginning of the season. According to statistical FiveThirtyEight, the Patriots have a 49% chance of winning the division right now, with two games against the Bills remaining (not to mention games against the Dolphins and a lowly Jaguars team that upset the Bills a few weeks back).
If the Patriots end up stunning the majority of us and winning the division (colleague Jenny Vrentas picked the Patriots to win the division before the season, so not all of us would be blindsided), it’s an interesting exercise to wonder what is more impressive: Bill Belichick, just a year after losing Tom Brady, retooling his roster on the fly via free agency, starting a rookie quarterback drafted fifth among his positional peers and beating a legitimate Super Bowl contender for the divisional crown; or Brady, venturing out on his own, joining a loaded but unfamiliar team during the pandemic and leading the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title in his first year with the team?