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After Much-(Over)Hyped Offseason, Rest Of AFC East Remains Far Behind Patriots

BOSTON (CBS) -- Hype. The expectations-killer. The impossible-to-reach summit at the top of Optimism Mountain.

Sometimes, the hype surrounding a team, player, or coach is justified and they live up to the lofty expectations. Other times, the hype turns out to be little more than a bloated, fabricated bubble just waiting to burst.

It happens almost every year in the AFC East, when at least one of the teams improves in the offseason and maybe even steals a win from the Patriots early on. Then suddenly, that team thumps their chest declaring "This is our year!" and burying the Patriots, which so many in the media are also wont to do in their desperate hope that the team's much-anticipated demise actually happens.

For 13 of the past 15 seasons, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick work the team into a groove, building to a crescendo in December when they look nearly unbeatable. Meanwhile, the rest of the AFC East (besides a few outliers here and there) regresses back to the mean and once again looks skyward, where New England reigns over them all.

This season was supposed to be different. This was an offseason where all three of the Patriots' AFC East rivals added high-end talent and looked poised to finally dethrone the Foxboro Empire. But 2015 has turned out to be more of the same.

The Buffalo Bills are easily the biggest abuser of the Hype Machine. Entering their Week 2 showdown with the Patriots At Ralph Wilson Stadium, the suddenly-outspoken Sammy Watkins said "This is our year." At the end of July, Watkins said there was "no doubt" that the Bills should win the AFC East. The Patriots promptly stomped the Bills in a game that wasn't as close as the 40-32 final score indicated.

Watkins was probably half-joking, because he also said he expects the Bills to win "at least every game." And I wouldn't expect him to say he doesn't expect the Bills to beat the Patriots. Fine. It's just hilarious how mouthy these teams get year after year, only to find themselves far below the Patriots in the AFC East standings. There's nothing wrong with being confident; it just makes you look bad when your confidence morphs into cockiness.

It comes as no surprise that the Bills would have such bluster, considering their head coach. Rex Ryan has definitively proven that the Patriots are constantly dancing around in his head, but also that he has learned nothing about his baseless bravado. No matter where his team is at in the standings, he's always taking the podium to bloviate about how they're going to kick ass and take names. He still hasn't learned to be quiet when he should, and it has extended to his locker room. Marcell Dareus recently admitted that Ryan's boisterous talk got the team to buy in before actually proving themselves or accomplishing anything significant as a team.

Elsewhere, the Miami Dolphins entered 2015 with more hope than they've had to supplant the Patriots since winning the AFC East in 2008 (the only time a team other than the Patriots has done it). They signed Ndamukong Suh to a monster deal to beef up the defensive front (and specifically gear up to stop Brady), and signed Jordan Cameron and drafted Davante Parker in the first round to add to the offense. Where did all that money get them? A 36-7 drubbing in Foxboro and a 5-8 record.

The New York Jets, however, are more of an outlier compared to the Bills and Dolphins. Stripped of all the Rex Ryan-fueled braggadocio, new head coach Todd Bowles instead has the team focused on football and seems to have the locker room under control. The team has been inconsistent this season; after starting 3-0, they lost four of five, and now have won four of five. At 8-5 they have a good chance at a Wild Card spot and could still spoil the Patriots' hopes of securing the top seed in the conference (and for that matter, so do the Dolphins). They're not going to have a chance at winning the AFC East until they get a better quarterback, but at least the Jets don't talk a big game like they used to.

I don't expect the other AFC East teams to say they expect to lose, or that they have no shot of beating the Patriots. How about just saying nothing? How about not taking a reporter's "Do you think you can beat the Patriots?" bait and just say "They're a great team and we're excited for the challenge," or "We're just focused on getting better." Countless players and coaches have made themselves look like clowns with this kind of talk-the-talk-but-can't-walk-the-walk nonsense when talking about the Patriots; it's incredible that it still happens.

So for yet another season, Brady and Belichick have proven that they still belong atop the mountain in the AFC. The Hype Train has slowed to a crawl, and could come to a complete stop before January if the Jets can't get a playoff berth. The drop-off may yet come sooner rather than later in New England, but it hasn't happened yet. And until it does, the rest of the division should stop talking and start working more on actually getting to their level.

Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read more from Matt here. Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.

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