New England Patriots Show Fans Of Other AFC East Teams You Do Not Demand Enough

You are a Miami Dolphins fan. Or a New York Jets fan. Or, worst of all, a Buffalo Bills fan. And you hate your life right now. 

Or you should.

The New England Patriots are in the Super Bowl.

The team with six Lombardi Trophies has a chance to pick up an unprecedented seventh in a couple of weeks. 

"We're going to have to play our best football game in two weeks," coach Mike Vrabel said, "if we want to finish champions."

Jan 25, 2026; Denver, CO, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) drops back to pass against the Denver Broncos during the second half in the 2026 AFC Championship Game at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Bills Wasted Patriots' Down Years

And if they do, the dynasty that everyone thought passed into memory near the end of Bill Belichick's tenure and the year Jerod Mayo misspent as the coach? That dynasty was just taking a nap.

And it just might be awake again.

The Patriots beat the Denver Broncos on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game. They'll be playing in Santa Clara on Feb. 8 for the Super Bowl title.

All this while the rest of the AFC East is a mess.

The Bills had five consecutive AFC titles while the Patriots regrouped. So the Bills didn't exactly waste Josh Allen, but they wasted the opportunity to overcome New England.

Now the Bills emerge from New England's drought years without a Super Bowl trip…

..And something of a rebuild could be coming with a new coach whose identity you still don't know and who may have zero professional coaching experience because he was playing quarterback in the NFL just last month.

MIAMI, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 02: Dan Marino of the NLF 100 All-Time Team is honored on the field prior to Super Bowl LIV between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Maye As Many Super Bowls As Marino

The Dolphins, meanwhile, haven't won a playoff game since December of 2000. The Patriots, in Vrabel's first year, have done that twice already this postseason.

The Dolphins saw Dan Marino come and go without winning a Super Bowl and haven't replaced him since he retired after the 1999 season. The Patriots won six Super Bowls with Tom Brady and, three years after he left the NFL, they have new franchise quarterback Drake Maye playing in his first Super Bowl.

The New York Jets? They still have Joe Namath and January of 1969 to clutch as their lone grasp on greatness. But beyond that, there's been a lot of tears and pain and embarrassment.

New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez #6 fumble in the first half when the New York Jets played the New England Patriots. Sanchez smacks into lineman Brandon Moore's rear end and fumbles, leading directly to New England TD, part of 35-point 2nd quarter for Patriots. (Photo By: Robert Sabo/NY Daily News via Getty Images)

Jets Are Worst Team In AFC East

The Jets are whipping boys for the rest of the division. Your owner last season threw the quarterback under the bus. 

The coach in 2023 couldn't stop the organization from leaking information.

And the butt fumble is still funny.

That's your life. That and watching former first-round pick Sam Darnold play in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.

All of this clownish behavior, not just by the Jets but every team in the AFC East during the first two decades of the 2000s, didn't result in the Patriots' first dynasty. Because they were just better than everyone else, too. 

But it contributed to the Patriots legacy. They won 18 division championships in 19 seasons. And now they're back. 

Sean Payton Blew FG Decision

That was obvious during Sunday's playoff victory that came on the road. 

In the snow. 

Despite Maye completing fewer than 50% of his passes and playing perhaps his worst game of the season.

How the heck is this possible?

Well, start with Broncos coach Sean Payton making a boneheaded decision to go for a fourth-down conversion in the first half. By doing so, he asked backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham to make a big play instead of kicking a field goal that would have given Denver a 10-0 lead.

Stidham, who Brady once nicknamed Stiddy, was unsteady and instead delivered a fourth-down incompletion. 

DENVER, COLORADO - JANUARY 25: Christian Gonzalez #0 of the New England Patriots celebrates with teammates after intercepting a pass from Jarrett Stidham #8 of the Denver Broncos (not pictured) intended for Marvin Mims Jr. #19 (not pictured) during the fourth quarter in the AFC Championship Playoff game at Empower Field At Mile High on January 25, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. The New England Patriots defeat the Denver Broncos 10-7. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Cousins: Pats Not Going Away

Despite a couple of completions here and there, Stidham wasn't much better the rest of the game. The Broncos, who managed five fourth-quarter comebacks this season, could manage only one first down in the second half against the Patriots.

Now the horizon is attractive for the Patriots – even beyond the looming Super Bowl.

"The Patriots Way may have left when Tom Brady left, but Mike Vrabel brought it back and they're here to stay," CBS guest analyst Kirk Cousins said after the game. "There's only six free agents coming up this offseason for that. That's about half of what a normal team would have. 

"So they are really built to last. They have an inexpensive quarterback [in the second year of his rookie contract]. We could be seeing the makings of, can I say, a dynasty here. I think I'm little early on that, but it's alright. 

"They're not going anywhere."

They're going to the Super Bowl. Again.