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Let’s take a closer look:

New England Patriots

The Pats have managed to stay front and center in the media circus even after failing to insert the final piece of the perfect puzzle, losing to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

New England did sign Randy Moss to a multi-year deal Monday, but what is more interesting is who the team let go.

Donte’ Stallworth (Cleveland), Randall Gay (New Orleans), backup TE Kyle Brady and a few spare LBs aren’t alarming, but New England will enter the regular season without the services of CB Asante Samuel.

Samuel is off to fly with the Philadelphia Eagles this year, in what will likely go down as the biggest UFA acquisition of the year, so while there is still a great deal of time between now and Week 1, one of the questions football bettors need to start considering, if they haven’t already, is if New England will go the route of almost every other Super Bowl runner-up in the past 10 years; falling short the following year.

Teams like the Chicago Bears (7-9) in 2007 or the Eagles (6-10) in `05, the Carolina Panthers (7-9) of `04 and (this one really hurts), an Oakland Raiders team that went from an embarrassing 27 point loss in Super Bowl XXXVII to an even more disgraceful 5-11 record in 2003.

This is not so much an exercise in trend-setting or a “how-to” on reading crystal balls, but more an opportunity to start considering which of the other three teams in the AFC East might be considered a possible contender.

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