Eric Rowe Jerseys 2019 , and its final game ended in familiar fashion: with the New England Patriots winning the Super Bowl and hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy. For the sixth time since the turn of the century, the Patriots were able to capture the title proving once again that their dynasty is still going strong. And with both Bill Belichick and Tom Brady returning in 2019, the foundation of the club’s unprecedented run stays intact.That being said, the team’s longer-term outlook remains unclear to a certain degree. Belichick and Brady will be 67 and 42, respectively, when the next season kicks off and there is no apparent succession plan in place — at least known to the public. It is therefore not too big a surprise to see the Patriots just barely make the top 10 in the “future power rankings” created by SB Nation’s Adam Stites.The rationale behind the world champions coming in at number nine is as follows, according to its author:As is alluded to in the story, the Cleveland Browns are one of the teams ahead of the Patriots and it is not hard to see why: after consistently being one of the NFL’s worst teams year-in and year-out, Cleveland has a solid young core of players in place to go along with four top-100 draft picks this year and around $80 million in available salary cap space. After finishing the 2018 season with a 7-8-1 record, the Browns appear to be on the upswing.The same can be said about the other teams listed ahead of the Patriots: the Indianapolis Colts take the top spot, followed by the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, and the aforementioned Browns — all teams that have either young quarterbacks under contracts, a solid coaching staff, plenty of salary cap space, or all three of them.New England White LaAdrian Waddle Jerseys , for comparison, has the league’s oldest starting quarterback, a staff that saw five coaches leave last week, and comparatively limited financial resources entering the 2019 offseason. Having more faith in other teams’ long-term outlook is a natural result of this, but not necessarily the 100% correct reaction. After all, the Patriots still have some core pieces in place to ensure succeeding in 2019 and beyond.For one, neither Brady nor Belichick have shown any signs of slowing down soon. This, in turn, would give the club plenty of time to look for and groom heirs at both spots. When it comes to the comparative lack of salary cap space, meanwhile, the Patriots’ position is also not too bad considering that the team has shown time and again that it can make the most out of its resources no matter how limited they may appear to be.Take the recent 2018 season as an example: New England lost four offensive starters, one of its starting cornerbacks, and two of its core special teamers but still managed to stay competitive all the way to another world championship — with players like Trent Brown, Sony Michel, Jason McCourty, J.C. Jackson, and Albert McClellan all picking up the slack and taking over core roles.Yes, the Colts and Chiefs and Rams and Bears — all teams New England beat at least once during the last season — have plenty of things to get excited about. But until one of the clubs can challenge the Patriots on a consistent basis, the league still continues to play catch-up. The latest FanPulse numbers show that all four teams’ fanbases are more confident than they were in early January."A lot has happened since the last time all four teams in the AFC East played on the same weekend. The division champion New England Patriots went on to win their sixth Super Bowl before losing considerable talent in the offseason. The New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, meanwhile LaAdrian Waddle Jerseys 2019 , parted ways with their head coaches and are now at different stages of a rebuilding process. The Buffalo Bills, on the other hand, were among the big spenders in free agency.All in all, a lot has been going on since the final regular season weekend of the 2018 season. Those developments now all resulted in fanbases across the division feeling substantially more confident in each team’s direction than they did back in December of last year. A look at the latest FanPulse numbers — sign up here if you also want to participate in future surveys — reflects just that:As can be seen, the majority of every AFC East fanbase is at least somewhat confident in the direction its clubs are headed towards with notable spikes over the last three months. Patriots fans, meanwhile, are only slightly more confident than they were three back in December — despite another Lombardi Trophy coming to Gillette Stadium: the team did lose some of its star players over the last month either to free agency or retirement.Seeing the numbers for the other three clubs grow that rapidly is also not that big of a surprise considering that the Bills, Jets and Dolphins all have young talent either at key positions on the field or at the head coaching spot. To find out more about how fans from across the division see their respective teams, Pats Pulpit spoke to the managing editors of its sister sites for more input and analysis of the numbers.“Bills fans see that Buffalo improved their biggest flaws from 2018 in free agency by adding a bunch of offensive linemen and a pair of wide receivers,” said Matt Warren, managing editor at Buffalo Rumblings. “They also plugged holes at cornerback as well as special teams. In a league where a lot of fans want to see action but don’t always get it in free agency, the Bills led the league in signings (but not in cash).”“Even if they don’t end up panning out, the number of players Buffalo added this offseason is pretty uncommon in the NFL,” Matt continued. Free agency also is a big part of the reason why Jets fans saw a 33% increase in fan confidence since the last FanPulse survey asking this particular question was sent out three months back — as is the development of 2018 first-round quarterback Sam Darnold, as Gang Green Nation’s John Butchko pointed out.“Much of the excitement in the Jets fan base revolves around Sam Darnold. The rookie finished and up and down rookie season with a strong December. Fans are hoping to see a leap in year two,” John told Pats Pulpit before also mentioning free agency. “The Jets were among the most active teams in free agency, upgrading at running back with Le’Veon Bell, linebacker with C.J. Mosley, and wide receiver with Jamison Crowder.”Dolphins fans, meanwhile White David Andrews Jerseys , have a different look at their team as The Phinsider managing editor Kevin Nogle pointed out. “The Dolphins fan base realizes this is probably going to be a really ugly year for the team, but the fact that they are finally doing a full reset has the fans believing there will be a light at the end of the dark, dark, dark tunnel,” said Kevin about a team that will look substantially different at both head coach and quarterback in 2019.“Even while we see the team getting worse this offseason, shedding talent to free up salary cap space, there seems to be a plan in place, and they seem to be sticking to it,” Kevin continued. “All of the band aid solutions of the previous few regimes are being ripped off this offseason, giving hope that, with a couple of strong drafts and around $120 million in cap space next year, the Dolphins will finally end the mediocrity that has plagued the team since Dan Marino retired.”Championships are not won or lost in March and April, of course, but the excitement surrounding every team in the AFC East — albeit for different reasons — should make for an entertaining year in the division... and if only when it comes to who finishes in second place behind the Patriots, as history has taught us over the last ten years.If you are interested in participating in our FanPulse survey, please click here!