Death. Taxes. The Patriots winning the AFC East.
Patriots set an NFL record with 8th straight AFC East title after beating the Broncos
New England takes the division and has secured a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Stew Milne-USA TODAY Sports
New England won its 13th division title in the past 14 years after beating the Broncos on Sunday. The victory improved the Patriots to 12-2 on the season, secured a first-round bye in the 2017 NFL Playoffs, and pushed Bill Belichick’s team within striking distance of securing home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
The division title was an NFL-record eighth straight.
Tom Brady had a quiet day, but he didn’t need to add much after the New England defense limited the Broncos to only three points through the game’s first 57 minutes. Brady didn’t complete a pass until the second quarter but still managed to lead his team to a convincing 16-3 victory.
2016 marks the seventh straight season where the Patriots have won 12 games or more. The franchise has advanced to two Super Bowls and five conference championship games over that span. New England hasn’t won fewer than 10 games since 2002.
The Patriots made their annual playoff trek behind the MVP-caliber play of veteran quarterback Brady. The 39-year-old passer came into Sunday’s showdown with Denver sporting a pristine 22:2 TD:INT ratio and led the NFL in passer rating. However, he hasn’t been the only reason for the team’s success. New England went 3-1 early in the season as Brady served out his league-mandated suspension for his role in the DeflateGate fiasco.
Brady’s absence isn’t the only one from which the team has had to recover. The Pats went into 2016 without pass rusher Chandler Jones after the Pro Bowler was traded to Arizona before the start of the season. They also jettisoned Jamie Collins to the Browns in the middle of the year.
But the biggest blow came when Rob Gronkowski was ruled out for the rest of 2016 after undergoing back surgery on Dec. 1. Losing the dynamic playmaker forced New England to alter its offense, but hasn’t forced the team to miss a beat. The Patriots are 3-0 since he was placed on injured reserve.
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