Another year where the sky is the limit. This it the third annual Jet Kingdom AFC East Throne Picks and will prove to be another wild ride.

Jet Kingdom's 2007 Picks - Revisited

Just a quick recap of how we did last year in our 2007 AFC East Throne Picks.

• Predicted 11-5 for the Patriots who actually went 16-0*
• Predicted 9-7 for the Jets who went 4-12
• Predicted 7-9 for the Dolphins who fell to a horrible 1-15
• Predicted 8-8 for the Bills who lost one more at 7-9

A pretty bad showing. Really off with the Jets, Patriots and Dolphins only close with the Bills.

The 2008 New York Jets

The start of the off season for the Jets was huge with a lot of spending on free agents from Kris Jenkins to Alan Faneca and Calvin Pace. Heading into the draft the Jets picked 6th and went for the explosive linebacker in Vernon Gholston to put pressure on every quarterback we play. Moving back up in the first the Jets also picked Dustin Keller the TE who might prove to be the gem of the draft.

The big loss was Jonathon Vilma who was traded away but the second year David Harris looks to take his place as a better fit in the 3-4.

Big players are going to have to do big things this year with a lot of new blood all over the field. The Jets will have second year players in some key positions at defense and get Justin Miller back for returns and to add to depth to the back field. The running game needs to step it up behind all that talent whether that be Leon Washington or Thomas Jones. Both should also be helped by the free agency pick up of Tony Richardson a great fullback.

Brett Effect

The last piece to the puzzle was done early in training camp when they signed the legendary Brett Favre to come lead this high stakes Jets offense into the playoffs. Risky on so many levels because of his age, the chemistry and the change of schemes but it has put the Jets back on the NFL map and made them the talk of the town. In preseason Favre has shown he can still throw the ball and take a hit and no matter how you cut this, the Jets have a better chance of winning with him than without.

The Predictions

The worst part of all the off season moves is it has put the expectation level to all time extremes. Maybe not as high as the 1999 season but darn close. The one thing this team does look like it could do this season is beat the Patriots at least once and that, along with a weak schedule will bring the Jets to 11-5 which is the official Throne Pick for 2008.

• W: Dolphins - Chad might be heading up the team but they don't have the weapons.
• L: Patriots - We will split with the Pats but will lose this one close.
• W: Chargers - Favre plays big on Monday night and brings in the win.
• W: Cardinals - The Jets defense keeps Kurt grounded for the win.
• L: Bengals - A close one and high scoring but Palmer gets it done.
• W: Raiders - Rookies galore prove to be easy to beat in Raider-land.
• W: Chiefs - The Revenge of Return of Herm but they still don't have a quarterback.
• L: Bills - Bills are going to make a push this year and beat us in the first meeting.
• W: Rams - Jackson might be back but too many holes in their defense to go through.
• W: Patriots - Another prime time huge game for Favre and he beats the Pats.
• L: Titans - Hard to rebound from the big win, the Jets lose on the road.
• W: Broncos - Broncos are easier to handle at home.
• W: 49ers - A long road trip but the Jets pull out a win.
• W: Bills - The rematch goes to the Jets who are pushing for the playoffs
• L: Seahawks - Too cold, too far and a playoff bound team.
• W: Dolphins - Last game of the season and the Jets celebrate in style.

There you have it, 11-5 which is a lofty goal and number the Jets haven't seen since 1985. It gets us a playoff birth and the rest will be history.

In Other Kingdoms

So how will the Jets stack up against the AFC East this year. We think they will do pretty well once again. The Pats will still dominate but not by much. The magic of the video tape will wear off this season. The Miami Dolphins, even with The Chad are going to struggle as they have very few weapons on offense of defense. Pennington will keep games closer and prove that he can make a little more out of not very much. The Buffalo Bills are a team always on the verge of doing something but never seem to quite get there and we don't see any difference this season. Trent Edwards is still pretty much an unknown and the bills look to be back were they were last year.

• 12-4 - Patriots
• 11-5 - Jets
• 7-9 - Bills
• 6-10 Dolphins

Disclaimer

We will admit that we had put pen to paper many months ago wrote down 9-7/10-6 for the season but the Brett Effect is just too much to handle not to throw a few more wins in that column.