Your AFC East Champion, New England Patriots

As if curb-stomping the New York Jets 42-10 wasn't enough to make for a fun bus ride back to Foxborough, the boys gathered around their phones to watch Josh Allen miss a wide open Khalil Shakir in the back of the end zone on that game's final play to fittingly place the crown of the AFC East on its rightful owners.

That's right - the New England Patriots are once again AFC East champions.

It's been a long five years. While some people, those of lesser social stature that root for teams like the Browns or Cardinals, may say our "down-ridden" years felt more like the Mitten ride at Glove World than falling off the Hoover Dam into the Colorado River,

It felt more like the ladder.

Think about it. If for 20 years you were so accustomed to success that division titles and conference championship appearances were as routine as brushing your teeth in the morning, your world would also be flipped upside down after consecutive losing seasons and the coach who was a figure of God since your life's first memories suddenly started treating your favorite franchise like a nepotism-filled Venture Capital firm.

If you went from the highest form of stability in Tom Brady to a bridge year with Cam Newton on the wrong side of his prime, to the Mac Jones/Bailey Zappe years (crazy those existed), to Jacoby Brissett as a week one starter just a year ago, you too would be searching for a mental health coach to guide you through the turbulence of life you never thought you'd experience.

But everything changed last winter. First, from the top.

The second this dude was announced as the head coach things were different. I mean I said it in real time, in a blog I wrote the week he was hired.

With Mike Vrabel the uncertainty is gone. The questions of whether you have a capable man in charge of the program are gone. The worry that you'll be a frequent flyer on the coaching carousel is gone. The doubt of direction, of who's really making the decisions, and if those people making the decisions are worthy of making decisions, is gone.

By simply being in the building, he raised the level of confidence that the organization would soon be fixed. For the last few years, even including the last of BB's tenure, that confidence meter around New England had fallen to zero. We were losing games, not scoring points, while looking from the outside and apparently being on the inside completely dysfunctional.

Speaking for myself but unlikely alone, Vrabel made me believe any decision that was to be made, whether personnel, coaching, scheme, you name it, was going to be made correctly. A belief I did not have for a few years.

One of the reasons Vrabel wanted to come to New England, other than the fact he has a red jacket in the Hall of Fame and three Lombardi trophies with the team, was this guy.

Like if you agree (shoutout Drake Maye Lover).

Hand up, I wasn't sold on this guy coming out of college. Mostly because I hardly watch college football, so I think I'd seen him play for like two drives. Naturally, how can you trust a guy you haven't seen play? My logic was definitely sound.

But boy am I glad Eliot Wolf watched more film than me (again, literally none).

After last year, where he was begrudgingly put behind center of one of the worst offensive lines in the history of the sport, he showed us signs. There was a lot of bone-headed mistakes typical of a rookie QB who was used to extending plays in college against amateur athletes, but there was enough glimpses of promise in each game to provide hope for the future.

But I don't think anyone saw this year coming. Not even Steph Diggs.

In his first year with real coaching and a real supporting cast, Drake Maye has vaulted himself into the top 5 quarterback conversation. He leads the league in completion percentage by over 2 bps, while at the same time leading the league in yards per pass. To use a comparison I heard recently, that's like an MLB hitter leading the league in home runs and batting average. It just doesn't happen.

Oh, he also leads the league in QBR and passer rating.

With a team filled with objectively subpar weapons compared to many of the leagues top teams, the Patriots offense is nasty. Like college frat house basement, 1am on a Saturday dance floor nasty. In the best way possible.

And while a lot is on 10, I need to give my obligatory kudos to the guy who I'm giving the most credit for Drake's ascension.

One of the worst head coaches of all time (sorry Josh, I need to remind teams of that so you never leave), but in the discussion of all time great coordinators, the Patriots have never won a Super Bowl without Josh McDaniels on the coaching staff.

This is a guy who made Mac Jones a pro-bowler as a rookie. Only Kyle Shanahan, who's widely recognized as one of the best offensive minds in the game, has made Mac look competent behind center, so that's pretty good company.

He's the perfect guy to have in Drake's ear, and in the perfect setup to be the lone voice in his ear for years to come (remember how bad of a head coach he was). He is the reason this offense is humming the way it is. He is the reason that Drake has skipped several grades of quarterback school. He, as Vrabel's sidekick, is why the future is bright. Because for as long as he wants to coach the Patriots offense, he can.

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All of this said, I still can't believe we're here. From the second the schedule came out I knew we had a path to 10 wins, and despite me predicting we would win 10 games preseason, a lot of it was said tongue and cheek. I mean I wasn't crazy enough to actually think we'd win the division. I believed in Vrabel, I believed in Drake (to some extent), and I believed in McDaniels, but going from back-to-back four win seasons to a division title just doesn't happen.

We still had the Bills and the best player in the league in Josh Allen in our way. And what's crazy is they didn't necessarily fall off for us to overtake them. With a perceived win against the Jets next week, the Bills will have won 12 games. That's not them giving the crown away, that's us taking it.

Call us schedule merchants all you want. Call us lucky to have not played Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson for a full game. Call us fool's gold. To quote Quinn XCII, you can call us anything or anything you want.

But you need to call us AFC East Champs.

On to the playoffs.