New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold was born in 1997, so he obviously doesn't have any memory of late '90s football. One of his first memories may have very well come during the 2001-02 campaign, when the New England Patriots won their first Super Bowl.
Since then, the Patriots have won five more, bringing their overall total to six. So, it seems safe to say that New England has dominated the NFL for the better part of the last two decades.
Being that Darnold is just 21 years old, the Patriots were pretty much always a top team in the league during his lifetime, and that is all he knows of his AFC East division rivals.
“I’m just going to go out and do my best,” Darnold said, according to Manish Mehta of The New York Daily News. “I feel like literally in my lifetime, the Patriots have ended up on top. So, I’m just going to go out there and do my job. I’m never counting anyone out, honestly. Not just the Patriots, but every team that we play in the league.”
The Patriots have won the AFC East division title 10 years in a row and have captured the crown in 15 of the last 16 seasons, with the 2008 campaign where Tom Brady tore his ACL in Week 1 representing the only year that New England did not finish in first place.
However, with Rob Gronkowski retiring and New England losing some players to free agency, the Pats actually look fairly vulnerable heading into 2019, and with the Jets making some big splashes this offseason, they may end up challenging the Patriots for the division crown.
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