It is hard to remember exactly when the conversation began.

Maybe it was when Tom Brady turned 35 in 2012. But somewhere between 2010-15, the conversation around the AFC East began about who was going to be in the best position to thrive when Brady and Bill Belichick left the Patriots and the division was up for grabs.

No one who worked for the Jets, Bills or Dolphins knew exactly when the Patriots dynasty would end, but it felt as if their stranglehold on the division was going to end at some point in the next few years. Each team plotted to make sure it would be the one that could take over the division.

Well, Brady stayed in New England through 2019 and Belichick may now be in his final weeks as the Patriots coach. As I sat in Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, watching the Dolphins blow out the Jets, it made me think that yet another way to look at the Jets’ recent failures is that they blew their shot at replacing the Patriots on top of the division.