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The typical NFL team scored 20.8 points a game last season. In the 12 AFC East divisional games, teams averaged 15. No wonder brilliant offensive minds find better success elsewhere as offensive coordinators.

Only once last season did an AFC East game reach the league average for points scored, that being a 23-21 Dolphins victory over the Jets on Dec. 28. AFC East "shootouts" are scores like 21-10 or 19-13. Touchdowns are so hard to come by in this division that one third of the games featured a team being shutout.

The AFC East is all about defense. Those defenses match up so well against each other it's rare that an AFC East team ranks in the top 10 on offense. In fact, that hasn't happened for three full seasons, the 2002 Bills being the highest with an 11th-ranked offense. AFC East defensive coordinators spent the offseason figuring out what Bills offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride was doing and sent the Bills spiraling down to 30th last year, prompting a coaching change.

	Belichick

Fantasy football is the farthest thing from the minds of coaches in this division. It's the perfect division for Patroits coach Bill Belichick. Even though Belichick is blessed to have the brilliant schemes of offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, the Patriots finished 22nd, 19th, 21st and 17th offensively during the past four years. Belichick doesn't care. He pulled two Super Bowl rings out of those seasons.

And the style of ball isn't about to change much this year although Belichick and Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt should be most impacted by the enforcement of illegal contact penalties after five yards. To open up offenses, the league decided to go against the styles of pass defense those teams use to frustrate receivers. The Patriots, for example, love to squat on routes with contact about 8 yards downfield. The Dolphins specialty is bump-and-run man coverage from the line of scrimmage, filled with lots of contact.

They might draw more flags, but the Dolphins and Patriots aren't going to be passive in pass coverage. The most interesting dynamic in the division is the head coaching change in Buffalo. Mike Mularkey brings creative schemes that should make the biggest impact among offenses in the division. How can he not? The Bills finished 30th last season with unbelievably low numbers. Eric Moulds led the team with only 64 catches for 780 yards. Those would have been 10-game totals in 2002. The passing offense was nonexistent.

Mularkey is going to try to work the same magic tricks he used to make Kordell Stewart a Pro Bowler in Pittsburgh a few years back. He is using a clock to make sure Drew Bledsoe gets rid of the ball quicker. Bledsoe wilted under the pass-rusher pressure last season being sacked 49 times and passing for only 2,860 yards. By his fifth step, Bledsoe is supposed to get rid of the ball.

The key addition to the passing offense is rookie Lee Evans, who brings his 4.3 speed from Wisconsin. Evans may not be the consistent deep threat that Peerless Price was in 2002 when Price and Moulds dominated games, but he's more of a threat than Josh Reed. By drafting Evans, the Bills are able to have receivers do their jobs naturally. Moulds and Reed are possession receivers although Moulds is so big and tough he can break numerous big plays. Evans will cause coverage problems from the split end position because of his ability to streak quickly downfield.

Another aide will be getting Travis Henry and Willis McGahee more involved in the passing offense. Those short passes should allow Bledsoe's completion numbers to go from 58 to well into the sixties.

The receiver who could make the biggest impact in the division is David Boston in Miami. The question is which Boston will show up for the Dolphins. Will he be the injury riddled receiver of the past two years in Arizona and San Diego or will he be the dominating 100-yard a game receiver whom no cornerback wanted to play against in 2001?

The pressure is on in Miami. Wannstedt and the Dolphins have to win this season for everyone to keep their jobs. The front office researched long and hard to find the next Jake Delhomme and came up with A.J. Feeley, who has a stronger, more accurate arm than Jay Fiedler. But Feeley has yet to beat out Fiedler. Feeley needs a great training camp and preseason to end up with the Dolphins starting job.

But that's the funny part about this division. As much as everyone knows there is so much room for offensive improvement, these AFC East teams emphasized adding more defensive assets. The Bills are counting on Troy Vincent to replace Antoine Winfield at cornerback and Wannstedt couldn't be more excited about his additions in the Miami secondary.

"We're real excited with what we see from Reggie Howard and Will Poole," Wannstedt said. "Adding them gives us the best secondary we've ever had here. There are so many things we can do in coverage having those two guys added. If we want to, we can stick those two guys on the edge and let Patrick Surtain and Sam Madison work on the best receivers in the slot."

Herman Edwards is doing a much needed defensive makeover along the front seven. With Mo Lewis and Marvin Jones, the Jets were losing a lot of range at the linebacking position. Edwards brought in the athletic playmaking of Eric Barton from Oakland along with promoting Victor Hobson to take over the other outside linebacking job. The Jets thought they had Winfield locked up as a big free agent signing, but he skipped off in the middle of the night to sign with the Vikings.

		Only once last season did an AFC East game reach the league average for points scored, that being a 23-21 Dolphins victory over the Jets on Dec. 28. AFC East "shootouts" are scores like 21-10 or 19-13.

So much of the Jets fate may be how well David Barrett does on the other side of Donnie Abraham at cornerback and whether the secondary is deep enough for three- and four-receiver offenses. Edwards is shifting up his scheme, going from a strict "Cover 2" defense to a hybrid 4-3 and 3-4 approach in which John Abraham doubles as a linebacker and a defensive end.

Also under the gun is Jets offensive coordinator Paul Hackett. He needs to have big seasons from Chad Pennington and Curtis Martin to keep the critics from bashing him. The Jets are gambling former Titans receiver Justin McCareins can put up big numbers to justify the second-round choice they used to acquire him.

Meanwhile, all is well in New England. Belichick has assembled such a deep, solid group that he has had his least active offseason in free agency and used draft choices to build for the future. They had the luxury of drafting promising tight end Ben Watson, who may be third string behind Christian Fauria and Daniel Graham. They've drafted well enough at receiver that they are enjoying the growing process of David Givens, Deion Branch and Bethel Johnson.

Belichick's biggest acquisition was halfback Corey Dillon. Finally, Belichick has the potential to match every other team in the division in the backfield. He apparently never felt confident enough in Antowain Smith in the past couple of years to give him more than 16 to 18 carries a game. The AFC East thrives on workhorse running backs -- Martin with the Jets, Henry in Buffalo and Ricky Williams in Miami.

Now, the Patriots can try to get Pro Bowl numbers if they want to from the halfback position. That will help particularly if they have fourth-quarter leads. Instead of trying to dazzle defenses with short passes, Belichick can try to wear down defenses with Dillon.

In some ways, a more conservative Patriots approach might even lessen their scoring potential, but it doesn't matter. The AFC East isn't about stats anyway. Just win with defense, baby.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.