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If the Miami Dolphins are to end a 24-year playoff win drought come January, it could behoove them to win the AFC East in the regular season.

That would give the Dolphins a home game in at least the wild-card round of the postseason, avoiding frigid Kansas City, Buffalo or maybe Cincinnati or Baltimore.

The AFC East, last season, came down to the regular-season finale Sunday nighter at Hard Rock Stadium between the Dolphins and Bills. A reminder of the result isn’t needed for Dolphins fans. Miami lost to Buffalo at home to cap the team blowing a three-game division lead with five weeks remaining to give the Bills a fourth consecutive division title and send the Dolphins down into a wild-card spot.

The Dolphins, despite four consecutive winning seasons and back-to-back playoff berths, haven’t earned a division crown since 2008.

It is expected to be only more competitive in 2024, as Miami and Buffalo are both there vying for the top spot, along with an expectation the New York Jets could get thrust into that mix with a healthy Aaron Rodgers at quarterback this year.

Much was made this offseason of the Dolphins’ losses of defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, right guard Robert Hunt and others, but the Bills had a more accentuated roster purge develop in March to get salary cap compliant ahead of free agency. That saw them release cornerback Tre’Davious White, safety Jordan Poyer, who now has switched sides in the rivalry with Miami, and center Mitch Morse, among others.

But the biggest offseason loss for Buffalo came in dealing star wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans — this as the team also lost fellow wideout Gabe Davis in free agency.

Yes, Diggs was starting to get phased out of the offense in the second half of last year as the Bills turned their season around.

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But the playmakers around quarterback Josh Allen are diminished as he’ll have to depend more on running back James Cook, tight end Dalton Kincaid and Allen’s own legs to keep the offense churning. Out wide, he’ll need rookie Keon Coleman to show promise early while others must step up between Curtis Samuel, Mack Hollins, Khalil Shakir, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Chase Claypool.

The Buffalo defense also should remain stout, even as former star edge rusher Von Miller is fading at the end of his career. Defensive ends Gregory Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa, defensive tackles Ed Oliver and DaQuan Jones and linebackers Terrel Bernard and Matt Milano — who is out indefinitely after tearing his biceps — give Buffalo a stout defensive front. The Bills’ secondary will be in a transition period without White and now breaking up its longtime safety tandem of Poyer and Micah Hyde.

The roster alterations could challenge Bills coach Sean McDermott after he almost lost his team midway through last season.

The Jets seek a resurgence in season buildup similar to last summer before Rodgers only lasted four plays into the 2023 season due to a torn Achilles after his move to New York from Green Bay.

He has young talent around him with budding wide receiver Garrett Wilson and running back Breece Hall. The Jets also gave him 6 foot 4 but oft-injured wide receiver Mike Williams and will try to protect his blind side with the addition of left tackle Tyron Smith to a maligned offensive line that was the only unit to go through more starting combinations than the Dolphins in 2023.

The core of the Jets defense returns — behind the likes of cornerback Sauce Gardner, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, defensive end Jermaine Johnson and linebacker C.J. Mosley. New York added touted pass rusher Haason Reddick, who missed all of training camp while holding out for a new deal, in what could be a make-or-break season for coach Robert Saleh.

The Patriots are in rebuilding mode in the first season without Bill Belichick at the helm since 1999.

His former linebacker, Jerod Mayo, leads the way in New England now. It’s the Mayo-Maye era in New England, as the Patriots drafted quarterback Drake Maye with the No. 3 pick. With Rhamondre Stevenson in the backfield and Hunter Henry at tight end, he will look to develop along with a slew of young wide receivers that need to emerge for the Patriots offense.

Their defense has a lot of the parts it needs: Pass rusher Josh Uche, safety Kyle Dugger, cornerback Christian Gonzalez, linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley and defensive tackle Davon Godchaux.

It would be a surprise if the Patriots immersed themselves into the competition at the top of the division, but for the Dolphins, they need to move past the Bills while holding off the Jets in the AFC East in 2024.

Chris Perkins: It’s Year 3 of Dolphins’ offense under Mike McDaniel and Tua, and it should be a good one

Season outlook: With new-look defense and return of top offense, Dolphins hope to reach new heights in 2024

Breaking down the schedule: Dolphins have five prime-time games, including Thanksgiving night

Chris Perkins: Here’s what we learned about Dolphins during training camp (backup QB settled, productive camp overall)

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 27, the 240th day of 2024. There are 126 days left in the year.

On Aug. 27, 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions. The explosions (which could be heard 3,000 miles away) and resulting tsunamis in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

In 1894, Congress passed the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, which contained a provision for a graduated income tax that was later struck down by the Supreme Court.

In 1964, the film “Mary Poppins” had its world premiere in Los Angeles, California.

In 1979, British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, were killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion claimed by the Irish Republican Army.

In 1982, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s stole his 119th base of the season, breaking Lou Brock’s single-season stolen base record. (Henderson would finish the season with a still-unmatched 130 stolen bases.)

In 1990, blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughn and four others were killed in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin.

In 2001, Israeli helicopters fired a pair of rockets through office windows, killing senior PLO leader Mustafa Zibri.

In 2005, coastal residents jammed freeways and gas stations as they rushed to avoid Hurricane Katrina, which was headed toward New Orleans.

In 2008, Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver, becoming the first Black presidential nominee from a major political party.

In 2011, Hurricane Irene made landfall in the United States; the storm would be responsible for 49 total deaths and more than $14 billion in damage.

• Author William Least Heat-Moon is 85.
• Actor Tuesday Weld is 81.
• Former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., is 81.
• Actor G.W. Bailey is 80.
• Rock musician Alex Lifeson (Rush) is 71.
• Actor Peter Stormare is 71.
• Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 68.
• Golfer Bernhard Langer is 67.
• Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is 63.
• Fashion designer and filmmaker Tom Ford is 63.
• U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines is 55.
• Actor Chandra Wilson is 55.
• Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Thome is 54.
• Rapper Mase is 49.
• Actor Sarah Chalke is 48.
• Actor Aaron Paul is 45.
• Actor Patrick J. Adams (TV: “Suits”) is 43.
• Singer Mario is 38.
• Actor Alexa PenaVega is 36.
• Singer-songwriter Kim Petras is 32.
• U.S. Olympic and WNBA basketball star Breanna Stewart is 30.
• Rapper/singer-songwriter Rod Wave is 26.

Today is Monday, Aug. 26, the 239th day of 2024. There are 127 days left in the year.

On Aug. 26, 1944, French Gen. Charles de Gaulle braved the threat of German snipers as he led a victory march in Paris, which had just been liberated by the Allies from Nazi occupation.

In 1939, the first televised major league baseball games were shown on experimental station W2XBS: a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. The Reds won the first game, 5-2, the Dodgers the second, 6-1.

In 1958, Alaskans went to the polls to overwhelmingly vote in favor of statehood.

In 1968, the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago; the four-day event that resulted in the nomination of Hubert H. Humphrey for president was marked by a bloody police crackdown on antiwar protesters in the streets.

In 1972, the summer Olympics opened in Munich, West Germany.

In 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani (al-BEE’-noh loo-CHYAH’-nee) of Venice was elected pope following the death of Paul VI. The new pontiff, who took the name Pope John Paul I, died just over a month later.

In 1980, the FBI inadvertently detonated a bomb planted at Harvey’s Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada while attempting to disarm it. (The hotel had been evacuated and no injuries were reported.)

In 1985, 13-year-old AIDS patient Ryan White began “attending” classes at Western Middle School in Kokomo, Indiana via a telephone hook-up at his home, as school officials had barred White from attending classes in person due to his illness.

In 2009, kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard was discovered alive in California after being missing for more than 18 years.

In 2022, an affidavit released by the FBI showed that 14 of the 15 boxes recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate contained classified documents, many of them top secret, mixed in with miscellaneous newspapers, magazines and personal correspondence.

• John Tinniswood, the world’s oldest verified living man, is 112.
• Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is 79.
• R&B singer Valerie Simpson (Ashford & Simpson) is 78.
• Broadcast journalist Bill Whitaker is 73.
• Puzzle creator/editor Will Shortz is 72.
• Jazz musician Branford Marsalis is 64.
• Actor-singer Shirley Manson (Garbage) is 58.
• Actor Melissa McCarthy is 54.
• Latin pop singer Thalia is 53.
• Actor Macaulay Culkin is 44.
• Actor Chris Pine is 44.
• Comedian/actor/writer John Mulaney is 42.
• Country musician Brian Kelley (Florida Georgia Line) is 39.
• NBA guard James Harden is 35.
• Actor Dylan O’Brien is 33.
• Actor Keke Palmer is 31.