Yup, the Bills, The Dolphins and the Jets. Beating those teams consistently for the past 20 years makes the Patriots... well, like any other team not from Cleveland.
Right on. Why they so often have home field advantage in the playoffs.
Their away record in playoffs not quite as impressive. From a Broncos fan.
Of course that’s only 6 out of 16 games. And they generally lose at least 1. To get to the 13-3 you generally need to get to a bye they still need to go 8-2 for the rest of the schedule. Just look at the other divisions and how many different winners they’ve had in that stretch. It’s an amazing run.
[As of July 2018] “The Patriots are 71-19 since 2003 in the AFC East. That’s a .788 winning percentage. Outside the division, they are 118-32 (.786).”
Since Brady returned in 2009, until the same date as above, the Patriots won at a .788 percentage both in and out of the division.
Since the realignment through the end of the 2017 season and various lesser periods, the AFCE winning percentage as a whole and the winning percentage of the bottom three teams as compared to the bottom three teams of the other divisions, makes the AFCE the 2nd or 3rd strongest division.
The divisions that fit your description are the AFC South, and the Colts, along with the NFC West (which has finally recovered somewhat).
Heck, just against playoff teams, the Patriots are 42-25 during the regular season, 2002-2018.
You’ve fallen for a misguided meme.