Counted among the fallout from the #Deflategate discipline that has dropped on the New England Patriots like an anvil pushed off the Prudential Tower roof is that pundits are now analyzing the effects on the AFC East for 2015.

With Tom Brady suspended four games, for now anyway, there is a question whether that opens the door for the Miami Dolphins or Buffalo Bills or New York Jets to win the division. And Tuesday on ESPN's NFL Live the pundits weighed in.

And Tuesday they made goofs of themselves.

The panelists were asked to pick the Patriots to win the division or pick the field.

Former Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark picked the Patriots. Cool. His opinion and he's entitled to it. But then he went off the rails.

"I do think the teams around [the Patriots] got better," Clark said. "But the thing they're going to have in common with the Patriots the first four games? They don't have any quarterbacks."

Clark said he's "still going with the New England Patriots. They're going to find a way to win." He also made the point the last time the Patriots were without Tom Brady, "they went 11-5 and got Matt Cassel paid."

"I'm 100 percent with you," former Colts center Jeff Saturday then chimed in.

Former Cowboys safety Darren Woodson went a different direction and took the field. And then he extolled the offseason moves made by the Jets.

And Saturday chimed in again, "I don't think it's going to be a cakewalk but you didn't throw a quarterback in that mix."

And when I got done banging my head against a keyboard over the total disrespect for the facts, I took to Twitter and offered some of those facts as I see them:

1. No one is saying Ryan Tannnehill has arrived as a premier or elite quarterback in the NFL. He clearly is not that. Yet.

2. But neither is he in the same class with Geno Smith. Or E.J. Manuel. Or anybody else vying for a starting job in Buffalo or New York such as Ryan Fitzpatrick or Jake Heaps or Matt Simms or Jeff Tuel. And Tannehill is better than presumed Brady replacement Jimmy Garrapolo as well.

The truth of the matter is if Tannehill remains healthy, when the Patriots and Dolphins open their season, for the first time since perhaps 2002, the Dolphins will have the superior starting quarterback under center in that opener.

The truth is that at the start of the 2015, the Miami Dolphins will have the best starting quarterback in the division.

Anyone denying that is denying facts.

Cassel is probably the most accomplished of the guys vying for a QB job on those other teams and he is not as good as Tannehill right now.

Consider that Cassel has authored two good NFL seasons in his career. But his career has spanned 10 years.

He's thrown for 15,727 yards in those 10 seasons. Tannehill has 11,252 in three seasons.

Cassel has thrown 96 TD passes and 70 interceptions in 10 seasons. Tannehill has 63 TDs and 42 interceptions in three seasons.

Cassel has a career 80.1 passer rating. Tannehill's career rating at 84 and he has improved this stat every season in the league, from 76 as a rookie, to 81.7 to 92.8 last season.

So how is it the ESPN experts look at Tannehill and Geno Smith and E.J. Manuel and Matt Cassel and see the same guys to be lumped into the same on-set guffaw session?

Amazing to me.

This is more amazing. Someone for unknown reasons sent my tweets to Miko Grimes, who happens to be Miami cornerback Brent Grimes's wife. She is very active on social media. She does some local radio work in South Florida. She's interesting.

But my defense of Tannehill didn't seem to impress her. Indeed, she wrote that person who sent her my tweet that I had forgotten a small detail about Tannehill ...

Grimes also suggested that the statistics I posted about Tannehill are not representative of who he really is. She referred the person to study "film" of Tannehill instead, which I suppose she thinks tells a different story.

<blockquoteclass="twitter-tweet" lang="en">

Stats <<< Film and u lost your argument at both! #BeatIt

— MikoGrimes (@iHeartMiko) May 12, 2015

And that's fair. Tape can offer a more complete view of the truth that stats and analytics miss.

But here's the thing: The Dolphins watch tape. More than Miko Grimes, I dare say. And they're all on board with Ryan Tannehill.

And I indeed did not post the Dolphins' 8-8 record a season ago. And I admit, 8-8 is not good enough. It is roundly mediocre and I've been as critical as anyone (more, actually) about the constant mediocrity (at best) around here.

But is all that on Tannehill?

The reason I didn't include Miami's record is football is a team game. And I was comparing individuals. Last season, Tannehill was closer to Joe Flacco than Geno Smith or E.J. Manuel or Matt Cassel or Ryan Fitzpatrick.

And yes, Tannehill is important as any quarterback is. But last I checked, he's not an entire team.

It is not all about him. If it was all about the QB, Aaron Rodgers would have been in the last couple of Super Bowls for the NFC and not Russell Wilson. If it was all about the QB, the Saints would have been in the playoffs. They weren't. If it was all about the QB, the Cardinals would not have been in the playoffs. They were.

Football is a team sport, informed sources are telling The Miami Herald.

Yes, the QB is the most important player. But he cannot do it all by himself and to suggest as much is thoughtless. It is lazy analysis.

Look, Tannehill's team went 8-8 but I thought it was the defense that gave up late, late fourth-quarter leads to Green Bay, and Detroit and Denver to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

It was the defense that gave up 37 points to the Jets in the season-finale.

And 35 points to the Vikings the week before that.

And 41 points to the Patriots the week before that.

That's Tannehill's fault?

I know I'm starting to sound like a Tannehill fanboy. But anyone who knows my history, anyone who reads my work, who watches the games with a clear head and unbiased vision, knows I'm not holding a pom-pom with one hand and typing with the other. I know Ryan Tannehill is not elite yet. He has to find better pocket awareness. He has to speed up his decision-making. He has to improve his accuracy. His footwork could sometimes be better.

But he nonetheless checks a lot of boxes for what you want in an NFL quarterback.

Indeed, Tannehill's career arc is actually what gives Dolphins fans hope. Tannehill is pointed toward steady and undeniable improvement.

What these so-called experts and detractors are suggesting is that Tannehill is part of the problem. That he is just a guy (a JAG in Bill Parcells parlance). That Tannehill, who the Dolphins are committed to keeping as their starter for years and years based on a financial commitment, is the equivalent to journeyman Cassel or benched Manuel or unproductive Geno.

He is not that.

Why do I even have to make the case he's not? It's crazy.