For more than a decade and a half now, the New England Patriots have dominated the AFC East. Since Tom Brady took over as quarterback in 2001, the Patriots have lost the division twice, finishing second in 2002 and '08.

The Patriots own the division and the head space of their division rivals. So it's pretty surprising that a player for a division opponent would dare say in April that his team will sweep the Patriots in the coming year. But Jarvis Landry did that.

Landry, on a European NFL tour, told Peter King of TheMMQB.com that he believes the Dolphins will sweep the Patriots in 2017.

Given a chance to walk back his bold claim 24 hours after saying it, Landry declined to back down.

"If you're a competitor, that's the way you should feel, and I don't mind saying it," Landry told King a day later. "It's time for a change. I have all the respect in the world for the Patriots, and I respect Tom Brady tremendously. But they're not our big brother anymore."

Well, that's not entirely correct. The Patriots are still the big brother. They run the house and get the big piece of chicken.

But the Dolphins do have a pretty recent history of giving the Pats problems, at least in Miami. The Dolphins won in Week 17 of 2015, beat the Patriots in Week 1 of 2014 and took down big brother in Week 15 of 2013. The Patriots just aren't very good in South Florida apparently. But the Dolphins have not beaten the Patriots twice in one season since Brady's rookie year, 2000.

Landry attributes the difference in the Dolphins' approach to the Patriots moving forward to his coach, saying it's all on Adam Gase changing the mindset of the team in how it approaches the best team in the division.

"[Coach Gase] flipped the switch with us. New England's won the division 14 of the last 16 years, something like that? It's ridiculous. It's a problem. We cannot let that happen anymore," Landry said. "What I've seen is, when we play that game, sometimes we focus on the guys on the other side of the line instead of just focusing on us. And I want to be part of that change. I want to go into the games against New England expecting to win -- that's something we need to do."

There's no doubt Gase has helped change the culture in Miami. The Dolphins looked dead in the water early last season, before Gase managed to shake things up with some personnel changes. The Dolphins ripped off six straight wins (and nine of 10 down the stretch before losing to the Patriots in Week 17) to make the playoffs. 

But the Dolphins were swept by the Patriots last season, so it's not as if Gase magically cured the "problem."

The Patriots dynasty isn't going to crumble overnight, and the only way to build an insurgency is to change the mindset of the people who have been beaten down for the past decade-plus. The Dolphins need to believe they can beat the Patriots, which is apparently what they think, even if it isn't a likely outcome. 

Good on Landry for stating it in April, even if it comes back to bite him in December.