AFCE

The State of The AFC East: WEEK 3

The State of The AFC East: WEEK 3
class="post-date-wrap left relative post-date-mob">

The Buffalo Bills

Remember when the Dolphins were poised to win the division this year? That concept will soon be forgotten after the Week 3 beating the Bills laid on the Fish in their own house. The Bills actually played a complete game, a new thing for them, dominating the entire game on both sides of the ball. If not for a couple late TD passes from Tannehill in garbage time, this could have been a shutout.
 
The defense was the star of the show a la Week 1 and the headliner was none other than Preston Brown. A year after stepping up and filling Kiko Alonso’s legendary shoes, the second year man out of Louisville had himself a day with two interceptions, one returned for a TD. With Darby on the outside picking up another INT, the Bills basically made Tannehill’s life a living hell.
 
On the other side of the ball, the offense has continued with their stunning new ability to score a lot of points. Tyrod has proven that he was the right choice for the Bills QB and he’s opening a lot of eyes around the league.  His numbers on Sunday were spectacular and he got a lot of the weapons involved early and often. The only downer on the day was Shady McCoy being totally ineffective. Thank god for Karlos “Special K” Williams.
 
The Bills will host the Giants in Week 4, a test of the secondary as the Giants appear to be getting Victor Cruz back on the field with Rueben Randle and Odell Beckham Jr.
 
I think the Bills can contain them and limit the damage at home, Bills 31, Giants 20.
 
The New York Jets
 
I was not looking forward to dealing with Jets fans talking about their 3-0 team, a record I thought nearly certain based on how well their defense was playing and how all around pathetic the Eagles looked. Fortunately for me, the Jets proved they’re still the Jets and Ryan Fitztragic showed up in Week 3.
 
The offense was shut out by a pretty bad Philadelphia defense in the first half. There’s not a whole lot more to be said, really, though they did show some life in the second half and pulled it to a one score game before Fitztragic showed everyone why the Bills decided to cut him. Fear not, Jets fans, he will win you more games than Geno ever could.
 
The defense gave up 24 points, though seven of those came off a punt return, which is a lot, but only gave up a total of 231 yards. That’s what four turnovers will do for you, folks. I think we can confidently state that this type of performance is an outlier, because this defense is legit. The key to winning games on this team is to keep the opponent from scoring more than 20 or so and to not turn the ball over. They got it half right in Week 3.
 
The Jets travel to London in Week 4 to face off with the reeling Dolphins. I’ll be rooting for the Dolphins to win this game, personally, we don’t need any uppity Jets fans here, but I think I’m really going to be disappointed this time. Jets 27, Dolphins 17.
 
The New England Patriots
 
Before their early Week 4 bye the Patriots had basically another bye week hosting the Jaguars. Contrary to popular belief (in South Beach) the Jaguars are still terrible. Or, at least, they should have had another bye week except the idiots kept Brady on the field late into the 4th quarter with a huge lead. Absolutely idiotic decision making there, Belichick, but hey, you do you. I never root for an injury to a player for my team’s sake, but I really hope that this “**** you tour” keeps on going and it seriously bites the Patriots in the proverbial behind by way of a season ending injury for Tommy B.
 
As far as the game itself is concerned, what is there to say, really? Brady was Brady and did Brady things all game long, racking up tons of yards and touchdowns. The Jags did Jags things and that never amounts to much, although they did score a garbage time TD with under 90 seconds left (This is an example of garbage time scoring, Pats fans. Take notes).
 
I predict that Brady will try to find a way to run up the score against the Bye Week, Patriots 80 (10 TD passes and 10 2 point conversion passes), Bye Week 14.
 
The Miami Dolphins
 
Out of deference to the Dolphins fans, I’m not going to go into detail here. You guys know how bad you are. If this season is to be salvaged in any way, it has to start in Week 4. You can’t afford to drop to 1-3 and 0-2 in the division if you want to make a wildcard spot yours. Fix that offensive line and run defense or the Jets will make you look like fools.

More in AFCE

Week 6: Gameday

Brian GrothOctober 13, 2024

Week 5: Gameday

Brian GrothOctober 6, 2024

Week 4: Gameday

Brian GrothSeptember 29, 2024

Week 3: Gameday

Brian GrothSeptember 22, 2024

Week 2: Gameday

Brian GrothSeptember 15, 2024

Week 1: Gameday

Brian GrothSeptember 8, 2024