6 AFC East stories from last week for Bills fans to know, plus recaps
The need for news from the AFC East is at an all-time high in Western New York. The race for the division crown is on.
The Bills, at 8-3. are in the driver’s seat currently. But there’s plenty of teams chomping at the bit to catch them, and then there’s the Jets…
Still, let’s get up to date with everyone in the AFC East now. Here are six stories from the division for Bills fans to know, starting with a quick Week 12 game recap:
Week 12 recaps
Patriots kicker Nick Folk. Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Patriots at Cardinals
Final score: Patriots 20, Cardinals 17 After dropping a surprise game to the Texans, the Patriots were out of the playoffs, right? Wrong. A week after the Bills lost in the last second to the Cardinals, the Pats beat them on a last second kick.
Dolphins at Jets
Final score: Dolphins 20, Jets 3 Sam Darnold and Ryan Fitzpatrick both returned to the lineup. Darnold got healthy while Tua Tagovailoa has a thumb issue for Miami, hence Fitzpatrick. By the final score, you can tell who did a better job getting back in the lineup.
AFC East standings
Buffalo Bills: 8-3 (4-0)
Miami Dolphins 7-4 (4-2)
New England Patriots: 5-6 (4-2)
New York Jets: 0-11 (0-6)
*(division record)
New York Jets
Jets head coach Adam Gase. Credit: Kevin Wexler-USA TODAY Sports
Top-three pick secured
Jets Wire, citing ESPN's FPI, recently discovered that the Jets are pretty much going to get a top pick. Currently they're in the running for No.1 overall, naturally, as the only winless team out there. But according to the FPI, the Jets have a less than 1 percent chance of landing any pick outside out of the top three. As for the first three picks, the Jets have a 69 percent chance at the No. 1 overall pick, a 29 percent chance at the No. 2 pick and a 2 percent chance at the No. 3 pick.
New York Jets
Jets quarterback Sam Darnold. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
The Jets aren't giving up on Darnold this year, which isn't a surprise. Per Jets Wire, head coach Adam Gase said following their latest loss that Darnold will not be removed from the lineup over the course of their final five games.
New York Jets
Jets kicker Sam Ficken. Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Leaving the lineup
Couple of other Jets lineup notes: kicker Sam Ficken (groin) and running back La'Mical Perine (ankle) were placed on injured reserve over the weekend. In addition, starting offensive lineman Alex Lewis was benched, and per Jets Wire, there's some rumblings of tension between Gase and Lewis, though Gase denied it. Second-year linebacker Blake Cashman also recently injured his hamstring again. He is not yet on injured reserve, though.
New England Patriots
Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman. Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
Jules on COVID list
Wide receiver Julian Edelman was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list by the Patriots just on Monday, per Patriots Wire. Edelman’s last game action came against San Francisco on Oct. 25 as he’s been sidelined with a knee injury.
New England Patriots
Patriots quarterback Cam Newton. Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Newton starts again
The Pats are sticking with Cam Newton. New England head coach Bill Belichick said this week that even if the QB is struggling, he's playing. Why? From Patriots Wire:
“We’ve won three of our last four games,” the Patriots coach said Monday afternoon during an appearance on WEEI sports radio. “Hopefully we can continue to play good football on offense, defense and special teams and have a chance of being competitive this week and moving forward.”
Miami Dolphins
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
No QB competition
The Dolphins want to assure everyone that there is not a question about who their starter is: It's Tagovailoa. Fitzpatrick played because of his thumb injury, and that's that. That idea came into question because Tagovailoa hadn't been playing very well prior to having to sit out because of the injury, but per Dolphins Wire, Miami head coach Brian Flores insists there's no reason to question it, per Dolphins Wire.
