Majority of the AFC East teams struggle in week 10
Buffalo was the lone victor among the AFC East teams in a rather rough outing for everyone ahead of the bye week.
You know that it had to be a rough week for the AFC East when Buffalo is the only team that came away Sunday with a win. At the hands of the Bills, the Jets were blown out in their own stadium. The Dolphins suffered the same fate on the road, and surprisingly, the Patriots were manhandled by the Titans. The entire division will be on bye in week 11, and their week 10 performances almost looked as if they were packing it in early. Here’s a look at how each team performed this past weekend.
With backup QB Brock Osweiler getting another start among many other injuries, it was widely expected that the Dolphins would get blown out by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Miami was without three starters on the offensive line, including both tackles. Even still, the Dolphins still found success in the run game early on. Frank Gore finished the day with 90 yards rushing on 13 carries, and probably should have seen more touches in the second half since most of that was done early in the game.
Gore’s 6.9 yard average was very impressive, but it paled in comparison matched up with the day that Packers Aaron Jones had. Jones gashed the Dolphins defense for 145 yards on the day on just 15 carries, with two touchdowns. Miami’s run defense continues to be a huge issue, and with injuries continuing to pile up, I’m not sure it can be fixed this season.
The Dolphins have dealt with a ton of injuries this season, and more players went down on Sunday. Jakeem Grant was forced to leave with a non-contact Achilles injury, and his season is in serious question at this point. Andre Branch left with a shoulder injury that looked pretty serious. In addition, Bobby McCain had his day cut short with a concussion after a blindside hit from Packers WR Equanimeous St. Brown. DeVante Parker left the game late with a shoulder injury, and it’s unknown at this time how serious that is as well. Kenyan Drake also had to leave the game with a shoulder injury, but he returned to the game in the second half.
While we were all thankful at the time that Miami had come out of training camp, and the preseason relatively healthy, it’s been a series of injuries ever since. I, personally, cannot recall a Dolphins team this decimated with injuries in my lifetime. This bye week coming up has been badly needed for quite some time.
New England Patriots
One of the biggest surprises in the NFL on the day was the Tennessee Titans blowing out the Patriots 34-10. New England’s defense has been suspect for the past few seasons, but overall, they’ve done a good job of limiting other teams points on the scoreboard. That was not the case, however, on Sunday as the Titans jumped out to a 17-3 lead after one. The Patriots pulled within 17-10 early in the 2nd quarter with a James Develin touchdown run, and we all expected that the New England comeback was imminent.
On the contrary, the Patriots would not score again as the Titans would finish the game with 17 unanswered points. Derrick Henry had a big day with two touchdown runs, and Corey Davis had himself a tremendous game with 125 yards receiving and a score. Dion Lewis was relatively quiet on the field with just 57 yards rushing on 20 carries, but that didn’t stop him from talking after the game.
The former Patriot voiced his frustration with his former team, indicating that they had gone cheap, and that is why they lost. Lewis put it a bit more harshly than I am indicating. Patriots WR Julian Edelman was forced to leave the game late in the 4th quarter with the game out of reach with an ankle injury. The ankle had been a problem for Edelman heading into the contest, and both he and the Patriots will be thankful for the bye week in hopes for a week 12 return.
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Buffalo Bills
I know I wasn’t alone in picking up the Jets defense to stream against what was considered the worst offense in the league. Buffalo, however, whipped out Matt Barkley as their starter, and the Jets defense helped him look like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning out there. Barkley and the offense thrashed the Jets on their way to a 41-10 victory on the road. In his first start, Barkley threw a pair of touchdown passes, and LeSean McCoy had his biggest game of the season with two touchdown runs off of 113 yards rushing.
The Bills rushed out to a 31-0 lead, and took a 31-3 lead into halftime. Buffalo has widely been considered one of the worst teams in the league, but they’ve now managed to fill out 3 surprising wins on the season. It’s probably safe to assume that the Bills will roll out Barkley as their starter coming out of the bye even though Sean McDermott has not committed to that as of yet.
New York Jets
This type of performance by the Jets is what typically leads to people getting fired. All eyes are on Todd Bowles at the moment, and although the team has stated that they do not plan to make any changes until the season is over, don’t be surprised if they change their minds at some point with the bye week ahead. Allowing the Bills, arguably the worst offense in the NFL, to score 41 points on your own turf is unacceptable, and there will be consequences.
Whether it’s now or later, Bowles has to be on his way out, and it’s a matter of who is going with him at this point. The Jets will have the bye week to reflect on what decisions need to be made. Currently sitting at 3-7, it’s a mere certainty that the Jets are looking at a top 5 selection in next year’s draft. Looking at their remaining schedule, it’s quite possible that they do not win another game for the remainder of the season.