AFCE

AFC East Recap: The Desolation of SMag

AFC East Recap: The Desolation of SMag
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With only three of the teams playing and two of those playing on Thursday, overall this was not the typical weekend for the AFC East.  The Division finished 1-2 and the mighty Patriots were the only one to come home with a victory. The Jets and Dolphins got blown out in their games, but it could always be worse, Matt Cassel could be their QB.

 

The Wrath of Brady Continues

 

The week opened up in Foxborough as the Miami Dolphins came to face the evil Patriots. The Dolphins were on the up after their firing of Joe Philbin and many expected them to at the very least keep it close. The exact opposite actually happened as the Patriots dominated the Dolphins in every facet of the game. The Miami defense looked like it did under Philbin as Brady had very little problem marching down the field and putting up points.  The Dolphins struggled to generate pressure on Brady and outside of Grimes, their CBs are awful. The Miami offense wasn’t much better as Tannehill was sacked and sacked some more. Lamar Miller showed why he is about to replaced by Ajayi and outside of Landry and Matthews, the WR corp really struggled to make a big impact.  All that Miami showed on national television is Dan Campbell is not going to be the answer and they will definitely be in the market for a new HC like Rob Ryan.

 

The Patriots however looked like their 2007 version as they continue to dominate. Brady is in MVP form and it looks like the decline hasn’t happened yet. The defense looked surprisingly dominant and now people will think Chandler Jones is good. Revis and Browner don’t look to be sorely missed as the Patriots front seven has done a serviceable job masking a mediocre secondary. The scary thing about the Patriots is the versatility of the offense. They can play physical smash mouth football with Blount and Gronk and they can also play more of a spread “fun n gun” offense with the type of receivers they have and with Brady, he makes them all look better than they actually are. The Patriots are for real and have a very good chance to go 16-0 and then lose to the Giants in the Super Bowl

 

New York Jets Episode VI: The Return of the Geno

 

The Jets headed out west after a tough loss to the Patriots and faced the Oakland Raiders. On paper this looked like a game the Jets actually had a chance with their secondary and facing a young QB who should struggle against a blitz happy Todd Bowles defense. The opposite happened as the Raiders dominated the Jets and Derek Carr had one of the better games of the season throwing for 333 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs. The Jets left Cromartie on Crabtree for the most part and the results were not good as Crabtree went for over one hundred yards and a TD. The Jets defense was just completely dominated as they were unable to stop the run or the pass and missed tackles piled up one after the other. This is not the Jets defense people expected, but maybe now that they are playing opponents that are at least serviceable, they are getting exposed.

 

However, despite the defense struggling, the most important moment of the game was Geno Smith was forced into action due to Fitzpatrick getting injured. Geno looked like Geno early on as he was struggling mightily and even getting one of his vintage Genovers. It was when the game was already out of hand that he was able to get his garbage time TDs and make a bad day look like an ok day. Geno was also hurt and right now the Jets are scrambling to find out who can start this Sunday and if Fitzpatrick will need surgery. If they want any chance to make the playoffs, Fitzpatrick will need to be back. However, if they are going to be cautious, at the very least start Geno against the Bills on Thursday Night Football.

 

Meanwhile in Florida

 

The state of Florida had a pretty good weekend as all three of their important teams won. The Gators beat a horrible Georgia team but will probably still end up choking. The Miami Hurricanes racked up 23 penalties against the Duke Blue Devils and they won on a last second kickoff return that the replays showed the player had one knee down and the replay should have overturned it. The ACC did not like the incompetence of the officiating and replay crew and has suspended both. ACC refs are some of the worst in football and they continue to show it to this day.

 

Now we go to important team who finally looked like the FSU team many were expecting, With Everett SMAGGolson injured, Sean “SMag” Maguire was forced into duty and he pretty much showed why he should be starting in the first place. The FSU offense looked like they were supposed to against Syracuse with Maguire throwing for over 300 yards in the 1st half and Davlvin Cook replacement Jacques Patrick having over 100 total yards. With FSU heading to South Carolina to face Clemson, they will need an actual QB, and that should be SMag  who is also 1-0 against this Clemson team.

 

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