Week 15 AFCE Overreactions

 
Ups and downs, strikes and gutters…That’s pretty much the best way to sum up the AFC East this week. Two wins, two losses and a massive battle on the horizon for divisional dominance. Let’s get after it.
 
Last place, the Jets. Yup, it was the same old, same old for the Jets. They actually jumped out to a nice little lead and hung with the Fins for the majority of the game, but then the inevitable happened and they lost. It’s to be expected and probably for the best as the Jets prepare for the 2022 draft, the Jets didn’t bring any of their good players to the game, so gold stars for all the backups that got some work in. And speaking of backups, Zach Wilson once again completed an NFL contest without throwing an interception, so that’s great. There may be hope for this kid yet. Then again, all of these accolades could really just be a condemnation of the Dolphins.
 
Second to last place goes to the Pats. Well, I guess it’s nice that they finally showed up in the 4th quarter? All in all this game was a freaking disaster for the Pats. The defense opened up in the classic Swiss formation, allowing the Colts to take the ball like 80 yards without passing the ball. It was almost like Frank Reich wanted revenge for his beloved Bills and was determined to use Belichick’s own strategy against him. Well, then Carson Wentz tried to throw the ball and it was understood why the Colts seemed content to just run the ball all evening, boy that guy sucks. But none the less, the Pats were determined to fail in every way possible, so they had a punt blocked (that’s the third punt the Pats have had blocked this season, no other team has had more than one) and recovered for a touchdown. Then just to complete the failure, they drove the ball down inside the Colts’ 10 and Mac Jones threw his first ever red zone interception. Well, Pats fans are hoping this is just a bad game that the team was due for, winning 8 straight in the NFL is difficult after all, but the Colts highlighted some glaring holes in the Pats and Mac showed us exactly why no rookie QB has ever led a team to the Super Bowl.
 
On to the winners.
 
The Fins just keep on winning. Yes, it took everything they had to beat the Jets, but a win is a win so we’ll give them credit for it. Kind of. It was great to see Duke Johnson come home and do things we haven’t seen out of him since his days at the U. But Tua leaves quite a bit to be desired at the quarterback position and he single handedly ensured that the Jets remained in the game all afternoon. Oh yeah, there was a DVP sighting, that was great. Hopefully his fragile frame held up to the impact of the ball hitting his hands and he’ll be able to stay off the IR for the playoff push. Because as much as well wanted to laugh at the Fins earlier this year, they are now firmly in the hunt for a playoff spot and at the very least could play spoiler for a few other teams.
 
And first place goes to the Bills. Yes, they are still in second place in the division and yes, they did let Cam Newton and the Panther hang around for 3 quarters, but in the end they did pull away and win the game easily. But really that’s not the story, we all knew the Bills should easily handle the Panthers, but it’s this next game that’s been dominating their minds for two weeks. And of course, Mr. Anti-Vax himself has come down with the bug and will be forced to miss the game. So the Bills just lost their best positional advantage over the Pats. And Bills fans had better hole that he didn’t cough on their QB on his way out of the building, because if he gets it, he could be in line to miss two games and effectively end the Bills’ season.