2021 Week 8 ACFE Overreactions – Trade Deadline Edition

 
Well, well, well. That’s what I’m talking about. The AFC East is finally rounding into the dominant division that we all knew it would be entering the season. We finished with a 3-1 record (which most certainly would have been 4-0 if we didn’t have an interdivisional game of course…) with two of our teams beating two of the so called “top teams in the AFC” while the other beat up on a doormat. And with the trade deadline passing at 4pm on Tuesday, there’s a ton to talk about.
 
We’ll start with the loser, the Fins. And what losers these guys are, They suck so badly that they couldn’t even fool Josh Allen and his pre-K reading level. The Fins have doubled down on their desire to give the #1 overall pick to the Eagles when they pulled out of the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes. Sticking with the Left Handed Lilliputian shows their fans that this season is officially lost and they are gearing up for a run at another offseason championship. I mean really there isn’t anything to say about this team, except that it’s now probable that Flores will be joining the Pats’ coaching staff as a consultant come playoff time.
 
And on to the winners
 
Third place this week goes to the Bills. I know, I know… I can hear the Bills fans teeth grinding from here, but come on. You beat what could easily be the worst team in the league (I’ve relegated the Lions to some other league that’s somewhere around JuCo level) and let them hang around for half of the game. Yes, the refs were against you, but that’s every call in every game that doesn’t go the Bills’ way, you should be used to that. Otherwise the Bills were fine, Josh Allen did Josh Allen things. He threw a couple of TDs, ran for another and put the ball on the ground. Otherwise the Bills were fine, there was nothing special about the win and the Bills are currently leading the division, but they are still sitting in 4th in the conference and face a long road in the playoffs equal to that of a wild card team.
 
Second place this week is a tough call, but I’m gonna put the Jets here. The Jets shocked the world by upsetting the flavor of the month Bengals. It’s remarkable to see what their offense looks like when run by a competent quarterback. As someone who saw Mike F’ing White’s Jet debut last week in person, I wasn’t all that surprised. The offense just looked smoother and more professional with White at the helm. He’s able to read defenses far better than Zack Morris and doesn’t feel the need to resort to some sort of zany scheme that ultimately fails miserably to move the ball downfield, like his golden haired predecessor. That said, I’m going to say something similar to what I said a few years ago about Josh Allen, the Jets should leave Zack on the bench for the rest of the year, the offense runs better with
Whitey.
 
That leaves the Pats in first place. The Pats crossed the country to face another trendy pick to be the next challenger for AFC dominance and took care of business. This was easily the Pats’ best win since the Tom Brady era and has the Pats poised to make a run similar to many of those made by the recently departed legend. What is very promising is that the Pats’ much maligned defense di the heavy lifting in this game against the next big thing at the QB position in the league. This was necessary because young Mac Jones saw his first true adversity in the NFL, having a severely average game, missing important throws while having to deal with the abject incompetence of his offensive coordinator. This game was perfect for the Pats. They won the game, but they weren’t perfect. They had plenty of stupid penalties (one erasing a beautiful TD run by Damien Harris who has to be getting tired of his offensive line costing him big runs and glory), they wasted all 6 of their timeouts and had continued difficulty getting the right defensive personnel on the field at key moments. This means they can’t get full of themselves. But they do control their own destiny in the race for the division title, which we all know makes Bills fans squirm when they are alone, thinking about their team’s future.