Written by Mykail Mereau
In the first five weeks, the AFC East has been up and down as of late. We’re going to go around each team in the division how they’ve been performing in the first five games to the 2024 NFL Season and what should heading into the second quarter of the season moving forward for these four teams in the east.
New England Patriots
Oh boy have the tables have turned with the New England Patriots in the last five years. They used to be the top dogs in the league led by the greatest QB-HC tandem that the league’s has ever seen with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. But ever since Brady took his talents to South Florida in Tampa Bay back in 2020, the Patriots has been a dysfunctional franchise since then. New England has went through multiple quarterback changes since Brady’s departure, (Cam Newton, Mac Jones, Brian Hoyer, Bailey Zappe, Jarrett Stidham, Jacoby Brissett, and Drake Maye). The offense has been abysmal outside of the running game with threats of receivers or tight ends. The offensive line used to be the league’s best but now it’s worst in the league allowing 173 sacks in the last four seasons. The defense has been okay at times, but has been great either especially going against high-powered offenses in the league. So, the New England Patriots basically has been the NFL’s Chicago Bulls after losing an all-time great player. Their start to the 2024 NFL Season started on a high note with a upsetting victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 on the road, but since then they have been on a four game losing streak. Losing in overtime to the Seattle Seahawks in a close one at home, getting embarrassed on a short week in primetime against division rival the New York Jets on the road, dog walked by the San Francisco 49ers, and losing to a terrible Miami Dolphins team without Tua Tagovailoa as their starting quarterback. So, New England has been the worst team in the division other than the Miami Dolphins without no starting quarterback.
What needs to be change with New England: Start Drake Maye as the starting quarterback moving forward
It was announced earlier this week that the Patriots will start their first overall draft pick rookie quarterback Drake Maye against the Houston Texans. Jacoby Brissett has been a disaster to watch as a quarterback of the Patriots for weeks now. So, head coach Jerod Mayo had no other choice but to put in the rookie out of North Carolina in Drake Maye getting first NFL start on Sunday. Drake Maye has the all talents in the world to be a great quarterback in this league but will tell time. I do believe if he gets hot on Sunday against Houston and carries that over in the next couple of games then he should be without doubt the starting quarterback of the New England Patriots moving forward on the year. Now I do believe the Patriots can go on a run with Drake Maye as their starting quarterback for the remainder of the season and get them into the playoffs? Not really, but I do think they will surprise some teams on their schedule just like they did to the Bengals on the road back in Week 1.
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins has a rollercoaster team in this division ever since Week 2 of the season after getting demolished by the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night at home. During that game around towards the end of the third quarter Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa went out the game after suffering concussion injury his fourth concussion injury in two seasons. Since then, Miami’s offense has been atrocious on display during Tua’s absence. Getting humiliated in Lumen Field by the Seahawks, curb stomped by the Titans at home, and barely winning a close one against the New England Patriots in Foxborough. It’s clear that without Tua Tagovailoa as the starting quarterback this Dolphins offense can’t take off as they should be without their franchise quarterback at the helm of commanding the offense. They are the second worst team in the division besides the Patriots especially with no Tua Tagovalioa as their starting quarterback.
What needs to be change with Miami: Hope that Tua comebacks before it’s too late
It’s obvious that without Tua Tagovailoa the Miami Dolphins are one of the worst teams in the league. They need a miracle that Tua comebacks after their bye week and starts for the Colts in Lucas Oil Stadium. Because if it he doesn’t start after the bye week and remains out for the whole entire year then the Dolphins should just pack up the bags and get ready for the 2025 NFL Season. I don’t see how Miami can compete with other teams in the conference and fight for a playoff spot without Tagovailoa as the quarterback for their team throughout the whole season. Like I don’t any faith with the likes of Skylar Thompson, Teddy Bridgewater, and Tyler Huntley as the helm for this dynamic Dolphins offense as the quarterbacks for this team moving forward on the year. So if I’m a Miami Dolphin fan I’m praying and hoping that Tua comes back for the Colts game after the bye week before it’s too late.
New York Jets
The New York Jets has been the most overhyped team in the division over the last year. With acquiring future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers, the expectations for the Jets sky rocketed at a all-time high with the national media claiming them as a Super Bowl contender and a major threat in the AFC conference with Rodgers as the quarterback. But just a year ago, the Jets were getting ready to play a home season opener on Monday night against their division foe the Buffalo Bills and this Rodgers first game suited up in a Jets uniform at MetLife Stadium. But in Rodgers first three drives as a New York Jet he went down with a torn ACL and carted off the field and was declared out for the rest of the season which also meant it was the end of the New York Jets 2023 season as well. We fast forward to this season where once again the Jets is being looked as a Super Bowl contender and a threat in the AFC conference by the national media. Well, it’s safe to say that Jets are a circus show especially what happened earlier in the week with the firing of head coach Robert Saleh and having defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich being the interim head coach. Saleh didn’t even get a chance to address the team of his resignation before getting escorted by the security at the Jets facility walking him out the building. So, the Jets are huge mess as a team, franchise, and organization being dysfunctional as ever before in recent years.
What needs to be change with New York: Aaron Rodgers needs to show he’s still that guy
Aaron Rodgers has been average this year but not the standards as Jets fans claiming him to be once traded for him last offseason. It’s okay to acknowledge that he’s coming off a torn ACL and now he’s in his forties, but he needs to play a lot better for this Jets team if they want to make a deep run come playoff time. Because Rodgers threw three interceptions in their loss against the undefeated Minnesota Vikings in London and the week before that he looked god awful against the Denver Broncos at home. So, Rodgers needs to play nearly 85% of the old Rodgers that won those four MVPs and a Super Bowl ring for the Jets to make the naysayers take them serious as a true contender in this league.
Buffalo Bills
For a few years now, the Buffalo Bills has been a lot of experts to win a Super Bowl and yet still coming up short in the postseason. This offseason we saw a major change from the team getting some of their old veteran players and replacing them with fresh young blood players. The national media was claiming that the Bills were no longer a Super Bowl contender let alone a favorite to win their division over the Jets and Dolphins because of the mass haul of letting go their veteran players from the team. Well this season the Bills has been making the doubts looking a little silly with winning close one against the Arizona Cardinals in the home opener, having two dominating performances against the Miami Dolphins on the road and Jacksonville Jaguars at home on primetime football. But Buffalo has been hit on a brick wall as of late as they suffered their first loss of the season getting steamrolled by the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night at M & T Bank stadium. Then last Sunday afternoon, they loss a close one against the Texans on a 59 yard field goal try and adding another loss to their win-loss column on the year. So, they have been on two game losing skid as of late but despite all of that they still remain one of the best teams in the league and the class of the AFC East as well.
What needs to be change with Buffalo: Get a number one wide receiver for Allen before the trade deadline
In the last two games, the Bills offense has struggle especially with the lack of a true number one wide receiver being a threat to opposing defenses. There’s no separation with the receivers as that was on display last Sunday afternoon in Houston. Where the receivers had no separation or didn’t even catch the ball and Allen had his worst game in his career on Sunday with the multiple drops from his receivers and him missing some throws on his behalf too. Buffalo needs to get on the phones and trade for a wide receiver during the trade deadline such as Davante Adams, Amari Cooper, DeAndre Hopkins etc. Any of these receivers will do wonders in this Buffalo offense and taking this offense to the next level making it explosive as ever. And it will also help guys like Keon Coleman who’s a rookie evaluated his game to the next level and learning from these receivers who are arguably the best receivers in the game for the last decade. As of Allen, he will have a receiver to rely on against tougher competition like the Chiefs, Ravens, Bengals, Texans etc. It was a fun experiment in the first three weeks for this wide receiver group to showcase them against lesser competition. But it’s not going to fair well against the top dogs in the conference and around the league with these group of guys in the wide receiver room. So, Beane needs to go get a guy like Adams, Cooper or Hopkins in this Buffalo offense and make Shakir, Coleman, Kincaid, Samuel, and Knox life a lot more easier and help out Allen when he needs his go to guy at a very big moment in a game especially when it matters the most.
