14 weeks have come and gone for the AFC East teams, and the New England Patriots are still on top.
After beating the Buffalo Bills in an extremely windy game the previous week, New England had the week off where they were able to rest and recover. In that time, they got to watch their lead in the division grow from one game to two.
That lead grew because Buffalo lost an overtime thriller to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom Brady and the Buccaneers were up 24-3 at halftime, but they gave up 24 second-half points, scoring only three themselves, to get into an extra period. Tampa Bay ended up with the win, but the Bills proved a little something this week, with Josh Allen having over 400 total yards and three touchdowns.
Miami remained in third place during their bye week. They’re just one game behind Buffalo for second place, but the Bills have the tiebreaker, so Miami would really have to win two more than Buffalo to sneak past them. They didn’t move up in the AFC standings either, but a lot of the teams in front of them helped out their chances of making a run at the postseason.
The New York Jets continued their disappointing 2021 campaign with a loss to the New Orleans Saints 30-9 to officially eliminate them from playoff contention. They allowed Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill to combine for nearly 200 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, and while the Saints don’t have much of a passing attack, Hill completed 71% of his passes against New York’s struggling secondary. Without Elijah Moore and Corey Davis, the Jets’ top pass catchers, their offense is pretty easy to stop.
Week 15 AFC East matchups:
Miami Dolphins (6-7) vs. New York Jets (3-10)
New England Patriots (9-4) vs. Indianapolis Colts (7-6)
Buffalo Bills (7-6) vs. Carolina Panthers (5-8)
