Another week in the AFC East is in the books with three of the four teams in action on Sunday. The New England Patriots were resting comfortably on top of the division during their bye week while Buffalo, Miami, and New York took the field hoping to come away with victories. The Buffalo Bills couldn’t pull out a victory against the Cleveland Browns, while the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets defeated the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants respectively. This week on the AFC East Roundup, we’ll be looking at the guys trending upwards and those going in the opposite direction based on Sunday’s games.
Stock Down: Stephen Hauschka
I love me some Hausch-money but he was anything but that on Sunday. The Bills lost to the Browns 19-16 and Hauschka is part of the reason why. Before halftime, he missed a 34-yard field goal that would have given the Bills a one-point lead and then at the end of the game he missed a 53-yarder that would have sent the game into overtime. Granted, the offense could have helped him out by getting closer, but the team expects him to make the kicks. On the season he is 8-13 and 0-3 on kicks over 50 yards. With field goals likely to get harder as the weather changes, Buffalo has to hope Hauschka will be able to bounce back.
Stock Up: Brian Flores
A couple weeks ago, the Dolphins were the laughingstock of the league still looking for their first victory, and it appeared that Flores was losing the team. It’s true that, by and large, the Dolphins are looking towards the future rather than the current season. However, you have to give this man the credit he deserves for rallying his team. Last week, they picked up their first win against the Jets at home. This week, they went to Indianapolis to defeat the Colts for their second win of the season. Sure, the two wins may end up ruining their chance at the number-one pick for next year but Flores is showing that he can get his team to believe in him and fight for him going forward.
Stock Up: Jamal Adams
Anyone who watches the Jets can probably figure out that Adams is their best player and on Saturday he provided more examples why. In the team’s victory over the Giants, Adams was the leading tackler with nine and had two sacks. On one of those sacks he was literally able to take the ball away from Daniel Jones and take it into the end zone. With all of the trade speculation that happened at the deadline Adams is fired up, which will only improve the defense of the Jets.