The regular season has come to an end for the AFC East with two divisional match-ups taking place. The Buffalo Bills played host to the New York Jets, already set in the five seed for the postseason no matter the result of the game. Meanwhile, the New England Patriots hosted the Miami Dolphins, trying to secure a first-round bye with a victory. It ended up being the two teams at the bottom of the division that came away victorious.
In Buffalo, the majority of the starters were either sitting or playing minimal downs, which played a role in the Jets winning 13-6. The goal for the team was to come out of the game healthy but even that was a struggle as players like Levi Wallace and Cody Ford exited the games with injuries. Even with a lot of backups playing on defense, they played hard and made life difficult for Sam Darnold—forcing one turnover and almost forcing a couple more. Buffalo heads to Texas next week for their Wild Card match-up against the Houston Texans.
New England on the other hand has to be feeling disappointed after falling to the Dolphins, which causes them to play on Wild Card weekend for the first time this decade. Ryan Fitzpatrick had some magic left in him leading a game-winning touchdown drive in the last two minutes of the game. This was important for the Patriots because now if they’re able to defeat the Tennessee Titans in their Wild Card game then they’ll have to go on the road to face the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round.
Now it’s time to get ready for some postseason football as the AFC East will have two teams participating—something the division isn’t used to seeing.