Week 6 of the NFL season is in the books and we had some movement in the AFC East. The Miami Dolphins are now in second place overtaking the New England Patriots after a win against the New York Jets who are still seeking their first win of the season. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills following two straight losses are still clinging to their lead in the division. This week on the AFC East Roundup we stocks that are rising and falling within the division.
Stock Up: Ryan Fitzpatrick
(Editor’s note: At the time of writing, Ryan Fitzpatrick was still the Dolphins’ starting quarterback.)
Fitzmagic has returned, as the Dolphins’ signal caller has been on a tear this season. Fitzpatrick played a smooth game with three touchdowns on the afternoon, which gives him six in his last two games. When Fitzpatrick gets hot he becomes one of the better quarterbacks in the league and it’s imperative teams ride that streak as long as possible. He continues to show his leadership to this Dolphins team and the difference from last season is that they now consistently put up points on the board. Miami is currently 3-3 but they’re looking ready and poised to make a run in the second half of the season.
Stock Down: Buffalo Defense
The biggest disappointment for the Buffalo Bills this season would be their defense as a whole. The unit doesn’t seem to be clicking the same way that they were last season when they finished among the best in the league. Buffalo’s defense has been bullied the past two weeks against the Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs, being unable to get the stops when they needed it most. Buffalo did a good job not letting Patrick Mahomes affect the game too much but, instead, allowed Kansas City to rush for over 200 yards with ease. This defense needs to regain the form they had in previous years or else the team is going to find themselves in shoot-outs each week.
Stock Up: Trevor Lawrence chances
There aren’t a lot of positives to talk about for the New York Jets as they suffered another loss this week and remain the only winless team in the league. However, there is some good news coming out of the week. Their chances to get Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence increased. Lawrence could be what the team is looking for as Sam Darnold has not yet played to his true potential whether you want to blame it on him or the lack of weapons surrounding him. It seems knee-jerk to note that the team looks to be tanking on purpose but after they just traded away captain Steve McLendon Sunday night, it’s begun to look like little else.
Stock Down: New England’s offense
The New England Patriots dealt with a lot of issues trying to get in the game against the Denver Broncos with all of their COVID-19 complications. Even with that, most people still believed they would be able to pull out a victory—until they fell 18-12 to those Broncos. The defense did their job only allowing field goals for the Denver offense but Cam Newton was unable to efficiently put up points for his team. He finished with a disappointing 157 yards passing and two interceptions. The offense as a whole only mustered 288 yards of offense, which is not going to cut it in the NFL. Things are not going to get easier for this offense with the San Francisco 49ers on deck—a team coming off a good victory against the Los Angeles Rams.