AFC East Roundup: Know When to Hold ‘Em

As the famous song goes: “You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.” Such a reference can relate to the mindset of many members of Bills Mafia when it came to Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen after his Week 1 performance against the New York Jets.

Allen was seen forcing a lot of passes that resulted in three interceptions, instead of living to fight another down. After his sub-standard performance, Allen said he deleted X and Instagram to get away from social media and instead spent the week leading up to Sunday’s game watching a lot of poker. The result was a masterpiece, with Allen completing 31 of his 37 pass attempts for three touchdowns and most importantly, no interceptions. Just like a poker player, Allen managed the game hand to hand, slowly building up his chips based on what was available to him. He didn’t fall victim to an unnecessary “all-in” play by forcing the ball down the field in hopes of a huge play that could have resulted in a turnover. If Allen can play like he did in Week 2 the rest of the way, Buffalo will be back in business.

Meanwhile, the New York Jets couldn’t find any cards to play during their poker night with the Dallas Cowboys. The Jets couldn’t get anything going against the Dallas defense, only scoring 10 points while the opposing side put up a 30 on the board. The lone bright spot for the team was when quarterback Zach Wilson found wide receiver Garrett Wilson on a 68-yard touchdown pass off a slant. If you take that away then Wilson only threw for 112 yards, which isn’t going to get it done in New York. Granted, the team is still in disbelief after losing future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers to a torn Achilles. But time is short and the Jets need to get the offense on the same page before they waste a year of their fantastic defense.

Wrapping up our glance back at the AFC East this week was a division matchup between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. The Dolphins jumped out to a huge chip lead heading into halftime up 17-3 behind a Raheem Mostert rushing touchdown and a Tyreek Hill reception touchdown. However, much like last week against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Patriots couldn’t get that one card they needed on the river falling, just short of a comeback 24-17. Mac Jones did have another attempt with under two minutes left to lead a comeback, but just like last week it was a failed fourth-down conversion that ended up being the difference. Something to watch coming out of the game is Dolphins’ receiver Jaylen Waddle entering the concussion protocol.