Week 16 AFC East Weekly Buzz: Bills vs. Raiders, Dolphins vs. Vikings, Jets vs. Patriots

Buffalo Bills

Following their impressive 21-13 win over the Green Bay Packers last Sunday, the Bills have an opportunity to do something they haven’t done since 2004: Complete a winning season with a victory over the Raiders on Sunday, though the matchup against the 2-12 squad from Oakland is much tougher than it looks on paper.

The Raiders have the eighth-best pass defense in the league, and have combined the youthful talent of cornerback D.J. Hayden and linebackers Khalil Mack and Miles Burris with the veteran presence of defensive end Justin Tuck and safety Charles Woodson to build a defense that played tremendously well in wins over playoff contenders Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers, allowing only a combined 33 points. Rookie Derek Carr also had four touchdowns to no interceptions in that game, and Oakland could win a low-scoring game with an efficient performance by Carr and the defensive effort brought in both of those games.

Buffalo is 0-3 in games against the AFC West, and after sweeping the tough NFC North, the Bills can ill afford to fall into the traps of the previous three losses against AFC West squads, which included untimely turnovers, offensive ineffectiveness, and missed opportunities. But as Pro Player Insiders’ Matthew Schaefer wrote in his recap of the win over Green Bay, “I am not going to sugar coat this one in the least, if you are a playoff team you win this game against a very overmatched Raiders team. No excuses”.

Miami Dolphins

The Patriots showed they were much better team on Sunday, dominating the second half with 27 consecutive points in a second straight game in which Miami wasted a great start (were up 10-0 vs. Baltimore in Week 14 before losing 28-13). With owner Stephen Ross looking to make a splash, and the postseason hopes all but eliminated, the future for head coach Joe Philbin, who has kept the Dolphins afloat (22-24 record) but not good enough to get into the playoffs in any of his three seasons, is very much up in the air.

All Miami and Philbin can do is win out and hope for the best in both the playoff scenarios and what Ross and the front office decide on the coaching front. However, it won’t be easy to beat a Minnesota team on Sunday that has near-victories against the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, and rookie Teddy Bridgewater playing well enough to be 5-5 as a starter.

A loss to the Vikings would both end any postseason hopes and probably put Philbin on the hottest seat imaginable, especially with the rival Patriots and Bills playing themselves into contention while Miami would have then lost three straight to move from 7-5 to under .500. The chance of making the playoffs is slim to none, but the Dolphins have to try if they want any chance to prove that the present roster and coaching staff has the makings of a potential contender.

New York Jets

After a three-game losing streak, with two of those defeats by a combined nine points to the Dolphins and Vikings, respectively, the Jets got back into the win column, albeit against a lowly Tennessee Titans team down to its third quarterback by the margin of only 16-11.

Alas, there were some very positive signs, as since the game opening interception returned for an interception at Minnesota, Geno Smith is 34 for his last 56 (60.7%, with his completion percentage for thee season at 57.8) for 433 yards two touchdowns without another interception, and Eric Decker has his best two-game stretch of the season, catching 13 passes on 19 targets for 189 yards. While a matchup versus the Patriots may seem like a complete mismatch for New York, they have always been able to have some surprisingly close match-ups against New England under head coach Rex Ryan, including perhaps arguably the Jets’ best game of the season, a 27-25 loss at Gillette Stadium on October 16.

Smith was at his best in that game, going 20 of 34 for 226 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 37 yards as well, while the defense held Tom Brady to just 20 of 37 for 261 yards, with two coverage busts being responsible for a pair of his three touchdowns in the game overall. A similar effort in front of their home crowd could be enough for a victory, and maybe if possible, enough to save Ryan’s job, though it is much easier said than done.

New England Patriots

After the loss at Lambeau Field and a lackluster first half against the San Diego Chargers, the Patriots have gotten back to playing at the level of arguably the best team in football, and have an opportunity to get home-field advantage with wins against division rival New York and Buffalo.

New England has won 16 home games at Gillette Stadium, so making sure that the road to the Super Bowl in the AFC goes through Foxboro is immensely important. For the Patriots to be unbeatable there, however, they need Tom Brady to play as perfectly as possible, and while he does have a 32-8 touchdown -to-interception ratio this season, he has thrown 10 touchdowns to 5 interceptions in the five games since the bye week, which is good, but not anywhere as dominant as his 18 touchdown to only one interception stretch from Week 5 through Week 9.

If Brady can return to that form, as well as have the defense continue to play the level it has recently (only 20 points allowed in the last two games), there is no one in the AFC that can beat that combination at Gillette Stadium in January.