AFC Notes: Bills, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots

Bills

• ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler says the Bills are expected to get calls from other teams about their deep group of pass rushers.
• Guys like Jerry Hughes, Mario Addison and Efe Obada could be deemed expendable but Fowler thinks it’s just as likely Buffalo elects to hold on to them in case of injury. 

Dolphins

Dolphins HC Brian Flores said he is worried about how the defense is playing so far this year.

“I’m concerned. We’re out of sync in a lot of ways — run defense, pass defense, pass rush,” Flores said, via ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques. “We’re a step behind, I would say. We’ve got to make a lot of corrections, a lot of things we have to address. … We’ve been doing that and we’ve addressed some things, but we’re not seeing the production on Sundays and that’s what matters.”

• ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler writes if the Dolphins keep on losing, teams could start calling about players like WR DeVante Parker. 

Jets

Jets QB Zach Wilson said the team needs to figure out why it’s starting so slowly.

“It’s a block we have to get over,” Wilson said, via Mark Cannizzaro. “We have to get out of that trend of starting bad. We can’t keep trying to come from behind. The NFL is too hard to always come from behind.”

Jets HC Robert Saleh added Wilson needs to do a better job on the shorter throws.

“You always go back to your fundamentals,” Saleh said. “He’s working on it daily, I promise you. And he’s going to get better at it and he’s very deliberate about it. It’s trusting it when bullets are flying. It’s very easy to stand at the driving range and hit 300-yard drives.

“It’s: Can you do it when you’re on the tee box and there’s water to your left and sand to your right? And that’s just something that he’s got to work on, that’s something the coaches have to work on and everybody has to work on. When he hits it, it’s going to be pretty cool when it does.”

• Wilson thinks he knows why he’s missing many short throws: “Overthinking them. Aiming the throw instead of just throwing it like I’ve done my whole life. I’ve got a lot I’m learning and with that comes being a little robotic. I’m aiming them. I’ve got to just throw it.” (Ralph Vacchiano)

Patriots

Patriots first-round rookie QB Mac Jones credited his team’s shorthanded offensive line in the win over the Texans.

“We just outcompeted,” Jones said, via WEEI. “I don’t know if we outplayed the other team, but we definitely outcompeted. That’s all we can ask ourselves to do and there’s a lot of stuff I am going to watch on film and wish I had back, but sometimes you just have to find a way to win. It feels better to not play as well in a win, but learn at the same time than play OK and end up losing. The win feels good.”

Jones was aware that even though it was enough to beat the Texans, the offense needs to clean up it’s turnovers to continue to be able to compete.

“If you take away our turnovers, which one of them was obviously my fault and Damien’s was just a bang-bang play, I think we put a lot of emphasis on that and we didn’t do a good job of that,” he said. “But, we still fought through that and just tried to put points on the board.”

The offensive line held up well, as Jones was only hit four times, despite being down four starters along the line.

“I think the offensive line did a great job and I think it all starts with them,” he said. “They were doubted all week and there’s this and that, and all the noise around that. They came out and they played really hard and they played together and I think I only got hit once all game (Houston was credited with four QB hits). Shout-out to those guys and they were a big reason why it happened.”