AFC Notes: Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

Bills HC Sean McDermott said DT Star Lotulelei is frustrated by his recent toe injury from Week 13 after missing time this season due to a calf issue and testing positive for COVID-19.

“I know he’s frustrated and sometimes you have those seasons where things come up more than other seasons. Not only as an individual but as a team,” McDermott said, via Sal Maiorana of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “I think some of that’s what he’s dealing with. We just want him to get as healthy as he can as soon as he can.”

McDermott added that Lotuleiei provides “veteran leadership” around the locker room and is also an important interior lineman in their system. 

“There’s a sense of veteran leadership when he’s around our team. There’s also the beef and that ability to clog things up inside and push the pocket in the pass game.”

As for the Bills’ offense, QB Josh Allen thinks they can be more productive by getting “back to basics” and subtracting some plays from their system. 

“I wouldn’t so much as add, I’d say almost subtract and get back to basics and understanding what we’re good at and what we’re not so good at,” Allen said. “There’s nothing that we need to steal from anybody else in the league or there’s really no trends other than we got to go out there and execute no matter what play is called.”

Bills WR Stefon Diggs agreed with Allen and reiterated that they should avoid adding “so many things” to their offense. 

“I’m 100 percent with that just because when you’re out here searching for so many answers you’ll go down the rabbit hole. For example, I’ll go on Twitter and look at one thing and 20 minutes later I’m down the rabbit hole chasing myself. The same thing in football. You don’t want to try to add so many things that you’re losing yourself. (We need to) get back to being us and playing fast and whatever.”

Jets

Jets HC Robert Saleh thinks rookie QB Zach Wilson took a “good step forward” in Week 13 against the Eagles. 

“His game was a really good step forward,” Saleh said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “Now he has to go stack it up and do it again.”

Wilson mentioned that he felt like he “finally got to play football” and play comfortably in the first half of Week 13

“I felt like it was the first half I finally got to play football this year and actually felt like we were doing something on offense,” Wilson said. “I was getting things going and I was feeling comfortable with what we were doing on offense and things were just rolling.”

Wilson said he views the rest of the season as his “second year” after recovering from a PCL injury. 

“The cool thing about my situation is, I’m kind of looking at it like it’s my second year, kind of like I played the first season and took some games off because of injury,” Wilson said. “Now I feel like that excitement, the energy to want to play and finish this season is 100 percent there for me. I feel like I learned so many things and I worked to improve on them. Now I have to show them in the game. So now I feel like I’m two games into a new season.”

• The Jets have ruled out RB Tevin Coleman and CB Michael Carter II from Week 14 due to concussions. (Rich Cimini)
• Cimini notes that Jets WR Elijah Moore (quad) is considered “day-to-day” and questionable for Sunday’s game. 

Patriots

• Patriots’ TE Hunter Henry was in jeopardy of missing a game if his wife gave birth to their child. However, the baby was born during the team’s bye week and Henry will likely be in the lineup for New England in their next matchup. (Doug Kyed)
• The Patriots brought in free agent WR Matt Cole for a workout, according to Mike Reiss.