AFC Notes: Bills, Jets, Zach Wilson, Patriots

Bills

• Per ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg, Bills QB Josh Allen said his foot is “quite a bit better” than it was Sunday when he needed a walking boot after the game: “As of now, It feels pretty good.” 

Jets

Accuracy wasn’t necessarily an issue for Jets first-round QB Zach Wilson in college at BYU. But it’s become a major one in his rookie season in the NFL. Even his adjusted completed percentage, which accounts for drops that have also been an issue for the Jets, is second-worst in the NFL. Completing short, easy throws is an adventure for Wilson, and it often looks like he is battling the yips. 

“He’s in his own head, there’s no doubt about it,” said ESPN analyst and former QB Dan Orlovsky via the Athletic’s Connor Hughes. “He’s trying to be too Aaron Rodgers-ish.”

“He hears the noise,” Orlovsky added. “He hears the flaws. He hears the issues. When you think about that stuff in a game — when you’re facing pressure, the pocket is collapsing — it’s going to have a negative impact. It’s like a shooter being in an extended slump. You need to start seeing some go in. It’s like he’s thinking his way through the process of throwing, and not letting his body and arm be as natural as possible. He’s not throwing reactionary. He’s throwing precautionary.”

Patriots

• The Patriots have charged up the standings in the AFC and currently hold the No. 1 seed. There are doubts about their overall ceiling, though, with an NFC position coach for a team that played the Patriots telling Fansided’s Matt Lombardo: “I don’t know if they’re Super Bowl good, yet. But they’re very good. And the quarterback, Mac Jones, he’s the real deal.”
• The Patriots haven’t put a lot on their first-round rookie’s plate, instead leaning on a strong defense and running game. One NFC West evaluator questions how far that will take them: “They’re getting the weather conditions they need right now to be able to win with their scheme. They’ll get to the playoffs, they might win a game, but they’re going to run into some good teams, some explosive teams that will be ready for them.”
• The evaluator added Jones has to prove he can shed the training wheels to beat higher-quality opponents: “I promise you this. When you play New England, you aren’t scheming against Mac Jones. At all. You say ‘let him try to beat us, if it comes down to a throwing game, we’ve got it, he just can’t get the ball down the field.”