AFC Notes: Dolphins, Jets, Patriots

Dolphins

Dolphins HC Brian Flores said he is happy with the way QB Tua Tagovailoa is playing.

“I think he’s been locked in and I think he’s played well the last two weeks,” Flores said, via Daniel Oyefusi. “Not perfect, but I think he’s played well and moved the ball, giving us a chance to win the last couple weeks. We haven’t been able to pull it out, but I think his psyche, he’s in the right frame of mind.”

Flores added he believes Tagovailoa is still improving.

“I think he’s getting better every time he steps on the field,” Flores said. “I think he’s pushing the ball down the field more, he’s making better decisions. I think he’s making quicker decisions. I think he’s doing a lot of things. Look, it’s a small sample size, but every time he steps out there, I see progress. I saw it yesterday for sure. I think he showed some grit and some growth, dealing with some adversity, dealing with a couple interceptions and then coming back and giving us an opportunity to win the game at the end. He’s a young player. Everyone develops at a little bit different pace, but I think he’s doing a lot of good things.”

• Dolphins owner Stephen Ross declined to answer questions at the owners’ meetings on Tuesday, including about Deshaun Watson: “I know what it’s about and I’m not dealing with it.” (Ian Rapoport)
• The Miami Dolphins are working out P J.K. Scott (Aaron Wilson)

Jets

Jets S Marcus Maye says he is committed to the team among trade rumors and a recent DUI arrest.

“They know I want to be here,” Maye said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “They know I’m 100% with my guys. Yeah, of course, I’m here. Every time I’m in this building, I’m 100%. Every time I’m on the field, I’m 100%. I’m going to be with my guys no matter what.”

• Jets owner Woody Johnson said he supports GM Joe Douglas and HC Robert Saleh despite the 1-5 start to the season: “We will get it right. … Just a very young team with a 22-year-old quarterback. He’s seeing things for the first time.” (Mike Garafolo)

Patriots

Patriots WR Kendrick Bourne said the team wanted to “make a statement” during their win over the Jets.

“It’s kind one of those games where we’re up by a lot,” Bourne said, via NESN. “I could easily just relax and chill, but we’re trying to be dominant, man. We want to be that team that can do everything at any moment. Whether we’re down or up, we want to play how we want to play. And that play just shows that we were locked in.”

This is the second time the Patriots beat the Jets this season and their third win on the year. Bourne said the team came away from their first meeting with the Jets disappointed because they know they could’ve done more.

“Just keeping the foot on the gas, man,” Bourne said. “When we’re up by that much, it’s easy to come out of halftime relaxing, thinking we’ve got it in the big. But we came out playing better. The last time we played them, we won by 19, but we didn’t feel like we played like us. We let them do certain things to us that we don’t tolerate. And today, we just came out really prepared. You could tell that we’ve faced them before, and we prepared really well through the week. So shoutout to the team, man, how we played today.”