AFC Notes: Dolphins, Jets, Texans

Dolphins

Dolphins’ S Eric Rowe played with QB Jacoby Brissett during their time with the Patriots and also went against him when he was the quarterback for the Colts. Rowe now says that he sees vast improvements with Brissett since the two have become teammates once again.

“I remember he was… the look-team quarterback and he had trouble making some reads but he was a rookie,” Rowe said, via Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “Then when he left, I was watching him on the Colts and he got immensely better. Now out here, what he brings is toughness. He’ll stand in the pocket. He’ll take the hits. And obviously his accuracy and his throwing. They had him as No. 2, but he can easily be a starter somewhere else.”

Veteran WR Albert Wilson also commented on the situation involving Brissett starting while Tagovailoa is out.

“We (the receivers) have got a lot of chemistry with him, and we believe in what he does,” Wilson said. “We’ve got full confidence in him as we do with Tua. We don’t feel like we took a step back with him.”

• Armando Salguero reports that the Dolphins will be making changes to their offense ahead of Week 3 in order to accommodate new starting QB Jacoby Brissett‘s play style.
• Dolphins OLB coach Rob Leonard will not attend Sunday’s Week 3 game due to COVID-19 protocols. (Cameron Wolfe)
• Dolphins LB coach Anthony Campanile will also miss Sunday’s game due to COVID-19 protocols. (Barry Jackson)

Jets

Jets’ rookie QB Zach Wilson said the coaching staff wants him to be more protective of the football after throwing four interceptions in Week 2. 

“I don’t think it’s necessarily challenging, it’s just being smart with the ball and understanding those situations in games like that,” Wilson said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “There weren’t check downs on some of those interceptions, right? It’s not just, hey, check the ball down. It’s being smart with the ball. How can you throw it away or get rid of it? That’s what I’m applying for this next week.”

Wilson mentioned that he’s never thrown four interceptions in a game at any level of his career and is focused on improving. 

“I haven’t thrown four picks ever in my life in a game,” Wilson said. “Obviously, I have to clean that up and take care of that. It’s being able to fight through that adversity every single week and how I can keep getting better and better. I knew it was going to be challenging coming here, and I knew there were things I’d have to adjust and keep getting better at. And that’s part of it.”

Regarding their Week 3 game against the Broncos, Wilson said he’s studying Denver’s Week 2 game against the Jaguars and fellow rookie Trevor Lawrence. 

“I’m hoping to learn from things [Lawrence] saw and … what he went through, and how I can learn from those right now before we go into that game,” Wilson said.

• Jets HC Robert Saleh said WR Jamison Crowder (groin) will be a game-time decision for Week 3. (Ralph Vacchiano)
• Saleh said WR Denzel Mims (hamstring) will be active will be a game-time decision. (Brian Costello)

Texans

Texans HC David Culley said that they will evaluate K Ka’imi Fairbairn (groin) on Wednesday to determine if he’ll play in Week 4. 

“The thing about him is that he said this past week that he was much better than he’s ever been,” Culley said, via Aaron Wilson. “He didn’t really feel anything. So, we’re going to see when we go back out on Wednesday to see where he’s at. Not Monday, but on Wednesday, to see where he’s at, and if he’s ready to go, we’ll go with him.”

Culley said they didn’t sustain any extensive injuries during their Thursday night game. 

“We came out of the game very good health-wise,” Culley said. “Nobody came out of that game with an injury that would keep them from being able to play the following week.”