AFC Notes: Ken Dorsey, Jack Jones, Aaron Rodgers, Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer texted some of his sources with other teams to get a professional read on what’s ailing the Bills in 2023, who dropped a mistake-ridden game to the Broncos to fall to 5-5 on the year. 

“Despite having blue-[chip] players, they haven’t been able to establish a consistent style or level of play, which should be coming through by November,” texted one NFC pro scouting director. “I don’t know if Sean [McDermott] is doing too much, running defense and the team with an inexperienced OC. And the injuries on defense are real — [Matt] Milano is very important and easy to underrate sometimes. Seems like they’re pressing and playing tight. And I think they do miss [Brian] Daboll.”

“A number of different reasons for it,” a rival AFC exec added. “Defensively, they’ve regressed. They are slower. Not having Milano and [Tre’Davious] White with the injuries, lost [Tremaine] Edmunds in free agency, missed on first-round corner — when they needed it — both safeties [Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde] are on the decline. Offensively, it’s the turnovers. The quarterback [Josh Allen] isn’t playing well — poor decisions and not having Daboll on his ass is probably affecting him.

“I think one of the things that made Allen such a pain to defend was his ability to run—don’t have numbers in front of me, but seems like they’re doing that less, probably to protect him.”

• Bills HC Sean McDermott said they felt a need to change from former OC Ken Dorsey and want their offense to be more confident going forward: “Just felt like it was time for a change. We need to be a confident offensive football team and find consistent production, and that’s really what it came down to,” via Ben Volin. 

Jets

Jets QB Aaron Rodgers acknowledged the criticism against OC Nathaniel Hackett and is still a “believer” given he won two MVP awards in his offense. In the end, Rodgers feels New York must improve at multiple positions. 

“Yeah, yeah, I see it,” Rodgers said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “I won MVP twice in the same offense, so I’m a believer. I’m a believer in the offense. There are a lot of positions, you have to play better. But, yeah, it’s easy right now to throw it at the usual suspects, Zach [Wilson] and Nathaniel, but there’s a lot of positions that need to play better.”

Rodgers thinks they aren’t executing enough in the red zone or on third downs. 

“It’s tough because we’re nine games in,” Rodgers said. “I think a lot of the issues that we’re having are ones that we’ve had for a lot of the season. We’re not being efficient in the red zone, not being opportunistic on third down. We’re very low in both those categories.”

Rodgers points out that opportunities have been there for success on film but they just aren’t “getting it done.” 

“There’s a lot of geniuses out there with ideas about how to fix the whole thing, but in actuality, it’s very simple,” Rodgers said. “If you watch the film, you can see where the issues lie and there are plays to be made. There are opportunities that are out there and we’re just not getting it done.”

Patriots

• Patriots HC Bill Belichick said CB Jack Jones will not be returning to the practice squad: “Jack’s a talented player. He showed that when he played for us at times. In the end, I felt like we just needed to move on. But he’s a talented player.” (Doug Kyed)
• Patriots LB Josh Uche, who is in the last year of his contract, said they working to fine-tune some of the details towards a potential extension: “The organization would love me to be here, and I would love to be here as well. There’s just some fine-tuning and some things and details that need to be worked out to make it a possibility,” per Mark Daniels.