AFC Notes: Mac Jones, Tua Tagovailoa, Zach Wilson, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots

Dolphins

The Dolphins got off to an impressive start to the season, which included dropping 70 points on the Broncos last week. However, Sunday’s game against the Bills didn’t go as many though and Miami suffered a 48-20 loss. 

“It’s tough when you lose and you lose like this, but we’re not going to blink,” Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa said after the game, via DolphinsWire.com. “We’re going to continue to do what we do. We’re going to go back in. We’re going to work on the things that need to be worked fixed and need to be corrected. I can promise you one thing, we’ll definitely be better from this.”

• Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel weighed in on the loss to Buffalo: “They made some adjustments and we didn’t. It was compounding. After the first couple drives it was a struggle.” (Joe Schad)
• McDaniel on where the team currently stands after their defeat on Sunday: “We are 3-1 and we play the New York Football Giants next week. That’s where we’re at and I think it’d be a failure on our part if we look at it as anything more or less than that.” (Marcel Louis-Jacques)
• McDaniel on RB De’Von Achane, who had another solid performance as a rookie: “The game’s not too big for him and he’ll continue to have a role for sure in our offense moving forward.” (Louis-Jacques)
• Dolphins LT Terron Armstead was seen on crutches after he was ruled out against the Bills with a knee injury. (Louis-Jacques)

Jets

Despite a strong outing by QB Zach Wilson, the Jets still fell to the Chiefs on Sunday night. Wilson was shown on the sidelines saying the loss was his fault and continues to take responsibility for his shortcomings among all the criticism he has faced so far this season.

“It’s on me,” Wilson said during his press conference. “Critical situation, I can’t have a play like that. I cannot drop the ball. This team is sacrificing a lot. Guys were making plays, defense was making plays, o-line was protecting, receivers were making plays. To be driving right there, to drop a snap — I cannot do that. I lost us that game and I cannot do that. I was making it clear to those guys that I need to be better. I need to be better on the little things, the details. Can’t happen.”

Patriots

The Patriots opted to bench QB Mac Jones during Sunday’s blowout loss to the Cowboys after he posted his third turnover. Even so, the Patriots plan to stick with Jones as their starter.

“I didn’t think there was any point of leaving him in the game,” Patriots HC Bill Belichick said of the decision to sit Jones, via ESPN.com. 

Jones took the blame for the offensive miscues.

“Definitely disappointed in myself. I feel like I can play a lot better,” Jones said. “I put a lot into it and I feel really bad. I let my team down, let the coaches down, the whole organization, everybody — the fans. I have to put a better product out there to beat good teams.”

“I feel like I made progress this year so far. Just not today. Definitely took a bunch of steps back,” Jones added.

Jones plans to focus on limiting the turnovers from here.

“For me, just not good enough. It wasn’t my day. You can’t turn the ball over like that and beat good teams,” Jones said. “I think it will be a good test for me to try to stay focused on what I can control, and that’s playing better. Hopefully, there’s better days ahead. Just bury it, try to learn from it, and move on — don’t make it turn into another loss.”

“It’s more of a consistency thing,” Belichick said of the offense. “One breakdown, one or two breakdowns on each play with some other good things being done but ultimately that one breakdown causes the play not to be successful. I think once we get hitting on a more consistent basis we can eliminate that one problem, or one technique, or one fundamental thing that comes up on individual plays and the results will be a lot better. But we haven’t done a good enough job on that and until we get there, it’s still obviously a problem.”

• Belichick on if the team plans to give QB Bailey Zappe any first-team reps in practice: “I doubt anything would change significantly. But, we’ll talk about that. I don’t know. We haven’t gotten to that point yet.” (Mark Daniels)