AFC Notes: Zach Wilson, De’Von Achane, Bills, Dolphins, Jets

Bills

The Bills fired OC Ken Dorsey last week and promoted Joe Brady to offensive coordinator. The team responded by dropping 32 points on the Jets and the offense looked like they were now back on track. 

After the game, Bills QB Josh Allen said it “wasn’t an easy week” for the team, but they brought the energy on game day. 

“I think our team was energetic as we needed to be and, you know, a lot of that, for better or worse, can come from the quarterback, so just making that a point of emphasis throughout the week,” Allen said, via ESPN.com. “Like, let’s have fun playing this game. It’s football at the end of the day. We get to do, in my opinion, the most amazing job on the planet and that’s coming out here and playing football.”

“Every season, man, has its ups and downs,” Allen added. “You’re going to have adversity. It’s how you bounce back from the adversity. And sometimes it takes a spark like this to ignite your team.”

Dolphins

Dolphins third-round RB De’Von Achane returned to game action after missing the last five games with a knee injury. However, Achane only touched the ball twice before exiting the game. 

“He kind of got landed on, and it was a little painful,” Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel said of Achane, via ESPN.com. “He was politicking to try to come back in the game, but I was a little worried off the rust to go and do that. We kind of held him back, and we’ll see what it looks like tomorrow.”

McDaniel added that the team’s trainers essentially cleared Achane to play, but he decided to keep him out for the remainder of the game.

“We just didn’t want to mess with him,” Achane said. “We had some positive feedback from the training staff at the end of the second quarter and after halftime, but I didn’t feel like at that point that would have been fair to him.”

Jets

Jets HC Robert Saleh told reporters after Sunday’s loss to the Bills that he benched QB Zach Wilson because of the score and was hoping Tim Boyle could provide a spark.

“Like I told Zach on the sideline, it’s not just him,” Saleh said, via ESPN.com. “It’s easy to point the finger at the quarterback, but it’s pretty easy to see. You’ve got missed protections, you’ve got dropped balls, you’ve got missed routes. Now, obviously, he has to get better. There are things he could’ve done a lot better, but it’s everyone right now.”

Wilson asked about being benched after the game. 

“Frustrated, but I get it,” Wilson said. “[You] have to score, have to be in games. When it’s consecutive games of just doing nothing on offense, you know you can sit here and say last week we moved the ball, but we’re not scoring. It essentially comes down to you have to score. So when things aren’t getting done, change has to be made, and I understand that.”

Wilson admitted that he doesn’t know about his job status moving forward. 

“We need to take accountability, and that starts with me — and I’m not getting it done,” said Wilson.