Given the current state of the AFC East, it’s a very good time for the New England Patriots to be playing good football again.
The Miami Dolphins have become one of the laughingstock franchises in the NFL, with fans now just waiting for head coach Mike McDaniel to get shown the door. There’s even chatter emerging on whether the team will consider benching $212 million quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
You have to give the Dolphins this, though — at least they have a win in 2025.
The same can’t be said for the sorry franchise that has (mercifully) replaced the Patriots as the AFC East’s bottom-feeder; that would be the New York Jets. They’re the lone remaining winless team in the NFL at 0-7, and it’s become brutally obvious that the coach-QB combo of Aaron Glenn and Justin Fields has an expiration date.
In fact, Jets owner Woody Johnson just threw gas on the fire, as the dysfunction in East Rutherford nears an all-time high.
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson’s brutally honest take on Justin Fields should have the Patriots smiling over their own good fortune
The Patriots deserve credit for climbing their way out of a very Jetsian stretch over the past several seasons. Bouncing from Cam Newton, to Mac Jones, to Bailey Zappe, to Jacoby Brissett, and finally to Drake Maye, sent fans on a mostly painful rollercoaster ride.
New England is also extremely fortunate. They wound up with the third quarterback off the board in the 2024 NFL Draft, and Maye has a chance to be the best of a bunch that includes Caleb Williams of the Bears and Jayden Daniels of the Commanders.
The Jets haven’t drafted a first-round quarterback since Zach Wilson in 2021, and they’re definitely paying for it. Similar to the Patriots, they've bounced from Wilson, to Joe Flacco, to Trevor Siemian, to Tim Boyle, to Aaron Rodgers — only to land on Fields in 2025.
Judging by some recent comments from the owner at the NFL’s fall meetings, the Jets could soon spin the dial again and give backup Tyrod Taylor a look.
“It’s hard when you have a quarterback with a rating that we’ve got. He has the ability, but something is just not jiving. But if you look at any head coach with a quarterback like that, you’re going to see similar results across the league. You have to play consistently at that position, and that’s what we’re going to try to do for the remainder of the season. Defense and special teams, they’re doing better. … If we could just complete a pass, it would look good.”
It definitely got ugly for the Patriots at the end of the Bill Belichick tenure in 2023, and the Jerod Mayo fiasco in 2024. But at least Robert Kraft never blasted his own players to the media.
Leave it to the Jets. Johnson’s team has an uncanny way of finding new lows.
The Patriots? They suddenly have the luxury of a thriving coach-QB combo, while enjoying the view below from atop the AFC East.