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The AFC East hit the rest button at the end of Week 6 last Sunday, with all four teams sitting at 3&3. Now, the Miami Dolphins are off this week with their bye, but the other three teams will all be in action, including the New York Jets facing the New England Patriots, with the winner moving ahead of the loser in that contest by one game.
The Patriots are the top offense in the league this year, despite their 3&3 record. They struggled to run the ball last week against the Seattle Seahawks, but should be able to reestablish the rushing attack against a Jets team that is giving up 150 yards on the ground per game.
The Jets have appeared to be on the brink of falling apart already this season, but the sky stopped falling, at least for one week, after a 35-9 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. But, if quarterback Mark Sanchez struggles at all this afternoon, look for the calls for backup Tim Tebow to return, and probably increase in volume as well. The Jets are just a couple of wins away from making a run at the playoffs, but they are also a couple of losses away from imploding. That's a bad time to meet up with the Patriots.
The Buffalo Bills, meanwhile, host the Tennessee Titans, hoping to keep up with the top of the division. The Bills have allowed opposing running backs to run all over them so far this year, giving up 174 rushing yards per game. In fact, the Bills' defense has given up over 1,500 yards and 113 points over the past three weeks. For a team that was supposed to have a dominant defense, especially after signing Mario Williams to a six year, $96 million contract this offseason, that's not going to get it done.
The Titans, however, have struggled as well this year. On offense, they are only scoring 19 points per game on the year, while giving up 34. Tennessee, with one time fantasy gem Chris Johnson, are averaging just 70 rushing yards per game this year. The Titans are starting to find some rhythm behind quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who is starting for the third straight week due to an injury to Jake Locker, but for that rhythm to continue to develop, the team has to find a way to keep Hasselbeck upright. They have allowed nine sacks over the past two weeks.
The Titans at Bills game is in the early slate of games, kicking of at 1pm Eastern. The Jets at Patriots will kickoff in the late time slot.
Miami will be sitting a half a game back at the end of today.