AFC EAST

New England: 3-0
NY Jets: 3-0
Buffalo: 0-3
Miami: 0-4

What a weird division this year. The Jets are legitimately a good team, I hope people are now buying what I've been selling for the past few weeks. The Patriots are the defending Super Bowl champions, and have won 18 straight games, so I have to give them their due. The Bills, and the Dolphins, though, are two of the worst teams in football. Well, at least record-wise.

I don't think it's fair to call the Bills bad. They aren't good, but they're not downright bad. They're by far the best 0-3 team in the league (how's that for a backhanded compliment). The Bills lost in Week 1 to the Jaguars on a last-second touchdown pass by Byron Leftwich that was barely caught in the back of the end zone. Final score: 13-10. In Week 2, the Bills can't get any offense going out west against Oakland, and fall. Final score: 13-10. After a bye in Week 3, the Bills take on the Patriots in Buffalo, looking to keep the Pats from winning a record-tying 17th game in a row. Final score: Patriots 31, Bills 17. The Bills didn't look like a bad team against New England. They looked like a flawed team, and the Patriots were able to expose those flaws at key moments.

That's what the Patriots do. They figure out the flaws, expose them, and then pounce. So many of the games they've won on their current winning streak have come as the result of the one big play that turns the game in their favor. Last Sunday, it was pressuring Drew Bledsoe, and that pressure finally resulted in the turnover that put the game away - a fumble returned for a touchdown. The Patriots should win this weekend at Miami. The next weekend, they host the Seahawks. Seattle is 3-0, and I'll talk more about this potential matchup next week...there's a good chance it features two undefeated teams.

Miami stinks. We established that fact in yesterday's posting, and if you have seen them play at all this season. But here's an interesting thing: Ricky Williams may want to play again this season. He's reportedly trying to get a hearing with the NFL so that he might get back to the team this season. This opens up a huge can of worms, because he's facing a drug suspension, which probably can't be enforced retroactively to the first few games of the year, and then there's the whole issue of whether the Dolphins want Ricky back. Management will probably take him back, because they're desperate. But I doubt he will be well-received by teammates, coaches, and fans.

So that's the AFC East rundown, for now. The Jets host Buffalo on Sunday. I'll try to get a Bills preview posted for Thursday, courtesy of a guest writer who grew up in Buffalo and remains a lifelong Bills fan. If I don't get that, there might not be a Bills preview, because I'm working a late night on Wednesday.