Hooray Pats and Bills! Boo Jets!

It was another crazy week in the AFC East, and once again we have two teams celebrating victories while the other two mull over a tough loss or a tough day watching the games on the couch. In the “Game of the Millennium” down in Indianapolis, the Patriots prevailed over the Colts, while up in Buffalo the Bills continued their hot streak with a win over the hapless Bengals. It was more of the same for the Jets as they dropped a heartbreaker to the Redskins in overtime.

The game of the week in the AFC East, if not the sporting world in general, was an epic clash between the Patriots and Colts. Thanks to a 4th quarter rally, the Patriots were able to keep the undefeated season intact with a tough 24-20 win over the previously undefeated Colts. The Colts defense made life difficult for the Pats early as Tom Brady was pressured more than he had been all season long, and it led to two interceptions from the Patriots QB. The Patriots defense did just a good a job, employing their “bend but don’t break” philosophy to perfection, forcing the Colts to settle for FG attempts on two early drives deep into Patriot territory.

Things looked bleak for New England after Peyton Manning’s fourth quarter touchdown run made it a 20-10 ballgame, but Brady and the offense finally broke out and put 14 points on the scoreboard in a flash. The defense held on and forced a Peyton Manning fumbleception by Rosevelt Colvin, and the game was over. Just watching the game left me drained and exhausted, so I can only imagine how the players felt.

In a bit of intriguing news, the television broadcast of the game picked up some strange crowd noise during a Patriots possession. The NFL is looking into this matter as it is not the first time the Colts have been accused of piping in “artificial” crowd noise. If there is evidence of any foul play by the Colts during home games, the resulting punishment and media backlash could make the punishment of the Patriots for the spying scandal look like a slap on the wrist.

The other AFC East team who is actually winning this year pushed their current winning streak to three games as the Bills upended the Bengals, 33-21.Rookie RB Marshawn Lynch did everything except serve water and orange slices on the sideline as he ran for 153 yards and a touchdown and also threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to TE Robert Royal. Backup QB J.P. Losman was effective for Buffalo, throwing for 295 yards and a touchdown. The Bills defense did a great job slowing down a potentially explosive Bengals offense, holding star WRs Chad Johnson and T. J. Houshmandzadeh to under 100 yards receiving each. Up next for the Bills is a divisional game against the rival Dolphins.

In the Meadowlands it was, sadly, more of the same for the Jets as they dropped a 23-20 overtime loss to the Washington Redskins.Once again the lack of a running game hampered the Jets offense, and second-year QB Kellen Clemens was unable to make up the difference. The Jets rallied to tie the game at 20 with 10 seconds left, but were unable to do anything in overtime even after a long completion to Jerricho Cotchery on the opening play. The Jets fall to 1-8 on the season and things have certainly not gone according to plan this year for Gang Green.