Week 6 is wrapped for the AFC East, and nothing moved in the standings. The Bills still sit on top, the Patriots are hanging right there behind them, the Jets are slipping, and the Dolphins are still chasing their first win.
Buffalo keeps the division lead at 5-1 after surviving a trip to Las Vegas, where the Bills pulled out a 33-30 win over the Raiders. That came on the heels of their primetime victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 5, giving Buffalo a 2-0 finish to its two-week West Coast swing.
The Bills’ offense has been carrying the load while the defense works through its issues, and that pattern held again in this one. It has become the team’s identity so far this season, and it is getting the job done.
Still, Joe Brady and Jim Leonhard have plenty to sort out during the bye before Buffalo returns in Week 8 against the Baltimore Ravens.
New England is still breathing down Buffalo’s neck at 4-2 after taking down the Jets 26-19 in a division game. The Patriots had started 1-2, but they’ve now won three straight.
Their offense was just shy of 400 total yards, and the defense came up with the plays it needed to protect the lead. Even with the tiebreaker over the Bills, New England remains second in the division for now.
The Patriots have a quick turnaround ahead, with Thursday Night Football sending them to Chicago to face Caleb Williams and the Bears.
As for the Jets, the result was another loss in a matchup that stayed close but never really changed the familiar script. They battled, but New England handled them again. New York now turns to another AFC East test next week against the Dolphins, who are coming off a bye and still searching for their first victory of the season.
In Other News...
Josh Allen Keeps Saving The Bills As One Concern Lingers
The Bills have spent much of the 2026 season living on the edge, and Josh Allen has been the reason they keep walking away with wins. Buffalo has stacked up close games, most of them decided by a single score, while Allen and James Cook III have provided enough offense to keep the team from wasting strong stretches on the other side of the ball.
Cook has been a big part of that formula, and the defense has shown real progress under coordinator Jim Leonhard, with Christian Benford emerging as one of the more dependable pieces in the secondary. Even so, Buffalo still looks like a team searching for complete trust on that side of the ball, and the latest spotlight on Benford only adds to the sense that the Bills are improving without quite being finished. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Could Be Facing More Than An Ejection With C.J. Gardner-Johnson
C.J. Gardner-Johnsons night against the Raiders ended well before the game did, and it did not stop at a simple removal from the field. The veteran defensive back was ejected from the Bills matchup after an incident involving Brock Bowers, turning an already tense first half into an even bigger problem for Buffalo in a game where every possession mattered.
The fallout may extend beyond the ejection itself, too. Gardner-Johnson is now facing the possibility of additional NFL discipline, with the league able to hand down further punishment after reviewing the play, and the sequence even carried an immediate cost when the penalty helped set up a Raiders field goal before halftime. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Are 5-1 But One Familiar Problem Still Looks Dangerous
The Bills left Las Vegas with a win and a 5-1 record, enough to keep them on top of the AFC East as they head into their bye week. Josh Allen once again supplied the kind of playmaking that can carry this team through stretches when things get messy, but the broader picture from Sunday was less tidy. Buffalos penalty issues continued to show up, and the defense spent too much time fighting off third-down stress against a Raiders offense that found ways to stay on the field.
Buffalo has earned a little breathing room before Week 8 brings Baltimore to town, and that pause arrives at a useful moment. The Bills are winning, but they are also carrying a familiar problem that can get exposed quickly against sharper opponents. If the penalties keep piling up and the third-down defense remains shaky, the record will not hide it for long. [Read more 🡒]