Two weeks into the 2026 season, the AFC East already has a clear pecking order, and Miami is stuck at the bottom. The Dolphins’ 0-2 start is bad enough on its own, but the bigger problem is the margin: they’ve been outscored by 36 points, a number topped only by the Atlanta Falcons. That kind of hole is hard to ignore, even with seven other teams also sitting at 0-2.
For Dolphins fans, the frustration goes beyond the record. Miami is currently the division’s weakest club, sitting behind even the usually struggling Jets. That reality may not be shocking, but it still lands hard when the roster has already been stripped down and the results look this rough.
The one area Miami can point to is its run defense. According to Sumer Sports, it has been slightly above average in EPA allowed, and much of that has come from the linebacker play.
All-Pro Jordyn Brooks and rookie Jacob Rodriguez have both stood out through two games. Even so, the offense has gone nowhere, with Malik Willis and De'Von Achane unable to get things rolling.
There is at least some hope that changes when they return from their West Coast road trip next week.
New York, meanwhile, has made the kind of early jump that changes the tone around a team. The Jets are 1-1, and while they did cough up a 10-point fourth-quarter lead against the Packers in Week 2, they already look more organized than they did in Aaron Glenn’s first season as head coach.
Geno Smith has looked far more like the quarterback who resurrected his career in Seattle than the one who struggled with the Raiders. On top of that, the defense has more bite after a busy offseason, and the whole operation looks better prepared from snap to snap.
They’re still not close to Buffalo, but they’re clearly a long way from Miami.
New England sits second in the division, and the case for putting the Patriots ahead of the Jets is not exactly airtight. Losing by three points to the Seahawks in Week 1 is easier to swallow than blowing a late lead to this year’s Packers, even if the Patriots then followed that with a 20-3 win over the Steelers.
The bigger issue in New England is the offense. Drake Maye has been nowhere near the level he showed during his MVP runner-up season in 2025, throwing just one touchdown and four interceptions so far.
His playoff problems seem to have carried over into the new year, and the loss of A.J. Brown to Injured Reserve only makes things worse.
The defense has held up, though, and that keeps the Patriots in the mix for now. Still, even if the offense eventually finds itself, Buffalo is sitting too far ahead to be caught through two weeks.
At the top, the Bills look every bit like the class of the division. Josh Allen has been sensational, piling up nine total touchdowns - five through the air and four on the ground - along with 674 total yards.
Buffalo’s defense has also looked more dangerous, and the run game has been steady and punishing. With Joe Brady now in the HC chair, the early returns have been excellent, and until someone proves they can slow this offense down, the Bills are going to keep the AFC East’s top spot.
In Other News...
Dolphins Just Added An Edge Rusher With Bigger Roster Implications
The Dolphins added some edge depth by signing Andre Jones Jr. off the Buffalo Bills practice squad, a move that brings in a fourth-year NFL veteran with 19 games of experience over three seasons. Jones also has a familiar face in Miamis building, having been coached in Buffalo by special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, which gives the pickup a little more context than a routine late-season transaction.
The bigger part of the deal is what comes next for Miamis roster. Jones has to be carried on the active roster for at least three weeks, so the Dolphins will need to clear a spot to make the signing official in practice and on game days, a small move on paper that can still ripple through the back end of the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons QB Situation Suddenly Looks Worse Than Fans Feared
Through the first two weeks of the 2026 season, the quarterback conversation has already split cleanly between the usual stars and the passers trying to keep jobs from slipping away. Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are doing what they normally do, while the early struggles from players like Cooper Rush and Malik Willis have helped define the other end of the rankings. Injuries to Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels have only added to the sense that the league is sorting out its QB hierarchy fast, and not always cleanly.
For Miami, the larger takeaway is less about the top of the list than how teams are handling their own quarterbacks in the margins. The Dolphins have already come under scrutiny for not leaning enough into Malik Williss running ability, which is the kind of detail that can matter in a season when every advantage counts. With the quarterback picture still shifting this early, decisions like that can end up looking bigger as the weeks go on. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Already Have A Veteran Trust Problem After Two Weeks
Two weeks into the season, the Dolphins are already dealing with a familiar kind of roster audit: which veterans can be counted on, and which ones are making the coaching staff hesitate. The trust report around Miamis Week 2 performance does not read like a simple snap judgment so much as a snapshot of a team still sorting through reliability, with penalties, physicality and consistency all showing up as the dividing lines.
The evaluation also reaches beyond the obvious names on offense and defense, because special teams and the coaching staff are part of the equation too. For a team trying to settle into the season, the concern is not just who is earning more trust, but how quickly that trust can disappear when execution slips and the people in charge of the details are drawing scrutiny as well. [Read more 🡒]