The past few weeks of the NFL season have been full of headlines, ranging from the Broncos’ offensive struggles, Tua Tagovailoa’s injury, and Aaron Rodgers’ and Tom Brady’s rocky starts, but one headline that has flown under the radar is the fact that all of New York’s football teams have had incredible starts to their seasons. Through week seven, the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, and New York Jets are a collective 16-4, an incredible turnaround from last season's collective 8-12 start, with most wins contributed by the Bills.
Buffalo Bills (5-1)
The Bills started this season's power rankings at number 1 and have remained as dominant as people projected they would be. Their week one statement 31-10 win over the defending champion Los Angeles Rams set the tone for the rest of their season to this point.
They have remained at number 1 for this week's power rankings, in big part to Josh Allen. With his performances this year, Allen is a possible contender in the NFL MVP race. The Bills won another high-stakes game this year, beating the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium 24-20. Josh Allen has been dominant against elite competition, throwing for 329 yards with three touchdowns, and a passer rating of 158.3 on throws over 15 air yards against Kansas City, which is MVP caliber play.
With their quarterback wide receiver duo of Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs, an already strong defensive line that added Von Miller, and the hopeful return of cornerback Tre’Davious White, the Bills have the key pieces to make a run for the Super Bowl this season.
New York Giants (6-1)
The week one power rankings had the Giants in the 28th spot. They did note that their offense had potential. With Saquon Barkley’s incredible talent, Daniel Jones having a proper play-caller in their new head coach Brian Daboll, and the wide receiver group of Kadarius Toney, Wan’Dale Robinson, and Kenny Golladay, they saw their potential in a rebuilding year.
This past week, they moved up to the 6 spot in the power rankings. This year, the Giants have had a knack for winning games that have been down to the wire. In their win against the Jaguars, which was clinched with a goal line stop as time expired, Daniel Jones went for over 100 yards on the ground, and Saquon Barkley had 110 total rushing yards. Despite their success, the Giants’ passing game has been quiet, being the only team in the NFL without a receiver who has surpassed 200 yards on the season.
The Giants’ success has come from their coaching staff. Brian Daboll and his staff have been able to fit their system around the players. They have run some crazy formations this year, but that weirdness fosters the great equalizer of professional sports: chaos. When the Giants line up on any given Sunday, they aren’t as good as the opponent they’re facing, so they run stuff they haven’t seen, stuff they couldn’t have prepared for. When these unique plays work they create explosive gains, fourth-down conversions, and touchdowns the Giants wouldn’t have achieved with basic easy to defend plays. By creating chaos, the Giants are inviting more random rolls of the die and flips of the coin than the average NFL game has.
New York Jets (5-2)
The Jets started this year ranked 26th. Zach Wilson was forced to miss the first three games of the season because of a knee procedure, which meant that Joe Flacco got those starts. In those games, the Jets went 1-2, but since Zach Wilson’s return, they have won fourstraight. People questioned whether or not the Jets would stick with the No. 2 overall pick from the 2021 draft if he did not show early improvement, but he has shown promise this year. The Jets have legitimate pieces on both sides of the ball, so maybe they will be able to snap their 11 year playoff drought, the longest current playoff drought in the NFL.
This past week, they shot up to 10th in the power rankings. For the first time in 12 years, the Jets won five of their first seven games. In their 16-9 win over the Broncos, they did lose some key players: Breece Hall to a torn ACL and Alijah Vera-Tucker with a season-ending tricep injury. The loss of these key pieces puts more pressure on Zach Wilson’s passing game, even with the Jets’ acquisition of James Robinson.
With all of that being said, Robert Saleh’s Jets are on a four-game winning streak where they haven’t allowed more than 20 points in a game. They have been doing it the old-school way by running the ball and letting their defense take the lead. The Jets have been putting Zach Wilson in a position to succeed and to not throw games away. In their four game winning streak, he has not thrown an interception. Their offensive game is not the most exciting, but it is winning them games.
For the first time since week nine of the 2015 NFL season, the Giants, Jets, and Bills all have winning records. Although the playoffs still seem far away, these teams should all be a part of the conversations. All in all, New York football has been thriving this fall, which is just the beginning of a long line of success.
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