AFC stock reports: Critical matchups, hot streaks, and pretenders fall short in Week 13

Bottom of the AFC discussion points

What a wild ride it was for the bottom of the AFC in Week 13. From benched quarterbacks, rookie quarterbacks making their first start, and tanking teams winning games, it was an eventful day. In a 28-11 blowout falling to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Jacksonville Jaguars elected to bench their starting quarterback Nick Foles following three turnovers in the first half. Gardner Minshew was resurrected stepping in for Foles.

While Minshew started off hot coming in during the second half leading the offense to two scoring drives, his performance was not perfect. The telling story is despite the offense still struggling with Minshew on the field, it was drastically better than with Foles under center. Something tells me it’s going to be a tough offseason for Jacksonville. Paying a big contract to Foles will make it hard to move him this offseason if they choose to go that route, but it’s clear that Minshew is the better quarterback in that offense as of late.

Coming off a blowout victory over the Oakland Raiders in Week 12, the New York Jets fell flat on their faces suffering a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. As quarterback Andy Dalton was brought back to his starting role to lead the 0-11 Bengals, the entire Cincinnati team seemed to be rejuvenated. Head coach Zach Taylor even received the Gatorade treatment following the game for his first win as an NFL head coach.

Another team that came away with a win was the Miami Dolphins who took advantage of a struggling Philadelphia Eagles team in a 37-31 win. Ryan Fitzpatrick did Fitzmagic things in Miami throwing 27 of 39 for 365 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. Wide receiver DeVante Parker had a career game with seven catches for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns. The best part of the game had to of been the Dolphins lining up on fourth-and-one at the one-yard line with everyone except the punter and long snapper split out wide. The punter, Matt Haack, took the snap throwing a shovel pass to wide-open kicker Jason Sanders for a touchdown.

While the Dolphins could have gained some ground in the Draft position, the Washington Redskins winning against the Carolina Panthers kept them at fourth overall. The Jets and Los Angeles Chargers sit just above Miami at five and six. The other AFC teams in the top ten of the draft order the Jacksonville Jaguars and Denver Broncos right behind the Chargers.