The Buffalo Bills have owned the AFC East in recent years.

The Bills entered the season having won the division five straight years but after some offseason changes, the team was being put to the side a bit. Were Josh Allen and the Bills discounted too early, not only in the division, but in the AFC as a whole?

Buffalo fell behind early against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1 but came back to win. In Week 2, Buffalo went down to Miami as an underdog and took control in the second quarter. The defense created turnovers and the offense made big plays, led by three touchdowns fro James Cook.

The Bills lost Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis in the offseason. There were many questions surrounding the receiving core but the offense returned Allen, who is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. The loss of wide receivers seemed to be a bit overblown, especially with Cook and Dalton Kincaid being used as weapons.

Defensively, Buffalo was all over Tua Tagovailoa early in the contest. This led to two first-quarter interceptions. The Bills got 17 points off turnovers on Thursday night and it was too much to overcome for the Dolphins during a 31-10 game.

When you look at the AFC, it remains a superior conference because of the quarterback play. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs look better than they did last year, which ended in a second consecutive Super Bowl. The Baltimore Ravens are elite once again and Joe Burrow is healthy in Cincinnati. The one team that was being left out was the Bills and it was partially because of the emergence of the New York Jets.

Aaron Rodgers returned from a torn Achilles to lead the Jets into 2024. They became the new favorite in the AFC but it might be a bit premature. If you want to be the new champs, you will have to beat the old ones and the Bills have been at the top for a long time now.

Allen and the Bills put the AFC on notice on Thursday night. They were a bit disrespected coming into Miami as an underdog and they played like it early on. The Bills have been unable to make that next step past Mahomes and the Chiefs into a Super Bowl but they are showing early on that they will be back in the mix come the postseason.