AFC East Notes: Brady, Pats, Jets

As the Bills and Patriots do battle, here’s a look at the AFC East:

• The NFL’s appeal on the Tom Brady ruling will take place on March 3rd, as Jonathan Stempel and Joseph Ax of Reuters write. The court date comes weeks after Super Bowl 50 (Feb. 7th), so the outcome will not affect Brady’s current season or the Patriots no matter what.
• On Monday, Jets coach Todd Bowles said that he is sticking with Ryan Fitzpatrick as his starting quarterback, as Brian Costello of the New York Post writes. Despite Fitzpatrick’s rough outing against the Texans, the coach said there was “not much” discussion about making a switch to Geno Smith. “We went over the film like we always do and we judge everybody and we graded every player,” Bowles said. “He missed some throws, but like everybody else he did a lot of things … and we did a lot of things as a group that we’ve got to correct. But we’re fine with Ryan.”
• Fitzpatrick has been struggling for sure, but the Jets‘ offensive problems go deeper than that, and Bowles is right to stick with him at quarterback, opines Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. For what it’s worth, the locker room still has Fitzpatrick’s back, including left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson.