FOXBORO — Some things are aberrations: For example, the 2008 AFC East title residing somewhere other than New England, where it has been held captive for six of the eight seasons since 2001.

Currently, things are back to normal in the division. The Patriots are atop the standings at 5-2, one game ahead of the Jets (4-3), two clear of their next opponent, the Dolphins (3-4) and with a three-game advantage in the win column over Buffalo.

Two of those teams meet this weekend, with the Jets and Miami facing off in New York on Sunday, just 20 days after their last meeting, a Monday Night thriller that the Dolphins won 31-27.

With things fairly quiet in New England during the bye week — some players in the locker room on Wednesday still hadn’t finished unpacking from the team’s trip to London — now seems like as good a time as any to take a look around the division and take stock of where the Pats’ foes are.

NEW YORK JETS

Oh, where to begin? Led by coach Rex Ryan, whose mouth is as big as his waistline, the Jets seem to be on the brink of anarchy. They played up their Week Two game with New England as though it were the Super Bowl, but haven’t done much since pulling out a victory in that game: New York beat the hapless Titans in Week Three, then lost to New Orleans, the Dolphins and Buffalo (at home), the loss to the Bills nearly sending Ryan over the edge and making his pronouncements of grandeur seem silly given that his team fell to 3-3.

But as they do for so many other teams, the Raiders helped right the Jets’ ship (or plane, perhaps?), and all seems well in the Meadowlands after drubbing Oakland. Speaking with Miami media on Wednesday in advance of Sunday’s rematch, Ryan was asked about the Dolphins losing cornerback Will Allen for the season to a torn ACL. His response? “We lost a Pro Bowl nose tackle (Kris Jenkins) and Pro Bowl running back (Leon Washington), so boo hoo hoo.”

New York’s players have begun crowing again as well, saying they view this week as a “payback game,” and that the Dolphins players were yapping after their win, which didn’t sit too well with the Jets who heard them. Left out of that, of course, is that all the Jets did after their win over the Patriots was talk, including an assistant coach who got in the ear of one New England veteran player as they walked off the field about the Jets’ greatness.

Rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez has come back down to Earth after a hot start, though the running game has been strong.

MIAMI DOLPHINS

So many teams who have turnaround seasons under a first-year head coach take a step back in Year Two, so Miami’s slide isn’t without precedent. Early on this season, the Dolphins made more headlines for who was buying pieces of the team — Venus and Serena Williams, Gloria Estefan, Mark Anthony — than for what they were doing on the field. They lost their first three games, and lost starting quarterback Chad Pennington in the process. Second-year signal-caller Chad Henne has taken over the reins, and thus far has played well, particularly in the win over the Jets.

Despite Henne’s progress, the ground game remains Miami’s bread-and-butter offensively. Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams and the Wildcat attack has the team averaging over 170 yards rushing per game, second in the NFL, and the team won back-to-back games against Buffalo and the Jets.

But then came last week. Miami was up, 24-10, on the Saints at halftime and 34-24 at the end of the third quarter, only to see New Orleans score 24 unanswered fourth-quarter points. Nose tackle Jason Ferguson called the collapse “demoralizing,” though the unbeaten Saints have fairly leveled all opponents thus far this season and are on pace to break the single-season scoring record set by New England in 2007.

The Dolphins head to hostile territory in New York this week; no word if Ryan has called Jets’ faithful yet asking for them to be extra noisy on Sunday.

BUFFALO BILLS

The Bills wanted to make a splash by signing receiver Terrell Owens to a one-year deal this past offseason, and the move certainly got the league’s attention. But now, reality has set in, Buffalo is once again dealing with a spate of injuries to key players, and the shine from Owens’ arrival has dulled.

Buffalo hit rock bottom on Oct. 11, losing 6-3 to the equally sorry Browns at home. Since then the Bills have rebounded to win their last two, which is likely good news for head coach Dick Jauron, whose seat has been warm since before the season started and only got hotter as his team dropped four of its first five games.

To his credit, and despite attempts by the local media at baiting him into saying something negative, Owens has (publicly, at least) been a model citizen. Early on he did express a dislike for the no-huddle offense, now scrapped, but despite just 18 receptions and a touchdown to this point (he averaged 78 catches and 12 TDs over the last three years) the 14-year veteran has not been a distraction.

smanza@projo.com / 277-7340