The Jets competed well into the third quarter on Sunday but when things started to unravel, the wheels came off in humiliating fashion. The Buffalo Bills scored four touchdowns in under eight minutes as a 12-0 lead late in the third quarter ballooned to 40 early in the fourth quarter.
MVP candidate Josh Allen was able to sit out the fourth quarter having thrown for two touchdowns and rushed for another as the Bills exploited two Aaron Rodgers interceptions and a Garrett Wilson fumble to lead from wire to wire.
Buffalo chewed up almost seven minutes on an opening drive that ended up with an Allen quarterback sneak and extended the lead to 12 by halftime with a safety and a field goal. Late in the third quarter, the Bills scored three more touchdowns on Allen’s passes to Amari Cooper and Keon Coleman and a one-yard run by James Cook. Backup Mitchell Trubisky then padded the lead with a long touchdown catch and run by Tyrell Shavers.
The Jets avoided a shutout when Tyrod Taylor found Wilson and Tyler Conklin for touchdowns in garbage time as they fell to 4-12 on the season.
Here are the key takeaways…
– The Jets had Max Mitchell starting at left tackle with Tyron Smith and Olu Fashanu both on injured reserve and then were without right tackle Morgan Moses for part of the first half. Carter Warren filled in for Moses. There was a serious miscommunication on the play where Rodgers was sacked in the end zone for a safety as Mitchell and left guard John Simpson both blocked the same player. Moses returned temporarily but when he left the game again in the second half, the line struggled to hold up with the replacements in.
– The Jets offense opened up the game by continuing to move the ball well but without being able to finish as has been the pattern in recent weeks. With nothing to lose at this stage of the season, they once again went for it and failed multiple times in Bills territory. Rodgers also had a red zone interception as his pass was deflected into the air by Gregory Rousseau on the edge and bounced right to defensive tackle Jordan Phillips.
– It was an ugly game with both teams having a high penalty count and plenty of scuffles and altercations between the players, presumably stoked by Dion Dawkins’ comments about his distaste for the Jets over the past year or so.
– Despite not having scored, the Jets had several opportunities to make it a one-score game in the third quarter if they could just put together a touchdown drive. However, Rodgers’ second interception was quickly followed by Cooper’s touchdown catch and the game was essentially over at 19-0 with five minutes left in the third. It was 33-0 by the end of the quarter.
– The Jets made an effort to establish their running and short passing game early on and had some success with this, but this meant they didn’t have many chances to get Wilson involved. He was involved more than Davante Adams in the first half and surpassed 1,000 yards on the season for the third straight year but if it’s true that Wilson is frustrated about his touches, this game probably didn’t help much. Wilson had a bad fumble in the third quarter as he tried to reverse his field but bounced back with a nice catch to get the Jets on the board and ended up with seven catches for 66 yards and a touchdown.
– Rodgers’ 500th touchdown pass will obviously have to wait until next week. Or, if he doesn’t throw one next week, it will have to wait until 2025. Whether he’ll still be with the Jets remains to be seen, but maybe retiring on 499 isn’t out of the question. This certainly wasn’t the kind of performance that will have Rodgers wanting to return next season – or for the Jets to want to run it back with this group.
– If Rodgers doesn’t return, it’s worth noting that Taylor is still under contract next season, and he looked good in his first action since the opener. However, he was facing plenty of backups by that stage of the game.
Highlights
Up Next
The Jets host the Miami Dolphins in their season finale next weekend with the date and kickoff time still to be determined. Miami’s slim playoff hopes will still be alive if they beat the Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon.
