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Bill's unsightly win over the Jets keeps them in first place in the AFC East

Posted on by Vanessa
Bill's unsightly win over the Jets keeps them in first place in the AFC East

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – The Buffalo Bills are somehow still in first place in the AFC East.

In a game that neither the Bills nor the New York Jets wanted to win on Monday night at MetLife Stadium, the Bills finally prevailed and won 23-20.

The beleaguered Tyler Bass made a game-winning 22-yard field goal with 3:43 to play, and then Taron Johnson intercepted a pass from Aaron Rodgers with 1:52 left to give the Bills only a first down and Josh Allen delivered with a thrilling six-yard run on a third-and-4 from his own 24 that allowed the Bills to tie the game.

It certainly wasn't a game that would go down in the Smithsonian Championship, but it was a big win for the Bills as it ended a two-game losing streak and left them two games ahead of the Jets.

Here are my observations:

The Bills allowed a Hail Mary touchdown

The Bills were in control of the game, leading 20-10 after an Allen touchdown pass to Dawson Knox with 21 seconds left in the first half, and they also got the ball early in the third quarter.

But as ugly history has shown, danger lurks when the offense has time left at the end of a half, and in fact, the defense suffered an inexcusable collapse that happens far too often for the Bills. Seriously, some of the stupid things that happen to this team are unbelievable.

After a touchback, Rodgers started from his 30 and completed a four-yard pass to Tyler Conklin and a 14-yarder over the middle to Garrett Wilson to bring the ball to the Jets' 48 with eight seconds left, time for a Hail Mary.

The Bills knew this and even called a timeout to make sure everyone knew what they were doing. And of course, as it turned out, no one knew what to do when a play was put on.

They only went after two men, which was, well, a decision. They guarded the flanks with two players lined up about 20 yards behind the field on each sideline in case Rodgers tried to throw an out to set up a field goal. Of course, Rodgers had no intention of doing that.

The 40-year-old had all day to let his receivers get into the end zone, and when he threw it up there were five Bills defensive backs around the ball – Christian Benford, Taron Johnson, Damar Hamlin, Rasul Douglas and Taylor Rapp. They had Allen Lazard surrounded, but Hamlin, Rapp and Johnson were the biggest mistake makers.

Somehow neither of them managed to even get a hand on the ball, and it fell right into Lazard's hands for a 52-yard touchdown as time expired.

“At the end of the day it didn’t work, right, so we have to go back and check it again,” coach Sean McDermott said of the defensive alignment he used. “There's a grid that you go through at the end of the half or in game situations based on the time on the clock and the timeouts where you try to set up the best defense for the situation. They performed better than us, so we have to re-evaluate whether we have the right number of rushers and also the right number of cover guys for this situation.”

That whole explanation rang hollow because what happened on that play simply can never happen, but it certainly seems to happen to the Bills a lot more often than it should.

The Bills didn't miss James Cook

What a great night Ray Davis had. The rookie fourth-round pick didn't start – veteran Ty Johnson got the honor – but Davis was RB1 for most of the rest of the game, which proved to be a smart move as he rushed for 97 yards on 20 carries, plus three Caught passes for 55 yards.

He ran furiously whether he was taking a handoff or catching a pass, and by the end of the first half he had 112 yards rushing. He became the first Bills rookie running back to have at least 50 yards in a first quarter since Willis McGahee in Week 8 of 2004 against the Cardinals.

The Bills had more rushing yards on their first possession (61) than they had accumulated total yards on their first drives in the first five games.

On that first drive, which ended with a QB sneak by Allen, Davis carried five carries for 48 yards, and on the second TD drive he made a 42-yard reception that brought the Bills out of the shadow of their own goal post.

“It’s a next-man-up mentality. For us, it’s running back by committee,” Davis said. “It was about doing the same thing every time it was my turn. We know that James is a very explosive running back and that he is really good, so we have to create the boundary to be explosive and give the offense a spark.”

The offensive started well and then faltered

The Bills scored touchdowns on three of their four possessions in the first half, with Davis and Allen doing great work. They started the night with just one touchdown drive of 80 yards or more this season and had back-to-back drives in the second quarter.

But things came to an abrupt end in the second half as they only scored three points and the same things that had plagued this team all season reared their ugly head.

The lack of a downfield passing game simply kills Buffalo because when they get into bad down-and-distance situations, of which there were many thanks to an absurd amount of penalties but also good defense from the Jets in the second half, they have Bills did that no way to escape.

They don't have anyone who can open up and it didn't help that Khalil Shakir, even though he was back, really wasn't able to play a big role because he was clearly hampered by his injured ankle. And what made it even more difficult was that the Jets used one and sometimes two spies on third down to ensure that Allen couldn't just tuck the ball away and go for first downs.

The really bad thing was that the Jets started the game without their starting nickel corner, Michael Carter, and then lost safety Chuck Clark and star boundary corner DJ Reed during the game.

“I wanted to come out and play a clean game, get through my reads quickly,” Allen said. “I'm not sure what I did, but I felt like we were pretty efficient on the offensive side of the ball. There were a few pieces I missed that I want back.”

Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson were big problems

The running back and wide receiver are actually the only two reliable weapons Rodgers has at his disposal, and no one knows that better than the Bills. Still, they struggled all night to control Hall and Wilson.

Hall entered the game as one of the most disappointing players in the league, averaging just three yards per carry. But he struggled through the bills all night long. I believe that if he played 17 games against Buffalo he would be guaranteed a Hall of Fame induction. He now has five 100-yard games in his career and two of them came against the Bills.

And Wilson surpassed 100 yards receiving for the first time against the Bills, although he also had games of 92 and 78 yards against them. In this one, he had eight catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.

The officials did their best to ruin the game

Referee Adrian Hill and his team simply destroyed the flow of the game because they couldn't resist pulling those pesky yellow flags out of their pockets throughout the night and to be clear, they demanded everything from both teams.

On the national stage of Monday Night Football, these seven guys ruined a compelling game because it seemed like every big play by either team was ruined. It was as if they wanted to make a decision on every play instead of letting the players play the game and give the penalties that were actually penalties.

“Yes, it seemed a little ridiculous, some of it seemed really bad, including the rough fight with the passer-by. “That doesn’t mean roughing up the passer,” Rodgers said. “We might as well play Sarcastaball, if we want to call it that. And I thought the hit on (Javon) Kinlaw (against Allen) wasn't roughing up the passer either.”

The Bills were called for 11 penalties worth 94 yards, the Jets were called for 11 penalties worth 110 yards, not including several reverse penalties.

“Yeah, we have a lot of cleaning to do,” McDermott said. “We have to be more disciplined, we can’t beat ourselves, situational football.”

Tyler Bass is now officially a headcase

Yes, Bass hit the chip shot from 22 yards, but the Bills have a kicker problem and there's no doubt about that anymore. Bass' extra point after the Bills' second touchdown was originally recorded as a blocked kick, but that was changed after video playback and is now just a flat out shank. He had a PAT suspension earlier this season. He only missed a total of five PATs in his first four seasons.

And then, in the third quarter, he ruined a promising start by missing a 47-yard field goal, his third miss in 12 attempts, a 75% success rate that isn't good enough in the NFL.

Of course, the Jets' normally reliable kicker, Greg Zuerlein, hit two field goals off the uprights in the second half, both of which would have given the Jets the lead.

“He knows he has to make those kicks, that’s the key,” McDermott said. “He knows he has to make those kicks.”

Yes, we know he knows. Nobody cares because he doesn't make them. Kickers will undoubtedly drive coaches, teammates and fans crazy because if you don't have a good one it can cost you games.

Sal Maiorana has been covering the Buffalo Bills for four decades, including 35 years as a full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books on the team's history. He can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

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