EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Josh Allen saw the only man to beat on the left side of the formation was a defensive end. He took the snap and ran around New York Jets defensive end Micheal Clemons.
Allen took 6 yards when he only needed 4, sealing a 23-20 Buffalo Bills win. An excited Allen got up and sprinted halfway down the field to let the partisan MetLife Stadium crowd know the Bills are still the best team in the AFC East.
That may be true and they snapped a two-game losing streak, but the Bills still didn’t feel like the championship-caliber team everyone saw over the first three weeks of the season. Instead of thumping a turbulent Jets team six days removed from firing their head coach, the Bills squeaked across the finish line.
The two teams combined for 11 penalties apiece for 204 yards — 94 of which belonged to the Bills — and four missed kicks. Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein missed two chip-shot field goals, while Tyler Bass had an extra point blocked and shanked another field goal, running his total to five missed kicks on the season.
Instead of whoever had the ball last winning the game, it seemed like whoever avoided making the last mistake would win. It was a game the Bills seemed determined to give to the Jets, but they didn’t want to take it.
“We’ve got a lot to clean up,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “We’ve got to be more disciplined. We can’t beat ourselves. … We’ve got a lot to clean up and a short week to do it.”
A Jets offense that managed 26 points in two games, outgained the Bills 393-359 and averaged 6.7 yards per play. New York boasted the worst running game in the NFL (86.2 yards per game) and ran for 121, with running back Breece Hall racking up 113 yards on 6.3 yards per attempt after coming into the game putting up 3 yards per carry for the season.
The one solace the defense can take away is that New York entered the red zone four times and came away with one touchdown. But the Bills defense that prides itself in not allowing big plays surrendered eight plays of 20 yards or more, including an egregious 52-yard Hail Mary from Aaron Rodgers to Allen Lazard to end the first half.
Had Rodgers not been allowed to uncork a Hail Mary (and had safety Taylor Rapp simply knocked the ball down), perhaps the Bills would have won in a rout. Allen hit tight end Dawson Knox for a 12-yard touchdown with 21 seconds left in the half and were scheduled to get the second half kickoff leading 20-10.
The Jets had one timeout remaining with 14 seconds on the clock from their own 34-yard line. The Bills opted to rush two, dropping edge rushers Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa almost 20 yards off the ball and Rodgers threw a 14-yard pass to Garrett Wilson before calling a timeout.
Thinking the Jets were going to throw a quick pass toward the sidelines with 8 seconds remaining to set up a field goal, the Bills again put Rousseau and Epenesa 10 yards off the ball and placed them along the sidelines. Instead, Rodgers had over six seconds to throw and chucked it deep.
“At the end of the day, it didn’t work,” McDermott said. “That’s why we have to go back and reexamine it. There’s a grid you go through at the end of the half or end-of-game situations based on the clock or how many timeouts they have and you try and put your best defense for the situation.”
Maybe the absurdity of dropping their two best pass rushers into pass coverage would have been nullified if the Bills scored to open the second half. Allen hit Curtis Samuel, who came out of a witness protection for a 38-yard gain on the first play.
The Bills got as far as the New York 29 before Knox was whistled for offensive pass interference, derailing a drive that ended with Bass missing a 47-yard field goal, allowing the Jets to march down the field and tie the game. The offense was far more efficient than it was the previous two weeks, but eked out three second-half points.
The Buffalo offense posted a solid 6 yards per play on first down (they averaged 4.5 coming into the game), but seven of the eight penalties committed by the offense came on first down.
Allen had a decent bounceback game by going 19 of 25 for 215 yards and three total touchdowns, but the passing game still seemed modest. His coach called pre-snap penalties “non-starters,” which was appropriate because they killed all but two drives on which they committed a penalty, showing the Bills don’t seem to have enough talent (aside from Allen) to overcome miscues.
“Just being behind the sticks, you know, first and 15, first and 20, doing that too many times,” Allen said. “We had false starts, illegal formations, just stuff that we need to clean up. We’ll look at the film and take it from there, but ultimately that’s on my shoulder so I got to be better for us there.”
The Bills will feel good about securing a win, especially in the division, while they finally return home to face the 1-4 Tennessee Titans, who boast the second-worst offense and passing game in the NFL. The next four games look favorable for the Bills to stack wins, but they better patch some leaks in the process or it’s going to be a rough second half of the season.