The New York Jets had a big reality check on Sunday when they traveled up to Buffalo to face the division rival Bills. Despite losing two straight games and being outscored 43-18 in both losses, there seemed to be some confidence coming into this week's matchup. The Jets have handled the Bills and Josh Allen fairly easily lately but each game is a new start and beating a rival on the road should never be taken lightly.
From the very beginning, New York was in trouble and looked completely outmatched. Tyler Bass booted away the opening kickoff and Xavier Gipson fumbled the opening kickoff giving the ball right to Allen and the Bills' offense. The Jets' defense did come up with a huge sack and forced a field goal to limit the damage and trailed 3-0.
On came Zach Wilson and the sluggish Jets' offense that has not been able to put up many points for quite some time now. An unnecessary roughness penalty gave the Jets a quick first down, however two incompletions and a sack on Wilson resulted in another quick punt, giving the ball right back to the Buffalo offense.
Gang Green’s defense forced another Bass field goal that kept it a one possession game. New York took over after the Bills kicked off and tried to finally get something going on the offensive end of the ball. Breece Hall had a first down reception to move the sticks, but a negative run and yet another sack led to Thomas Morstead booting the ball back to Buffalo to end the 1st quarter.
The Bills were able to grind out a 12-play, 75-yard drive down the field to try and find pay dirt, but once again had to settle for a field goal to extend their lead to 9-0. Both teams traded off punts and once again the offense turned the ball over for New York. Wilson was picked off by recently acquired corner Rasul Douglas and the Bills made the Jets pay this time.
Allen completed a pass to James Cook, who found paydirt and scored the first touchdown of the game. Facing a 16-0 deficit, the Jets needed to get some kind of momentum and points on the board to stay in the game. The offense did move the ball and was helped out by multiple Buffalo penalties to finally get into the red zone. Wilson dumped the ball off to Hall and the stud running back made his way into the end zone to cut into the Buffalo lead. The 2-point conversion attempt failed so we went into half with New York trailing 16-6.
Buffalo opened the 2nd half on a 10-play 65-yard touchdown drive that was capped off with Ty Johnson receiving a 28-yard touchdown pass from Allen. The Jets were once again faced with having to make something happen on the offensive end. This time the offense could not do much with the ball and once again punted it back to the Bills.
Allen connected with his receiver Khalil Shakir for an 81-yard touchdown ending all hopes of a comeback and also ending Wilson’s day. Tim Boyle replaced Wilson on the next drive for New York and finished the game under center for the Jets. The final score, Buffalo 32 and New York 6. For the Jets, this is their 3rd straight loss as their record now falls to 4-6 on the season. They will host Miami this week for the leagues first ever Black Friday game
