EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Unacceptable was one of the most-used words emanating from the mouths of Buffalo Bills defenders last week.
They knew their performance in Buffalo’s remarkable 41-40 victory over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 was brutally bad in every way, but sulking about it wasn’t going to do them any good.
Corrections needed to be made, and they needed to be made immediately because this isn’t baseball, hockey or basketball. There’s only 17 regular-season games in the NFL; problems can’t fester and the fixes have to be fast.
“There were some great things that we did and some things we did quite poorly, but we just have to learn, win or lose,” edge rusher Joey Bosa said referring to the Ravens game. “Obviously, it makes it a little easier when you win, especially a game like that, but you just move on. You don’t have time to live in the past in this league. The games come quick, especially with this Thursday coming up, so you’ve just got to flush it, learn what you can and move on.”
Clearly, the Bills learned some valuable lessons because Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, playing a Jets team that would like to play similarly to the Ravens with a running quarterback and a very good running back, they never let New York put one foot in front of the other during an easy-as-it-looked 30-10 victory.
The entire defense played well as the Jets managed just a field goal and a garbage time touchdown, 11 first downs, 154 total yards, and went a laughable 0-for-11 on third downs. Before leaving early in the fourth quarter with a concussion, quarterback Justin Fields completed just 3 of 11 passes for 27 yards while adding 49 yards rushing, and Breece Hall finished with a mere 29 yards rushing.
“I think every week we want to play complementary football and with Josh Allen, all you have to do is make a few stops and get the ball in his hands and more than likely you’re going to end up winning games,” Bosa said. “I mean, it wasn’t doom and gloom, ‘Oh my God, we let up 40 points (last week). Like I said, you come out with the win, you flush it, you learn what you can and you move on.”
Here are some of my observations:
Defense set the tone immediately
It didn’t take long for the defense to show that last week was a distant memory. They forced a three-and-out on the Jets’ first possession by stuffing two Hall runs and then caught a break when Fields overthrew an open Garrett Wilson on third down.
After the punt, the Bills drove right downfield to a James Cook touchdown, and on the first play after the kickoff, Fields took off on a scramble up the middle and Bosa nailed him from the side, punched the ball out and AJ Epenesa recovered at the 24. That led to a Matt Prater field goal and the Bills never looked back.
“I think obviously we came out with a win last week, but not how the defense wanted to play,” said safety Taylor Rapp, who was the Bills’ worst defender against Baltimore. “All week, just wanted to get that bad taste out of our mouth and be who we are. That was the intention this week.”
The Jets’ six first-half possessions went punt, fumble, punt, punt, field goal, punt as they fell into a 20-3 hole which became 23-3 after the Bills kicked a field goal to open the third quarter. Then it was three straight Jets punts before they scored a meaningless touchdown with 3:28 left to play against a Buffalo defense comprised almost completely of backups.
“I think they took it personal,” Allen said of the defense. “They understand what type of defense they can be. They went out there and they played extremely well. That’s the standard that we’re looking for from them. Very proud of how those guys attacked the entire week of practice, stepped up to the occasion.”
James Cook proving to be a good investment
For those who think the Bills made a financial mistake giving Cook his contract extension that averages $12 million per season, he’s having a great time proving everyone wrong.
The Ravens held him in check to 44 yards rushing, but he did have a 51-yard pass reception in that game and a touchdown. Against the Jets, he was Buffalo’s best player as he rushed for 132 yards on 21 carries with two touchdowns including a highlight-reel 44-yarder in the second quarter.
It was the eighth 100-yard game of his career and the second-highest total, trailing only his 179-yard effort against the Cowboys in 2023.
The Bills clearly wanted to establish their ground game and offensive coordinator Joe Brady kept feeding Cook as a way to get the offensive line in a groove against a tough Jets’ front four led by Quinnen Williams, Will McDonald IV and Jermaine Johnson.
“Yeah, just trusting our guys up front,” Allen said. “I thought James was doing a great job of getting on to the second level. He had a heck of a game. Yeah, when something’s not broke, don’t fix it. We kept going back to it and yeah, worked out pretty good for us.”
Josh Allen wasn’t particularly sharp
Allen didn’t need to be a superhero like last week when he strapped the Bills to his back and carried them to a miraculous victory. The Jets have often given him trouble, and while there’s a new coaching staff in New York, several of the players from the past few years are still there.
Allen dropped back 26 times and while he was sacked just once, he was pressured on numerous others. That was a function of both the Jets’ pass rush, but also its backfield coverage. Khalil Shakir catching just one pass for 12 yards was pretty unusual, and Keon Coleman did not back up his big fourth quarter against the Ravens, finishing with just three catches for 26 yards.
This was just the fifth game in Allen’s NFL career that he started and finished where he did not produce either a passing or rushing touchdown. But this was a good day for that to happen.
“Just finding ways to continue to move the ball and we found a way to score today,” Allen said. “We’ve got a lot of things to clean up.”
Mitch Trubisky was ready for his opportunity
The backup quarterback is always just one play away from getting into the game, and that play came late in the first quarter for Trubisky. Allen had to leave the field after getting his face smashed, causing a bloody nose.
He admitted he made the mistake of not staying down on the field because when he got up and ran to the sideline the play clock kept rolling and Trubisky had no time to gather himself or even make a warmup throw. Not that it mattered.
Facing third-and-7, he dropped back and threw a beautiful out cut to Joshua Palmer who turned it into a 32-yard gain. That obviously kept the drive alive with the score 10-0, and Buffalo went on to kick a field goal after Allen returned a few plays later.
“Huge play by Mitchell,” tight end Dawson Knox said.
Tre’Davious White held up in his season debut
The veteran cornerback missed the opener with a groin injury, but he was back in the starting lineup Sunday. He didn’t really need to do a lot in coverage because the Jets were so helpless in that area, but White – not normally known as a standout tackler – came up to make a few nice plays in run support.
He was credited with three tackles including one where he took down Hall for a loss of five yards early in the second quarter.
White was one of the first defensive starters who came out when the game got out of hand. “We had talked about making sure that we were watching him because he’s been out for two or three weeks here, give or take,” McDermott said. “Just being smart with him, and that’s the way the game unfolded as well.”
Matt Milano did not play in second half
The oft-injured linebacker was in on five tackles in the first half, two of those on the first two plays of the game including a three-yard loss on Hall. But at some point in the second quarter he suffered an injury and never returned.
McDermott did not have any specific thought, saying only, “Yeah, he was dinged up a little bit here, so we gotta see where that goes. I don’t really know much at all at this point, so I’ll get you more information when I can.”
Obviously, this is not good because injuries have really derailed Milano in each of the previous two seasons. He was finally healthy for an offseason and then training camp, but now that might have changed.
If he misses time, the Bills have a ready-made replacement in Dorian Williams who filled in well for Milano during the first three-quarters of the 2024 season and has been getting increased playing time in the first two games in 2025 because the Bills used three-linebacker alignments a bit more than usual against two heavy running teams.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: 6 things we learned from Bills’ Week 2 blowout win over Jets
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
