Somehow, despite another stellar performance from the defense, despite another great rushing effort from Josh Allen, and despite another breakout game from Robert Foster, the Buffalo Bills (4-9) fell to the New York Jets (4-9) 27-23 in Week 14 at New Era Field.
Give our podcast a listen to catch up on what went right and what went wrong from the game as the Bills split the season series with the Jets in a most disappointing and disheartening manner.
Our podcasters addressed the good—Josh Allen rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown on nine carries (a gaudy average of 11.2 yards per carry). He now has 335 rushing yards over the last three weeks, breaking Michael Vick’s previous record for rushing yards by a QB over a three-game span. When LeSean McCoy went down in the first quarter with a hamstring injury, Allen picked up where he left off, rushing for 48 yards on Buffalo’s opening drive, capped with a nifty six-yard touchdown run for an early 7-0 lead. Allen is the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to post back-to-back 100-yard games.
Sticking with the good theme, undrafted rookie free agent Robert Foster continues his emergence in the passing game. Foster logged his second career 100-yard game—finishing with a career-best seven catches for 104 yards.
Fellow rookie Tremaine Edmunds continued his outstanding rookie campaign, logging eight tackles with a pass break-up and an interception—becoming the youngest player in league history (Edmunds is 20 years old) to record an interception.
Buffalo’s bend-but-don’t break defense held the Jets under 200 yards of offense until the two-minute warning, including only 68 yards and four first downs in the opening half. The defense kept the Bills in this one when the offense went quiet in the second half, until allowing back-to-back touchdown drives, orchestrated by fellow rookie quarterback Sam Darnold. Allowing the Jets to have an average drive start at the 47-yard line certainly didn’t help matters.
Transitioning to the bad, there was Zay Jones (a few bad drops, including one on a potential touchdown catch, and one killer drop late as Buffalo was trying to re-take the lead); Charles Clay (one catch for six yards and another huge drop); Tre’Davious White (he struggled against Robby Anderson, the first bad game for the lock-down cornerback in ages); and a pass rush that was held without a sack for only the second time this year, and registered very little pressure on Darnold.
Then, there was the ugly (injuries to Matt Milano, LeSean McCoy, and Stephen Hauschka) as the Bills failed to complete the season-sweep vs. the Jets and, in the process, were eliminated from the playoff picture.
Check out our latest Billieve: a Buffalo Bills Fan Podcast to hear our podcasters’ thoughts on the game.
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