Revisiting five New York Jets to watch at the Buffalo Bills

The vaunted New York Jets defense couldn’t overcome the Buffalo Bills revitalized offense — or their own putrid offense and special teams — in a 32-6 blowout loss to the Bills. For Buffalo, it was a much-needed win and payback for a Week 1 defeat at MetLife Stadium. For the Jets, it was another reminder of how little their offense can do in what has been a lost season.

Most of the Jets players to watch had a hand in the outcome of the game, as Buffalo either took those players out of the equation or reaped the benefits of their poor play. Here’s how our five Jets to watch fared in Week 11.

QB Zach Wilson

Woof. Wilson completed just 7-of-15 passes for only 81 yards. He did throw a touchdown pass — a nine-yard score to running back Breece Hall near the end of the first half. However, he threw a terrible interception to cornerback Rasul Douglas that set the Bills up in great field position for their first touchdown, and he took five sacks while making multiple bad reads. He was benched in the second half for relative unknown quarterback Tim Doyle, and the backup didn’t fare much better. He completed just 7-of-14 passes for only 33 yards and an interception. There’s a real argument to be made that punter Thomas Moorested, who completed an 18-yard dime to defensive back Brandin Echols on a fake punt in the second quarter, was the best quarterback in green and white on Sunday. Wilson has been demoted to QB3 for this Friday’s game against the Miami Dolphins, and Doyle is slated to start.

RB Breece Hall

The speedy, highly talented runner was held in check on Sunday, as the Bills had a much more effective plan to stuff the run this time around. Buffalo’s defense played a lot of 4-3 base, with linebacker Dorian Williams joining Tyrel Dodson and Terrel Bernard for 14 of the Bills’ 57 defensive snaps. That’s a lot by Buffalo’s standards, and it helped to keep Hall to a 10-carry, 23-yard day on the ground. Hall was New York’s leading receiver, catching five of his six targets for 50 yards and the aforementioned first-half TD.

WR Garrett Wilson

It’s hard to have a good day when your quarterbacks are terrible, so it’s not necessarily surprising that Wilson had just two catches for nine yards on the game. He saw eight targets, but he never seemed like he was close to breaking a big play. After making the game-turning catch in the first matchup between these two teams, Wilson fumbled on his second catch to give the Bills another turnover. It was a faf-from-stellar day for the usually stellar wideout.

DT Quinnen Williams

The big man had six tackles on the game, and he was a noticeable presence throughout. He made one splash play, sacking quarterback Josh Allen on the third play from scrimmage to kill Buffalo’s first drive — which began deep in Jets territory thanks to a fumbled opening kickoff. Williams totaled two tackles for loss and a quarterback hit in addition to the other numbers listed here. He really is as good a player at his position as there is in the league, but Buffalo had a good plan and was able to do some damage in spite of Williams and the vaunted Jets defense.

LB Quincy Williams

Quinnen’s brother was the game’s leading tackler, notching ten on the night — and he was all over the field, as well. Williams has really come into his own this season, but the Bills and interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady were able to set up some quality matchups in Buffalo’s favor throughout. By using motion and putting different personnel in tight, the Bills were able to manipulate coverages and spread the field so that Allen and the running game had lanes to work up the middle. Buffalo’s running backs averaged almost exactly four yards per carry, rushing 30 times for 119 yards, and the Bills had their best game on offense in over a month against one of the NFL’s top defenses. While Williams was solid in the middle, his solid performance wasn’t enough to turn the tide in Gang Green’s favor.