ORCHARD PARK – The Buffalo Bills have taken care of their business, but now they must wait until next weekend to find out who they will host in the AFC wild-card game at Highmark Stadium.
By pulling away in the second half Sunday afternoon and blowing out the truly dreadful New York Jets 40-14, the Bills clinched the No. 2 seed in the AFC bracket, and their first-round opponent will be either the Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals or the Miami Dolphins. The Indianapolis Colts were eliminated thanks to an egregious loss to the New York Giants.
While the fate of those teams plays out, the Bills will be in New England playing a now meaningless Week 18 game during which Sean McDermott can rest a number of his key players including quarterback Josh Allen.
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That’s why beating the Jets was so important because the last thing the Bills wanted to do was play all out against the Patriots to lock up the chance to host two home postseason games, and perhaps a third on AFC Championship Game weekend if the Bills can survive the first two rounds and the Chiefs somehow stumble in the divisional round, as unlikely as that would be.
“It does give us options,” McDermott said of clinching. “And I think that’s the key thing for us. We’ll see where it takes us. We’ve got some guys who are hurting a little bit right now and might need some rest, but we’ll see. We’ve got some guys also that we may want to take a look at, whether it be offensively, defensively or special teams, that we’re a little bit curious about that just weren’t maybe ready to be active yet. So I think that’ll factor in.”
Allen will likely the start the game to keep alive his consecutive games played streak of 113 counting the postseason, and then he’ll come out after a series or two and turn the reins over to Mitch Trubisky.
“Not sure what next week brings, but it gives us an option to get certain guys rest and we’ll just kind of go with the flow with whatever (Brandon) Beane and McDermott are telling our guys to do,” Allen said.
They have this opportunity because they just flat out annihilated the Jets, turning a 12-0 game into a 40-0 blowout in a span of 13 minutes in the second half.
“Yeah, it’s fun, it’s a lot of fun, and it certainly makes my job easier,” McDermott said of how quickly the game exploded. “I thought it was great to see.”
Here’s how I graded the performance:
PASS OFFENSE: B-
Allen had to work his way through a challenging first half as the Jets were giving him the same fits they always do. They were getting pressure, they were making life difficult for the wide receivers, and after a game-opening TD drive, all he could produce was a field goal which came on the final play of the second quarter.
In the second half, thanks to the defense giving him short fields with turnovers, he produced three quick touchdowns, having to drive just 38, 37 and 15 yards, finishing them off with a gorgeous 30-yard TD pass to Amari Cooper, a 14-yard throw it up and hope for the best pass to Keon Coleman, and James Cook’s one-yard TD run. In a flash, the score went from 12-0 to 33-0 and he spent the rest of the afternoon on the bench.
It was nice to see Cooper make a few plays as he had three catches for 56 yards, and Coleman’s play was excellent as he leaped high in the air to catch the TD with traffic all around him. He did have a couple drops, though. Khalil Shakir was oddly quiet with just three catches for 25 yards, same for Dalton Kincaid who had two for 24. Allen finished with just 182 yards, but with two TD passes and one rushing, he now has 40 total TDs.
As for Trubisky, his lone pass went to Tyrell Shavers who turned it into a 69-yard TD. How’s that for efficiency?
RUN OFFENSE: C+
There was some garbage time that helped drag down the average per carry because for most of the fourth quarter, the Jets were able to gang up on Ray Davis and Ty Johnson as they tried to drain away the clock.
More telling was the first-half performance when the Bills totaled 75 yards on 17 attempts for a 4.4 average. Still, the Jets front gave the offensive line some trouble and Cook finished with just 53 yards and a touchdown while the Bills finished with 94 yards on 37 attempts, a 2.9 average.
PASS DEFENSE: A
Speaking of garbage time, old friend Tyrod Taylor thrived when the game was 40-0. He replaced Aaron Rodgers and completed 11 of 14 for 83 yards and two TDs when the Bills had basically quit on defense, so we’ll choose to ignore all of that and concentrate on Buffalo’s domination of Rodgers.
The 41-year-old future Hall of Famer looked washed, and if he can throw his 500th career TD pass next week against the Dolphins, he really should ride off into the sunset and call it a career. The Bills made him look old, picking him off twice, sacking him four times, and shutting him out in the three quarters he played.
He completed just 12 of 18 for 112 yards as he was unable to get WRs Davante Adams and Garrett Wilson going. Even RB Breece Hall, who has been a weapon in the passing game, was held to one catch. The Bills got Taylor Rapp and Rasul Douglas back and it made a difference, but it was Buffalo’s big-play ability that changed the game.
Christian Benford had an interception; Greg Rousseau deflected a pass that resulted in a pick for Jordan Phillips; Ed Oliver forced a fumble that Matt Milano recovered; Rousseau had a big fourth-down stop on New York’s first possession; and AJ Epenesa had a sack for a safety.
RUN DEFENSE: B+
Hall started out hot and then he disappeared and finished with just 45 yards on 10 carries, 17 coming on one play. The Jets’ inability to get him rolling was part of their downfall, especially given that Hall has traditionally been a thorn in the Bills’ side.
The Bills’ defensive line had its way with the banged up Jets offensive line, not only in the pass rush but in the run game. The bulk of the Jets’ 112 rushing yards came outside the tackles. LBs Terrel Bernard, Matt Milano, Dorian Williams and Joe Andreesen combined for 24 tackles and Cole Bishop, who started again at safety, had five and nearly had a sack on a blitz.
SPECIAL TEAMS: A-
On a windy and sometimes soggy day, Tyler Bass was perfect as he made a 39-yard field goal and all five of his extra points. And Sam Martin had a 51-yard punt, plus a 39-yarder that was downed at the 5 and ultimately set the stage for Epenesa’s safety.
Return man Brandon Codrington, who was acquired from the Jets in a trade before the season, had a nifty 25-yard punt return and Ty Johnson returned three kickoffs, one of those for 45 yards. In coverage, the Bills were sound on both punts and kickoffs as Xavier Gipson was not impactful, and Bass also had four touchbacks.
Perhaps most impressive, on a day when referee Clete Bakeman and his crew looked like they were trying out for quarterback with all the flags they threw, there were none on the Bills’ kicking units.
COACHING: A-
Defensive coordinator Bobby Babich has had a few rough weeks, but he had his guys ready to go in this one. The big plays and turnovers were critical to the final result, and some of that came from some creativity in the pass rush, and in the back end which kept Rodgers guessing.
On offense, Joe Brady had a rough time getting things flowing in the first half, especially after the first drive, a TD march that was assisted by three Jets penalties. And then in the second half, with so many short fields to work with, he didn’t need to dial up too many big plays, but when he did, Allen executed.
As for McDermott, the Jets are a team he certainly loves to beat. There seems to be more than usual bad blood between the players, and he had the Bills prepared, but also cognizant of not getting stupid. There was an early altercation that resulted in a 15-yard penalty on Connor McGovern, but nothing thereafter as the Bills rose above the chippy nature the Jets often bring.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at [email protected], and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social. Sign up for his Bills Blast newsletter here: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
