2024 NFL Season, Week 6: What We Learned from Bills’ win over Jets on Monday night

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1. It was ugly, but Bills earn hard-fought win. Josh Allen had a typical Josh Allen game filled with quality passes, excellent play extension and some harrowing passes attempted amid chaos, finishing with 215 yards and two touchdowns, effectively bouncing back from the 9-for-30 stinker he had in Houston last week. He received plenty of surprising support from rookie running back Ray Davis, but like the Jets, the Bills were too often held back by penalties and entered an offensive rut that didn’t end until Tyler Bass converted a 22-yard field goal to give Buffalo the lead inside the final four minutes. After marching down the field for three touchdowns in the first half, the Bills had a tough time finding the same success in the second half, but their defense — namely, Taylor Rapp — deserves plenty of credit for keeping this game close by turning away the Jets along the goal line and making a number of vicious pass break-ups to prevent potential game-changing plays. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but they all count the same, and after losing two straight, the Bills certainly needed this one.
2. Jets waste a good offensive performance. In his first game with Todd Downing serving as the play-caller, Aaron Rodgers thrived, completing 23 of 35 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns. Garrett Wilson and Allen Lazard each broke 100 receiving yards and scored a touchdown, and Breece Hall finally broke through, finishing with 113 rushing yards on 18 attempts. But Rodgers also got crushed a few times by Bills rushers and again appeared frustrated with missed opportunities in the passing game. The Jets also failed to turn two promising drives into points because Greg Zuerlein clanked two field goal attempts off the uprights. Perhaps it was fitting that Rodgers’ last stand in this one ended in an acrobatic interception that was only possible because receiver Mike Williams slipped as he tried to come back to the ball. That play alone defined the Jets as they currently stand: Even when things seem to be working (Williams was rather open), they can’t get the job done.
3. Davis delivers in place of Cook. Take a bow, Ray Davis, one of the 2024 draft’s top pass-catching backs who showed he’s quite a force on the ground, too. Those who are familiar with Davis’ game know him as a stocky running back with a low center of gravity that makes it rather difficult for defenders to bring him down on first contact, and he certainly proved that Monday night, racking up 97 rushing yards on 20 attempts filled with hard running. With Davis toting the rock, the Bills covered 70 yards on the opening drive in nine plays, and six of those were Davis runs totaling 48 yards. It was a statement drive that quickly demonstrated the Bills’ running game should be taken seriously, even without James Cook in the lineup. Davis wasn’t done there, either, catching three passes for 55 yards, including a diving 42-yard reception on a completion that only a few quarterbacks in the NFL are capable of pulling off. Davis was a stud Monday night, introducing himself to the NFL world and giving opposing defenses another threat to account for whenever they prepare to face the Bills.
4. New York falters after firing coach. The Jets relieved Robert Saleh of his duties at the start of the week, inserted defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich as the interim coach for the remainder of the season and promptly gave up 359 yards of offense in a three-point loss to a division rival on national television. That’s not the worst part, though. After firing the coach in charge of the entire operation, they were penalized 11 times for 110 yards, a total that would be a glaring issue had the Bills also not been flagged 11 times (for 94 yards). The offensive staff changes worked, but the Jets still had issues on the defensive side, especially in the first half. They improved in the final two quarters, but weren’t able to get a stop they desperately needed after Rodgers threw an interception late in the fourth, crumbling at the worst time. Their defense ranks second in the NFL in total yards allowed, but in two of their three prime-time games this season, they’ve surrendered 350-plus yards and failed to keep up with the opposition. Now that Saleh is gone, they no longer have a scapegoat. Fortunately, they’ll face two of the less-productive offenses in the NFL in the next two weeks in Pittsburgh and New England, but the first of those two games is once again on a national stage. They’ll need to sort things out quickly in order to start digging out of their 2-4 hole.
5. Flags, everywhere. What is there to say about a game that saw a combined total of 22 accepted penalties, other than that it was ugly? The score was close, the late-game tension was captivating, but the errors were so frequent, an industrial supply of Wite-Out wouldn’t be enough to correct them. Multiple penalties wiped out positive plays, including a Braelon Allen touchdown run on third-and-1 that was erased by a holding call and would have produced a major swing in the close contest. It wasn’t even the Jets’ highest penalty total for a season. They had 13 penalties accepted against them in their dreadful 10-9 loss to Denver in Week 4. While we can expect the daytime sports talk circuit to spend plenty of time talking about officiating in the next 48 hours, both teams need to clean it up.

Next Gen Stats Insight from Bills-Jets (via NFL Pro): Ray Davis led the Bills in rushing (20 carries for 97 yards) and receiving yards (three receptions for 55 yards), forcing five missed tackles across 23 offensive touches in place of James Cook.

NFL Research: Aaron Rodgers’ first half Hail Mary touchdown pass to Allen Lazard marked the fourth time he pulled off the feat, making him the leader for the most such completions by any NFL player since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.