The New York Jets were just what the Buffalo Bills needed
The AFC East rivals played a game that was such a sloppy mess that both teams immediately moved for reinforcements
For a while there on Monday night, it looked like the Buffalo Bills were headed back to the place with which they are most intimately familiar: being in crisis.
They had survived a hot start by Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets by running the ball and occasionally deploying the get-out-of-jail free card that is Josh Allen. The Buffalo quarterback mostly just handed the ball off, but also made plays when needed, allowing the Bills to pile up three first-half touchdowns and what looked like it would be a comfortable 20-10 halftime lead.
And then, with eight seconds left in the half and the Jets holding the ball close to midfield, the Bills defence guarded the sidelines to protect against a quick out that would put New York in field-goal range — so Rodgers responded by taking his sweet time and lobbing a ball toward the end zone, where it fell into the hands of receiver Allen Lazard while three Buffalo defenders flailed about nearby.
There is a word for this type of moment: Billsy. This is a franchise that for years made an art out of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, especially in prime-time games, and it’s a tendency that still hasn’t quite abated, even with Allen having proven his superstar credentials.
There was, most famously, the 13 Seconds game against the Kansas City Chiefs, in which the Bills conspired to give Patrick Mahomes just enough time to break their hearts.
But there was also the insane ending against the Minnesota Vikings in 2022, or the Hail Murray game a couple years earlier, or even last year’s disastrous loss to the Denver Broncos, which led to the dismissal of offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. The point is, even as Buffalo established themselves as the dominant team in the AFC East under head coach Sean McDermott, they have still managed to Bills it up now and again.
And so, Lazard catching a Hail Mary to end the half when all any of the Buffalo defenders had to do was knock it down? Billsy. The vibes carried over into the second half, with kicker Tyler Bass missing a field-goal attempt from 47 yards on Buffalo’s first possession. On the ensuing Jets drive, the Bills appeared to force a quick punt, only for A.J. Epenesa to be flagged for roughing the passer on a mystifying call. This began a remarkable sequence in which Bills players were hit with 15-yard penalties on four consecutive drives — two defence, two offence — that kept them spinning their wheels. The last of them, a taunting penalty on lineman Dion Dawkins, came during the changeover between quarters. Literally dudes just walking around and still the Bills managed a significant loss of yards. These are the things that usually kill a game.
Conveniently for Buffalo, there are two teams on the field, and if there is another franchise that can go blow-for-blow with the Bills in the realm of comic tragedy, it might be the Jets. They missed two field goals in about six minutes of game time, both of them doinking off the uprights. That takes some doing. They also had a questionable roughing the passer penalty go against them in a late drive that allowed the Bills to take a 23-20 lead. And with Rodgers trying to tie or win the game on the next possession, he instead threw a killer interception when the intended receiver fell down. The Jets had out-Billsed the Bills.
Instead of losing their third straight game to drop out of the AFC East lead, the Bills are now 4-2 and firmly in control of their division, with a run of friendly-ish games upcoming. But it is unlikely to be clear sailing. After trading star receiver/malcontent Stefon Diggs in the offseason, it quickly became obvious that Allen lacks help in the passing game, which probably shouldn’t be all that surprising when the wide receiver room was mostly journeymen and castoffs. And when your franchise’s signature moment is missing a game-winning kick in the Super Bowl, it is not a great sign that the kicker seems to have developed the yips.
Literally as I was writing this post, Buffalo moved to address the problem by trading for wideout Amari Cooper from the Cleveland Browns. Officially, the Bills get Cooper for a third-round pick next year, while Buffalo also gets a sixth-rounder next year in exchange for their seventh-round pick in 2026. (Imagine the haggling that must have taken place to work out that last bit.) The trade is good for the Bills and Allen simply by knocking their various receivers down a notch in the pecking order. And if Cooper, who has been marooned for two seasons trying to catch passes from a remarkably inept Deshaun Watson, ends up playing like the guy who was a star for a couple of years in Dallas, the trade will be much better than good.
It also came just hours after the Jets moved to pry disgruntled wideout Davante Adams out of Las Vegas. Adams, once a world-beater in Green Bay with Rodgers, has been similarly marooned on the Raiders, catching passes from the likes of Aiden O’Connell and Gardner Minshew. He’s objectively better than Cooper, but the bigger question for the Jets is whether Rodgers, at 40, can rekindle something approaching his MVP form of several years ago. My professional analysis: maybe? The Jets are also playing now with an interim head coach and a new offensive coordinator, so at this point it is uncertainty piled on question mark with a dash of who knows.
I also remain unconvinced that McDermott is the guy to take the Bills beyond their current level of Disappointing Playoff Exit, but given all that went wrong on Monday night they are in better shape now than they might have been. And they still have Josh Allen, which makes up for a lot of Billsiness.