Entering Week 17, the Buffalo Bills knew they would be in contention for the AFC’s No. 1 spot, but they needed a Chiefs loss on Christmas Day. That didn’t happen, so the next best thing would be to beat the New York Jets and secure the No. 2 seed, as well as the opportunity to rest the starters and get healthy in the final week of the NFL regular season.

The Bills not only won, they embarrassed the Jets 40-14, and both of the Jets’ touchdowns came in the fourth quarter when Buffalo led 40-0 and retired their starters. Although Josh Allen didn’t have great stats, he still added three more touchdowns to his season total. The defense performed admirably and Buffalo added another new name to the list of touchdown scorers this season. Here are our three takeaways from the Bills’ Week 17 rotation against the Jets.

The Bills scored five more touchdowns this week, including one to Tyrel Shavers. Shavers has spent most of the season on the practice squad, where he also spent most of last season. He was called up because Curtis Samuel was held up, and Shavers got his chance to make a play on a simple screen pass from backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Shavers traveled 69 yards to the end zone and became the 13th player this season to score a touchdown. It was also Shavers’ first career reception.

The Bills will likely play mostly practice and replacement players in next week’s season finale against the Patriots. There’s a very good chance someone else will score their first goal of the season, breaking the record of 14, possibly even 15, different players scoring six goals for the Bills.

The Bills recorded another 40-plus game total this season, their fourth of the year and third in the last four games. They have scored 509 points this season, surpassing the previous record of 501 from the 2020 season. They also set new records for touchdowns (63) and rushing touchdowns (30) in a season. The previous rushing record was 29 in 2016.

The Bills’ defense has been a liability in recent weeks, albeit with injuries to the defensive backfield and linebackers. Still, losing more than 40 points in two consecutive games is legitimately cause for concern. Buffalo brought back Taylor Rapp and Rasul Douglas as well as Matt Milano and the team did not disappoint. They picked up two picks from Aaron Rodgers and forced a fumble. They harassed Rodgers all day with seven quarterback hits and four sacks, including a safety. They held the Jets to just 281 rushing yards and 14 foul yards.