The mission was clear, even if heaven was not. The Buffalo Bills needed to beat the New York Jets to remain undefeated at Orchard Park for the first time since 1990 and secure the AFC’s second seed in this season’s NFL Playoffs.

The Bills understood the task and wanted to get to work right away, with Taron Johnson, playing in his 100th career game, linebacker “Buffalo Joe” Andreessen, something of a hometown player here, and wide receiver Amari Cooper moving into midfield went, they won After the throw, Buffalo flipped the script and opted to receive, sending out Josh Allen and the offense to start the game on a very rain-soaked field at Highmark Stadium.

The Bills first drive was full of starts, stops, backups and flags. Allen’s first pass was incomplete, but then James Cook ran for five and Khalil Shakir hauled in a Josh Allen pass at the 48 mark. With a new set of downs, running back Ray Davis caught an Allen pass and went 8 yards before fumbling the ball out of bounds. The Bills got an extra five yards on the game’s first flag – an illegal use of hands on the Jets’ defense. Then the flags just kept flying. Ty Johnson went for 8 yards, but Conner McGovern was whistled for a personal foul, and it was second-and-17. Allen’s next pass was incomplete, but the third flag of the game gave them a new set of downs as New York was called for another illegal hand use. After a couple of runs, the Bills needed five yards on a third down and Allen hit rookie Keon Coleman to the 5-yard line. But a hold call against Spencer Brown put it back on 2nd-and-14. Allen and Mack Hollins connected for 23 yards and another set of downs. After Dalton Kincaid took the ball to the six-yard line and Allen Coleman missed in the end zone, Sauce Gardner was called for pass interference and the Bills had the ball at the one-yard line for a first-and-goal. Josh Allen’s line created space and he plowed into the end zone for the 65th rushing touchdown of his career, tying him with Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas and giving the Bills the lead.

Bills 7, Jets 0

It looked like Buffalo’s defense might not have gotten the memo about the assignment due today. Aaron Rodgers and the Jets moved the ball fairly consistently for one second, just under six minutes. But on a fourth-and-goal at the Buffalo 24, Greg Rousseau stuffed Braelon Allen and gave the ball back to Allen and the offense.

However, the Bills couldn’t do much with the ball the second time around. A 10-yard run, two 9-yard passes and a 4-yard pass were spread around a two-yard loss and a few penalties. Facing fourth and 12th on their own 39, Sam Martin was called in to contribute to the group project. And do his part that he did. Martin’s 47-yard punt started Rodgers’ offense at their own 14-yard line.

Once again, the Buffalo defense looked like the kid who is just there to get the grade and won’t really participate in the group project. The Jets took the field in chunks – a 17-yard run, a 28-yard pass, to name a few. But then someone must have told them that they actually had to contribute. With one second and eight at the Bills 12, Greg Rousseau deflected a pass from Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Phillips was there. It was the second interception of Phillips’ career and the second trip into the red zone for the Jets without a score.

Five and a half minutes later, however, it appeared Allen’s offense wasn’t up to the task. When traffic stalled on New York 44, it was Sam Martin again who came to the rescue. This time, Martin’s kick only traveled 39 yards, but that was all it took to pin the Jets to their five-yard line.

Then the flags came back. A false start penalty brought the ball back to the two-yard line for a first-and-12. A loss of yardage on a Braelon Allen run put Rodgers in danger when he needed 13 yards on the next down. The danger became reality when AJ Epenesa tripped Rodgers in the end zone for a safety.

Bills 9, Jets 0

The Bills took advantage of the ensuing kickoff and began working toward another score before the end of the half. But for all their forward movement, there were penalties that pushed them back. They gained enough momentum to get into field goal range, allowing kicker Tyler Bass to hit another three-pointer as the first half expired.

Bills 12, Jets 0

The Jets opened the second half trying to close the gap on the scoreboard, but other than a 22-yard pass from Rodgers, they really couldn’t do anything to do any damage. An attempt to get the Bills’ defense to bite through on a fourth-and-5 failed and they called on their punter Thomas Morstead, who did his job and held the Bills to their one-yard line, where Allen with his The game had to start on the first drive of the second half.

Allen couldn’t get anything going, but a couple of James Cook runs at least kept Allen from standing in his own end zone. However, Keon Coleman slipped on the wet turf and couldn’t reach Allen’s third down pass, and it was time for Sam Martin again. Martin hit a 51-yard punt, but when you’re back in your own end zone, that 51 doesn’t mean much, and the Jets’ next drive started at the Buffalo 45.

Once again, it looked like Rodgers was going to orchestrate a drive that would put some points on the board. He started by catching the Bills on a blitz, hitting Garrett Wilson in the open flat for 13 yards. But then Breece Hall couldn’t get past the line of scrimmage on the next play when Ed Oliver ran over him. A false start put it on second-and-fifteen, and then Greg Rousseau gave Aaron Rodgers the privilege of being the most sacked quarterback in NFL history, an honor he took from Tom Brady. Facing a third-and-19, Rodgers launched a pass that ended up in the hands of cornerback Christian Benford. To add insult to injury for Rodgers, the quarterback was called for a personal foul when he shoved Benford as the cornerback ran out of bounds with the football.

With the defense doing more than its share of the work in today’s task, Josh Allen decided it was time to let the offense carry some of the load. The quarterback led a five-play drive that ended with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper, who caught the high-thrown ball while diving backwards. Two games earlier, Cooper had passed the 10,000 mark for most career yards.

Bills 19, Jets 0

After a drive that left the Jets four yards down, the Bills started their next drive from their own 37 yards. But it only took Allen a minute and a half to get them back on top and on goal. Instead of scoring another schnowplow, Allen handed the ball off to James Cook, who scored his fifteenth rushing touchdown of the season. The touchdown moved Cook and Allen into second place on the Bills list of players with the most rushing touchdowns in a season.

Bills 26, Jets 0

Aaron Rodgers only got the ball for one play on the next drive. The New York quarterback threw a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Garrett Wilson. But Ed Oliver took the ball out of Wilson’s hands and linebacker Matt Milano got his second fumble recovery of the season. Milano ran the ball into the end zone, but replay ultimately ruled that he and Rodgers had collided and he was down from contact.

Milano may not have reached the end zone, but a crazy pass from Allen to Coleman, who jumped over two players to secure an intentionally thrown jump ball pass, put those points back on the field.

Bills 33, Jets 0

Another 57 seconds and four negative yards followed for Rodgers and the Jets. During this time, the clock ticked toward the fourth quarter, signaling that the Bills only had 15 minutes left to accomplish their task. But apparently head coach Sean McDermott decided Allen had done enough and it was time for Mitch Trubisky to contribute to the project of the day.

And he contributed to it. After two runs each lost two yards, Trubisky threw a short pass to Tyrel Shavers, who had been called up from the practice squad because Curtis Samuel was inactive with a rib injury. Shavers took the pass and ran. And ran. He ran for 69 yards, becoming the thirteenth Buffalo Bill to catch a touchdown pass this season.

Bills 40, Jets 0

And with that, Aaron Rodgers’ day was over. It was a familiar name that came on the Jets’ eighth drive of the day – former Buffalo quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Taylor had more success than Rodgers, but also played against the Bills’ backup players. On a 13-play drive that lasted 5 minutes, 38 seconds, Taylor found Garrett Wilson, who beat Brandon Codrington (whose only job is usually to return kicks and punts, but who was called in the “garbage time” minutes of the game). Defensive back played). game) in the end zone. The Jets wanted a little more and left Taylor on the field and Tyler Conklin for the two-point conversion.

Bills 40, Jets 8

With just under seven minutes left in the game, Ty Johnson took the kickoff from 45 yards, taking Trubisky to the 49-yard line for his second drive of the day. But it wasn’t as dramatic a ride as his first. After four runs – two each by Ray Davis and Reggie Gilliam – the Bills gave the ball back to Tyrod Taylor and the Jets came one yard short of the ten runs needed.

Taylor needed 8 plays to travel 58 yards in 2 minutes, 49 seconds and hit Conklin for another touchdown. However, when Taylor tried to score two extra points, he was chased around before having to throw the ball into the stands.

Bills 40, Jets 14

Trubisky, who finished the game with 1 pass, 1 completion, 1 touchdown, came in, knelt and let the clock run out.

Task completed. The Buffalo Bills are the second place team in the AFC. Josh Allen has five straight seasons with 40 or more touchdowns. James Cook has the second-most touchdowns in team history. Amari Cooper has over 10,000 yards. The Buffalo Bills are undefeated at home for the first time since 1990 and have scored more points than any other season in team history. Not bad for a team that was told it had a reset year ahead of it.