Bills clinch second place in playoff with loss to Jets' Aaron Rodgers

ORCHARD PARK – There have been a lot of complaints about the Buffalo Bills’ defense over the last few weeks, and it’s all for good reason.

Yes, injuries have wreaked havoc in the secondary and the Bills have faced a couple of teams, the Rams and the Lions, that can be electrifying on offense when they get rolling, and boy did they ever do that against Buffalo brought roles? a total of 86 points.

Even last week, the lowly Patriots – inarguably one of the worst offensive teams in the league – scored three touchdowns against Buffalo and terrified the Bills in a game that was much closer than anyone could have imagined.

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But on Sunday, it appeared the Bills had saved their biggest defensive moments for the New York Jets, game after game, resulting in a resounding 40-14 victory that allowed Buffalo to secure the season’s No. 2 AFC seed. Playoffs and will also give coach Sean McDermott the option to sit out some of his key players, including Josh Allen, for most or all of the New England game in Week 18.

On New York’s first two possessions on offense, there was much of the same flex that we saw in those games. However, thanks to two great plays from Greg Rousseau, the Bills managed to get off the field without allowing any points after Aaron Rodgers moved his team downfield without much resistance.

The first drive ended at the Bills 24 when Rodgers threw an incomplete pass on third-and-1 in what seemed like too cute a play, and then the aging QB watched Rousseau throw Braelon Allen in on a rush up the middle No gain and a turnover on downs.

The second drive was also in full swing when the Jets took the lead with a second-and-2 at the Buffalo 12, but Rousseau struck again. On a pass from Rodgers, he raised his hands and threw it high in the air, allowing the ball to fall safely into the arms of defensive tackle Jordan Phillips.

For Phillips, it was his first interception since 2016, when he played for the Dolphins in a game against the Jets. And for the Bills, if you count DT Austin Johnson’s two interceptions earlier this season, that’s three for defensive tackles, the most that position group has had for an NFL team since the Dolphins had three interceptions in 2011.

The Jets lost by a minimum of six points and a maximum of 14, and it felt like those two misses sucked all the life out of them, and the game spiraled into a dark, dark spiral for Gang Green because things got worse after that.

The Bills won the coin toss early in the game and opted for the coin toss, which is unusual for them. However, the weather forecast called for gusty winds later in the day and McDermott played weatherman, thinking it would be important to pick a goal to defend in the third quarter.

The strategy worked as Josh Allen pushed the Bills offside on the first possession and, thanks to three Jets penalties that gave Buffalo first downs, the drive ended when Allen ended up in the end zone after a one-yard QB keeper.

From there, it was a struggle on offense for the rest of the first half, as Allen was under far more pressure than he had all year and narrowly avoided at least three sacks thanks to his athleticism.

After Phillips’ interception, the Bills punted a second time and it was a beautiful strike from Sam Martin that went down at the 5 and that led to the defense’s third big play. On a second down from 2nd down, AJ Epenesa swept past right tackle Max Mitchell – subbing in for the injured Morgan Moses – and he sacked Rodgers for a safety, the first for the Bills since Thanksgiving 2022 in Detroit.

After the free kick, the Bills gained possession at their 32 and drove 47 yards to Tyler Bass’ 39-yard field goal for a 12-0 halftime lead.

If the Jets had any chance of staying alive, they had to score early in the third period. Instead, they had a fourth-and-5 at the Bills 37, the offense stayed on the field, and Rodgers inexplicably suffered a delay of game that forced the Jets to punt.

The game ended when the Bills scored four touchdowns in about 13 minutes, increasing the score to 40-0 between the third and fourth quarters.

Christian Benford’s interception stopped a Jets drive and Allen turned around and threw a gorgeous 30-yard touchdown to Amari Cooper to make it 19-0. After a 25-yard punt return by Brandon Codrington, the Bills needed just five plays before James Cook scored on a one-yard run.

Moments later, Ed Oliver forced a Rodgers fumble that Matt Milano recovered on the Jets’ 15th and three plays, Allen only flew one into the end zone, essentially a jump ball, and of course Keon Coleman made the catch with three Jets in Penalty area.

That made it 33-0 and Allen’s day ended, and for good measure, Mitch Trubisky’s first pass of the day, on a third-and-14, turned into a 69-yard TD from Tyrell Shavers. He had been called up from the practice squad and this was Shavers’ first NFL reception. It was such a day for the Bills.

Allen became the first player in NFL history to score at least 40 touchdowns in five consecutive seasons, and that explosion also increased Buffalo’s point total that season to 509, a new franchise record. And the beauty of it is that it happened in the 16th game under which the old mark of 501 was set in 2020.

Ultimately, with Rodgers on the bench, former Bill Tyrod Taylor ruined Buffalo’s shutout push with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson with 6:59 left.

Sal Maiorana has been covering the Buffalo Bills for four decades, including 35 years as a full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books on the team’s history. 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

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