Grading the Buffalo Bills in their 27-10 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday at Highmark Stadium …
The Bills held the Jets to just four first downs, setting a franchise record. It was also the fewest allowed by any NFL team since 1998. The Bills also allowed just 53 net yards, which is the second fewest in franchise history.
RUNNING GAME: A+
The roll continues. The rushing attack ended the season with a bang, piling up 170 team yards on 33 attempts, including three kneel-downs by backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky that lost 3 yards. Devin Singletary led the way again, with 88 yards on 19 carries. Singletary’s 40-yard run on the Bills’ opening possession was his longest rush since a 46-yard touchdown run against Miami in Week 2. His emergence over the final month of the season has been huge during a four-game winning streak. Quarterback Josh Allen averaged a whopping 12.6 yards per attempt, gaining 63 yards on just five attempts. No. 2 running back Zack Moss was limited to just 8 yards on five carries, but the rest of the running attack made up for that output.
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PASSING GAME: B
The weather was again a factor in the passing game, as throwing toward the scoreboard end of the stadium was a challenge. That showed in Allen’s final stats, as he completed just 24 of 45 passes. To his credit, though, some big plays were made through the air, as the Bills put up 254 team passing yards (239 of them from Allen and one 15-yard completion by Trubisky). Stefon Diggs was a bad man, particularly in the first half, and finished with nine catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. Diggs was targeted 14 times, as was Gabriel Davis. His 14 targets produced just three catches for 49 yards. Slot receiver Cole Beasley caught four balls for 31 yards on five targets. It was another promising day for the offensive line, as Allen was not sacked for the third consecutive game.
Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs did their best superhero impersonations on the first touchdown in Sunday’s victory over the New York Jets.
RUN DEFENSE: A
Harrison Phillips and Taron Johnson combined to stuff Jets running back Michael Carter for a loss of 1 yard on New York’s first offensive play, setting the tone for the day. The Jets managed just 48 yards on 17 carries. Carter finished with 19 yards on nine carries. Quarterback Zach Wilson was the Jets’ leading rusher, with two carries for 24 yards, the bulk of which came on a 20-yard scramble early in the third quarter. Bills rookie defensive end Greg Rousseau was active in run defense. He made a good stop to hold the Jets to a gain of 1 yard midway through the second quarter, and finished with five tackles, tied with linebacker Tremaine Edmunds for the team lead. Mario Addison and Matt Milano had tackles in run defense that each held the Jets to no gain in the first half.
Don't miss Katherine Fitzgerald's quarter-by-quarter analysis of the Buffalo Bills' AFC East-clinching victory over the New York Jets.
PASS DEFENSE: A+
Poor Wilson. The Jets’ rookie was under siege basically all game, getting sacked eight times for a loss of 79 yards. New York finished with 5 net passing yards. It’s hard to single out anyone on the Bills’ defensive line, because it seemed as though they all lived in the Jets’ backfield, but third-year defensive tackle Ed Oliver had a team-leading three quarterback hits as part of 1.5 sacks. When Wilson did have time to throw, he didn’t find much success. Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa each batted down passes at the line of scrimmage, and Edmunds also had a pass defended. There was one breakdown in coverage that led to a 40-yard touchdown for New York. Outside of that, however, the pass defense, overall, simply dominated.
The Bills clinched their second consecutive AFC East championship and their first back-to-back division titles since the 1990 and ’91 seasons. It was the first time they clinched the division at home since 1995.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C-
This was a wild one to grade. Punter Matt Haack was atrocious kicking into the wind in the second quarter, with a pair of punts that managed just 43 yards combined. Haack also dropped a bad snap from Reid Ferguson in the third quarter, and after running around in the backfield, managed to get off just a 7-yard punt. Still, there was some good on special teams, too. Cam Lewis blocked a punt – the franchise’s first since a game against Seattle in November 2016. Micah Hyde averaged 9.7 yards on three punt returns, and the kick coverage and punt-coverage units were solid. The Bills limited Keelan Cole to 7 yards on his one kick return and 3 yards on one punt return. Siran Neal downed a punt at the Jets’ 2-yard line, and Haack did have one punt that went 53 yards into the wind.
COACHING: B-
The Jets hung around a lot longer than was expected, especially after the Bills raced out to a quick 10-0 lead. Sean McDermott’s timeout usage was not good. The Bills had to burn a timeout in each half because the play clock was about to expire, but those weren’t nearly as bad as intentionally running the play clock down before taking a timeout to avoid a delay of game prior to a fourth-and-1 play. In that situation, if you’re going to punt, just do it. The timeout is more valuable than trying to get the Jets to jump offside, which is successful maybe once in 100 tries. That lost timeout could have come in handy on the last possession of the first half for the Bills. So, it wasn’t perfect, but some big-picture perspective is needed. The Bills won the division at home for the first time since 1995 and for the second consecutive year. That’s a reason to celebrate. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier also deserves some praise, not just for what his unit did Sunday, but for what it was able to accomplish throughout the regular season.
