5 things we learned from Jets’ 34-21 win over Bills on Thursday night

The New York Jets improved to 4-5 after a convincing 34-21 win over the Buffalo Bills, with two touchdowns from Matt Forte and a suffocating defense proving to be the difference. The Bills dropped to 5-3 on the season.

Josh McCown got the scoring started with a scrambling 10-yard touchdown run, which is somehow his third of the season. The Bills answered back with a strike from Tyrod Taylor to Zay Jones, the rookie receiver’s first touchdown of the season. That was mostly it for the scoring in the first half, as both teams played strong defense and forced a multitude of punts. A Jets field goal gave them the 10-7 lead at halftime.

The second half was more of the same, though McCown extended his team’s lead with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Robby Anderson, and the running game took care of the rest for the Jets, with Forte’s 10-yard touchdown run giving them a 24-7 lead in the third quarter.

Whatever hope the Bills had left was snuffed out early in the fourth quarter, when Taylor got strip-sacked deep in his own territory. Forte made it 31-7 with his second touchdown of the night.

The Bills made things a little interesting late, when Taylor hit Deonte Thompson for a touchdown, followed by the Bills recovering the onside kick. They drove back to the goal line and Taylor scored on a QB sneak to make it 34-21 Jets. But that’s as close as they got, as the Jets recovered the second onside kick and put the finishing touches on an impressive win.

There’s been a curious pattern with McCown’s games this season — he tends to start off hot, fade in the second half as the opponent makes a comeback, and then throw a backbreaking interception that leads to a Jets’ loss. It was a different story Thursday, with McCown avoiding turnovers and largely staying out of the way. He finished with a slight but respectable stat line of 14-of-20 passing for 140 yards and two touchdowns (one passing, one rushing).

With the Bills’ defense giving up huge plays on the ground, the Jets smartly stuck to the run game and rotated between players to keep everyone fresh. Forte, Bilal Powell, and Elijah McGuire combined for 181 rushing yards on 36 carries, with all three playing a huge role in salting away the game. The Jets probably can’t stick to this script every week, but when it works, it works.

One of the decisive factors in the Jets’ win was the performance of their defensive line, which consistently won the battle in the trenches and never let the Bills’ offense get in sync. Taylor was sacked seven times, including the strip-sack in the fourth quarter that sealed the game.

LeSean McCoy was also shut down with just 25 yards on 12 carries, finding nothing but brick walls most of the night. By swallowing up Buffalo’s offensive line, New York was able to dictate the pace and slowly pull away in the second half. With that said, they did get some help from the Bills, who had some poorly timed blunders.

This is what happens when you don’t play to the whistle. Nick O’Leary is going to hear it all week in the film room.

That mistake killed the Bills’ drive just as they drove into enemy territory late in the third quarter, badly needing points with the Jets’ lead growing to 17.

Another mistake essentially ended the game early in the fourth when Taylor didn’t take care of the ball on a scramble and got blasted from behind with the Jets recovering at the 5-yard line. Forte scored one play later and that was that.

In total, the Bills committed four fumbles and lost three, which is definitely not going to win you games on the road. Head coach Sean McDermott will not be pleased with the effort.

Despite the 5-3 start, the Bills have only beaten one team with a winning record (Atlanta Falcons). Getting blasted by the Jets will only create more skeptics, and the schedule tightens up from here on out.

Next week, the Bills host the New Orleans Saints, then they hit the road for games with the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs before coming home against the New England Patriots in Week 13. Three of those teams have winning records, and the Bills need to get some results if they want to break their lengthy playoff drought. We’re about to see what this team is really made of.

The Jets aren’t in the playoff picture and probably won’t be any time soon, but 4-5 is way better than most people expected. Bowles has certainly saved his job, and the effort level bodes well for when this team gets more talent to work with. They’re quite literally playing with house money at this point.