The Jets and Bills faced off in an AFC East showdown in Week 3 and while it was close, New York held onto its lead late in the fourth quarter to win the battle. The 27-20 win was sealed with a beautiful throw-and-catch from Geno Smith to Santonio Holmes, who took the ball 69 yards for the score. The Jets were a balanced attack on Sunday with running back Bilal Powell rushing for 149 yards and Holmes and Stephen Hill both going over 100-yards receiving. The Jets' defense also kept Bills quarterback to just 19-of-42 for 243 yards and a touchdown. The Jets are now 2-1, while the Bills have fallen to 1-2.
Bills vs. Jets 2013: New York wins the AFC East battle over Buffalo
Our SB Nation writers are reacting to the Jets’ 27-20 win over the Bills in Week 3.
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Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings believes that Rex Ryan’s defense clearly outplayed and outperformed the Bills’ offense:
Rex Ryan had a field day defending Nate Hackett's offense and rookie quarterback E.J. Manuel, as well. Sacked just once in his first two pro starts, Manuel was brought down a whopping eight times by Jets defenders and was often resorted to running for his life (40 yards on six carries). He did throw the aforementioned touchdown pass to Scott Chandler and a two-point conversion to Stevie Johnson to tie the game in the fourth quarter, but was otherwise miserable in completing 19 of 41 passes for 243 yards. It's worth pointing out that the Bills had no run game to speak of; C.J. Spiller accumulated nine yards on 10 carries before leaving early with a knee injury, and Fred Jackson didn't have many opportunities to pick up the slack once the Bills began playing catch-up.
John B of Gang Green Nation was impressed with his quarterback’s resiliency:
So now that we have it out of the way that Geno didn’t protect the ball as he should have, let’s say something else. You can live with mistakes from a quarterback, if he makes up for them by making big plays. Geno did that. He averaged over 11 yards per pass and had five completions of 18 yards or more. It has been a rare event in recent times for the Jets’ offense to look explosive in recent memory, but this team looked like a big play offensive unit today with 513 yards. In only his third NFL start, Geno threw for 331 yards.
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