In a week where the Buffalo Bills didn’t practice until Friday, the Jets were embarrassed by a score of 38-3, in a surprise edition of Monday Night Football. The best part of this game was that it was not on national TV.
The game, originally scheduled to be played in Buffalo at 1:00 yesterday, was postponed until today at 7:00 and played in Detroit due to the historic amount of snow that fell in and around Ralph Wilson Stadium this past week. Since Wednesday, sports commentators wondered aloud the Bills would handle such adversity. Now we know – they’d handle it just fine.
The Jets, who lost the toss and started the game with Michael Vick and the offensive unit on the field, opened with a three and out, and after an abysmal 27 yard punt by Ryan Quigley put the Bills in excellent field position, the Bills scored a touchdown on their first drive.
The Jets managed a field goal after a great return by Jeremy Kerley and failing to convert in the redzone. It looked as though it might be 7-3 at the half, but the Bills managed to score on their last possession. With less than a minute left, the Jets had possession again and had a walk in touchdown…if Eric Decker had managed to catch a well thrown ball by Vick. It went in between his hands, and the Jets were behind 14-3 at the half.
To top it all off, Mo Wilkerson left the game with a toe injury in the second quarter and didn’t return.
The Bills opened the third quarter with a drive that ended in a field goal. The Jets proceeded to get trapped near their own end and Quigley’s punt was then blocked and recovered by Buffalo in the endzone, putting the Bills up 24-3 in the mid-third quarter.
Vick, who hadn’t been having a great night anyway, and nearly throwing multiple picks earlier in the game, finally threw one deep in Jets territory. Buffalo capitalized on the turnover.
Re-enter Geno Smith. As Jets fans will recall, Geno Smith played so poorly in the last game against Buffalo – he threw three straight interceptions on three straight drives in the first quarter – that he was pulled in favor of Vick. It made no difference.
Buffalo scored again in the fourth quarter, and it was 38-3. Jace Amaro left the game in the fourth quarter with a head injury. He also did not return.
Vick was 7 of 19 for 76 yards with 1 interception and a quarterback rating of 27.5 before he left the game. Smith was 10 of 12 for 89 yards and no interceptions with a 97.6 rating.
This is an exceptionally disappointing loss since the Jets were coming off a bye week with an extra day of rest due to the snow, but the Jets have struggled after bye weeks under Rex Ryan. They’re 1-5 following the bye week during Rex’s tenure. The team looked unprepared tonight. Quinton Coples and Chris Ivory played hard, but everyone else looked like they’d mentally checked out.
For whatever reason, the 2-9 Jets will be spending another night in primetime next week. They play the Dolphins at MetLife Stadium on Monday Night Football. Kickoff is at 8:30.