Jets Shock the Bills, Offensive Line Dominates; NY Jets Film Review

What a way to go into the bye-week! Now it is time for some NY Jets film review. In the best regular season win since the NE game in 2015, the Jets beat BUF 20-17 in an absolute shocker.  After the stinker last week against NE, today was the best “deodorant” a fan could’ve hoped for.  At 6-3 after making BUF look “pedestrian” it’s time for the team and fanbase to get greedy and aspire for more than just a wildcard spot:

Special Teams

– Solid effort by Greg Zuerlein as he was 2/2 in FGs and XPs for 8 points.  And from a tone standpoint his 53 yarder to make it 7-3 was important.  A miss there deflates the crowd and gives BUF terrific field position.

– Braden Mann had a solid effort punting with a 49 yard avg.  But the “slipping” on KOs has got to stop.

– Braxton Berrios was decent on KOs (20 yard avg) and it would’ve been better without a holding penalty.

– Good feel for the game by the staff in running a fake punt (Ashtyn Davis) to start the second half.  BUF has been explosive all year and repeated punts back to them is dangerous.  Unfortunately Zach Wilson fumbled later in the drive to keep points off the board.

Defense

–  Fantastic effort by the defense in all phases (5 Sacks, 8 QB Hits, 2 INT).  BUF came into the game averaging 29 points and they were held to 3 points over the last 37 minutes of the game.  In addition the defense made Josh Allen look “pedestrian” from the pocket
(18/34, 205 yds, 2 INT) which really hasn’t been seen since 2019.  The main damage Allen did was on the ground (9 rushes, 86 yards, 2 TD) but it minimized BUF “video game offense” so I’ll take it.

– Is it fair to say the Jets have the best CB tandem in the league?  Other than the double move Stephon Diggs pulled on Ahmad Gardner, he and DJ Reed were lockdown once again. Gardner generated 7 Tackles, INT and a huge knockaway on the final play of the game against Gabriel Davis.  While Reed had 4 Tackles and a textbook knock away against Diggs which could’ve been a TD.  They also are getting “respect” from the refs because they don’t get flagged with cheap pass interference penalties.

– Another excellent game by Jordan Whitehead as he had 4 Tackles, 2 Passes Defensed and an INT (which should’ve been two if he had better hands).

– After returning from an injury CJ Mosley controlled the middle of the field with 6 Tackles, Sack, Pass Defensed and a QB Hit.  In addition he did a nice job “spying” Allen to prevent a couple of big runs.  And dislodging passes from a couple of receivers over the middle.

– While Mosley was recovering from his injury Jamien Sherwood had his best game as a pro.  As he had 5 Tackles, .5 Sack, QB Hit and he was entrusted with making the defensive calls.

– Quinnen Williams with his “standard” production of 2 Tackles, Sack, TFL and a QB Hit.

– The reason Jacob Martin was traded earlier in the week (DEN) was on full display. As Bryce Huff and Jermaine Johnson were given more reps and brought speed/heat off the edges.  Johnson had a Tackle, Sack, TFL and a QB Hit after being sidelined with an injury
for a couple of weeks.  He also displayed excellent speed and open field tackling on his TFL as Allen was turning the corner but Johnson was able to close and get a 4 yard loss. Huff had a Tackle, Sack, QB Hit and dominated the last BUF drive of the game.  Causing a
fumble on the strip of Allen (which also hurt his arm) and drawing a holding penalty.

Offense

– The OLine (Brown, Tomlinson, McGovern, Herbig, Ogbuehi) were the stars of the game as they neutralized Von Miller and dominated BUF DLine by grinding out 174 yards on the ground (34 rushes).  And on the final drive of the game the OLine “took BUF soul” by running 8 straight times and eating 6:10 of clock for the game winning FG.

– Michael Carter had his best game of the season (12 rushes, 76 yards, TD) and James Robinson made an impression as he ran hard between the tackles (13 rushes, 48 yards).

– Garrett Wilson was the main weapon in the air game (8 catches, 92 yards).  But what’s impressive about his game is he isn’t a “one trick pony”.  He’s shown he can get vertical but he doesn’t shy away from going over the middle into traffic.  Also on WR screens he takes on tacklers and tries to run through them.  It will be interesting to see what another 5-10 pounds of muscle your will bring to his game.

QB

– Solid bounce back game by Zach Wilson as he was efficient (18/25, 154 yards, TD) and showed better pocket awareness.  He finally vacated the pocket and ran (24 yards) when a play was breaking down. His one mistake was hanging in the pocket too long and getting stripped by Von Miller, fortunately Gardner’s INT made up for that mistake.  What will go unnoticed but must be brought up is the smart way Wilson delivered the ball on most of his throws.  From the pocket he went sidearm and 3/4 to get around the raised arms of BUF DLine preventing blocked and tipped passes.

Final Thoughts

– The identity we displayed in the winning streak returned:
* Run the ball
* Don’t turn it over
* Excellent special teams
* Lockdown defense

The biggest shocks is that they won again, this time against a legit Super Bowl challenger.  Let’s remember this and not deviate from it.

– Also, during the winning streak we wore green helmets, white jerseys and black pants.  Against NE we wore all black and lost, today we went back to the winning streak uniforms and won.  What do you think we’ll be wearing after the bye?

KRL

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