By Joe Buscaglia, Zack Rosenblatt and Connor Ennis
James Cook rushed for two touchdowns, Matt Prater kicked three field goals and the Buffalo Bills throttled the New York Jets in a 30-10 road victory Sunday.
The Bills’ performance in improving to 2-0 wasn’t spectacular — Josh Allen threw for just 148 yards — but it was dominant. Buffalo simply controlled the game throughout. Its 224 rushing yards, including 132 from Cook, were the most the Jets have allowed in a game since 2021. At the end of the third quarter, New York had 87 total yards, had failed to convert any of its six third-down opportunities and had yet to have a play inside Buffalo’s 20. Bills defensive end Joey Bosa had a sack and forced two fumbles.
The lone hiccup for Buffalo came in the first quarter when Allen’s nose was bloodied and he had to momentarily leave the game. But even that didn’t set the Bills back: backup Mitchell Trubisky came in and completed a 32-yard pass to Joshua Palmer before Allen returned.
New York fell to 0-2 under first-year head coach Aaron Glenn. It was a disappointing performance after a gutting loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1. In that game, quarterback Justin Fields was 16-of-22 passing for 218 yards. On Sunday, Fields was 3-of-11 for 27 yards before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter and heading to the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion.
Here are some takeaways from Buffalo’s dominant win.
Buffalo’s defense reasserts itself
The Bills couldn’t have asked for a better response from the defense after they allowed 40 points to the Ravens in Week 1. The defense was borderline dominant to begin the game, allowing only 15 yards on the Jets’ first three offensive series, with a 1.3 yards per play average. The Jets could not get themselves in gear before the Bills ran away with it, punting on six of their first eight possessions, coughing up a fumble and getting only a lowly field goal late in the second quarter. The Jets averaged only 2.8 yards per play through those first eight possessions. That performance is exactly the type of game coach Sean McDermott was looking for from his team after the Ravens gashed them all game long. — Joe Buscaglia, Bills beat writer
Ground game is more than enough for Bills
The Bills have been through this song and dance before in a blowout victory, especially over the last year and a half. When they are having a bunch of success on the ground, as the Bills did against the Jets on Sunday, they ask generally very little of their star quarterback Josh Allen through the air to secure the victory. The Bills’ win over the Jets featured three rushing touchdowns — two from James Cook and one from wide receiver Elijah Moore on a reverse from four yards out. Cook went over 120 yards, with Allen chipping in over 50 yards himself — 40 of which came on a first-half scramble. Allen didn’t have a single passing touchdown, but it didn’t matter much as the Bills rolled to victory. — Buscaglia
Allen bloodied in the first half
Allen had to leave the game temporarily in the first half after a rushing attempt, sprinting to the sidelines for immediate medical attention. Allen was out for a pair of plays right at the end of the first quarter, and the athletic training staff held a towel up to Allen’s nose, seemingly attempting to stop blood from rushing out of it. After the two plays and the time between quarters, the bleeding was stopped and gauze was placed in Allen’s nostrils. The quarterback put his helmet back on and ran back onto the field for the start of the second quarter. In his stead, Trubisky entered the game on a third-and-7 and uncorked a perfect 32-yard pass to Palmer with Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner in coverage for the first down. The Bills went on to get a field goal on the drive. With a quick turnaround against the Miami Dolphins for “Thursday Night Football,” it remains to be seen if the injury will have any future significance for Allen. — Buscaglia
A dispiriting performance from the Jets
Any sort of optimism the Jets created with their Week 1 performance (even in a loss) evaporated in a sea of mistakes and dumbfounding decisions Sunday — a game that was pretty much over in the first quarter. This felt more like the 2024 iteration of the Jets than the one they showed in flashes against the Steelers last week — that is, an undisciplined team that looked overmatched and, at times, unprepared for what the Bills threw at them. Neither the offense nor defense came to play Sunday, but the offense was especially troubling. Fields left the game in the fourth quarter to be evaluated for a concussion after a passing performance that would even make Zach Wilson raise his eyebrows. By the time Fields departed, the Jets had fallen behind 30-3, were 0 for 8 on third down and the Bills had out-gained them 394 yards to 100.
Defensively, the Jets were killed by poor tackling and approach in the running game — just look at the 40-yard run by Josh Allen and 44-yard touchdown run by James Cook in the first half — and unfathomable mistakes, like defensive end Micheal Clemons’ roughing the passer penalty on third down in the first quarter, a penalty which helped the Bills extend the drive, which ended with a short touchdown run. Glenn has preached discipline and threatened accountability for any player whose mistakes led to losing — and if he holds true to that, there are a lot of players that should be worried about their job security heading into Week 3.
The Jets also were badly bitten by the injury bug, losing three starters on defense (defensive end Jermaine Johnson, safety Tony Adams and cornerback Michael Carter II) as well as Fields in the fourth quarter. — Zack Rosenblatt, Jets beat writer
(Photo of James Cook: Rich Graessle / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)