Buffalo beat Gang Green at its own game.
James Cook rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns and the Bills (2-0) defeated the Jets (0-2) 30-10 on a sunny afternoon at MetLife Stadium.
The Bills have won three consecutive games in their rivalry with the Jets, which began in 1960.
Buffalo ran for 223 yards, a week after Gang Green used the ground game to stay competitive in a two-point loss to the Steelers. This was the most rushing yards the Jets have allowed in any game since 2021.
The Jets struggled to get anything going offensively.
A week after he had one of his best games in recent memory, Justin Fields completed just 3-of-11 passes for 27 yards and 49 yards on the ground before he exited the game due to a concussion in the fourth quarter.
Fields held the ball in the pocket too long and was inaccurate all day. Against the Steelers, the Jets’ offense was effective by both throwing and passing the ball down the field. They registered 394 yards of offense against Pittsburgh.
Tyrod Taylor came in for Fields with the game already decided. He completed 6-of-10 passes for 51 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Jeremy Ruckert in a losing effort.
Sunday could not have been any different for the Jets. Penalties, mistakes, and missed tackles plagued the Jets the entire game. They also couldn’t establish the run or the pass against the Bills.
The Jets recorded just 154 yards of offense during the entire game, with a lot of them coming in garbage time when the Jets were down by four scores. Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson had just three catches for 36 yards. The Jets want to be a run-heavy offense, but they finished with just 82 yards on the ground.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen had a modest day after completing 14 of 25 passes for 148 yards. He also registered 59 rushing yards.
In the late first quarter, Jets pass rusher Micheal Clemons hit Allen in the face and he briefly exited the game. Allen removed his helmet and the CBS cameras showed trainers cleaning up blood from his nose as Mitchell Trubisky came in under center.
Trubisky then completed a 32-yard pass to Josh Palmer on one of his two snaps. Allen then came back in after trainers were able to contain the bleeding.
Head coach Aaron Glenn has emphasized the Jets eliminating the bonehead penalties, which have been a problem the last couple of seasons. But penalties were the theme of the Bills’ first drive.
In the first quarter, there was a holding penalty that was tacked onto Allen’s 40-yard run, which put Buffalo in field goal range. Then, on a 3rd and 19 on the Jets’ 30-yard line, Clemons was called for roughing the passer after he hit Allen late, which gave the Bills 15 yards and an automatic first down. That helped set up Cook’s one-yard touchdown, which put Buffalo up 7-0 in the first quarter.
On the following drive, Joey Bosa stripped Fields after he scrambled up the middle and Bills pass rusher A.J. Epenesa recovered the ball at the Jets’ 24-yard line. But the Bills were only able to muster a Matt Prater 28-yard field goal out of it, which put them up 10-0.
Prater later added a 52-yard field goal that increased the Bills’ lead to 13-0.
The hits just kept coming for the Jets. Following a three-and-out offensively, Cook rushed for a 44-yard touchdown run that put Buffalo up 20-0.
Gang Green finally got on the scoreboard after Nick Folk made a 51-yard field goal with 4:21 left in the second quarter, which cut its deficit to 20-3.
On their opening drive to begin the second half, the Bills extended their lead to 23-3 when Prater converted his third field goal of the game, this time from 32 yards.
Former Jet Elijah Moore got in on the action after he scored a four-yard touchdown on an end-around, and the Bills went up 30-3 to begin the fourth quarter. The Jets drafted Moore in 2021, but they traded him to the Browns in 2023.
The Jets will have their first road game of the season in Week 3 against the Buccaneers. This will be the first of back-to-back games in the state of Florida. Gang Green will also play at Miami in Week 4.
