Beatdown by Buffalo

Bills route Jets as Mike White hype train comes to an abrupt end.

🗽 Good morning Jets fans. It’s Monday, the Jets played yesterday and the Jets lost yesterday. Was it just me sitting there in the 3rd quarter just counting down the seconds to the game being over? It was another game where we weren’t competitive, it was another game where the defense was just completely routed and it was another game where we were left with more questions than answers.

First Half 🏈

The first half was all about small margins. For the most part, the Jets matched up with the Bills and played them tough. The issue for the Jets came down to shooting themselves in the foot. If they weren’t getting called for penalties (3 on the opening 3 drives), they weren’t looking after the ball.

After the Bills marched down the field on a beautiful double move by Stefon Diggs, the Jets decided to put backup corner, Javelin Guidry, in one-on-one coverage with one of the better WR’s in the game. The result was exactly as you expected, a touchdown for the Buffalo Bills.

Misdirection was the name of the game for the Bills early, constantly getting the linebackers on their heels.

The Jets play a very rigid coverage system and Bryce Hall plays LCB consistently. However, in that situation, don’t you want your #1 corner on their #1 receiver, if he beats your best then you tip your cap to him and congratulate him, but don’t let them beat you with their #1 against your #4, that doesn’t make any logical sense.

• GVR was responsible for the Mike White INT. White was moving through his progressions and was about to find Crowder who was open underneath. Unfortunately, GVR forgot to maintain his block, the ball came out early and it floated up for a pitch and catch to the buffalo defense. I got a few people commenting that White was throwing into triple coverage, it looked like that because the ball came out early, but I’m convinced he was going to Crowder which was the right read.

• AVT seemed to get mixed up on the play that led to the referees calling a fumble on white, that was later reversed to an incomplete pass, however, Oliver came right up the gut between AVT and McGovern and as McGovern sets the coverage, it seems as though the free runner was on the rookie.

• Mike White wasn’t as fluent as he has been, as you’d expect against the games #1 ranked defense, but he was still making plenty of throws. He had 129 passing yards at the half and completed 13 of 22 passes. He was marching the team down the field just before HT and the Jets would have been able to kick the FG as a minimum, but unfortunately, Corey Davis fumbled the ball, killing any chance of the Jets gaining momentum going into the half.

• The Jets had two sacks in the first half. One from safety Jarrod Wilson who came on a free rush off the edge, and the second by Shaq Lawson and Quinnen Williams.

  

Halftime score: Buffalo Bills 17-3 New York Jets

Second Half 🏈

The Jets came out flat and the Bills came out and put 7 points on the board with multiple misdirection plays. An end-around to Sanders went for 20+ yards and then McKenzie took the Jet Sweep into the end-zone. It was far too easy for the Buffalo team who barely had to break a sweat.

With the Jets down by 21, Mike White started to do what Mike White can’t do, and that’s pushes the ball down the field. One play, one really poor throw into double coverage, and one interception. You don’t need to play hero ball in that situation, you need to continue to play within the system and chip away.

This is where things started to get just a little bit ugly. Last week against the Jaguars, the Bills had 9 points, 301 total yards, and 229 passing yards total. Halfway through the 3rd quarter, they had 31 points, 346 yards, and 243 passing yards.

• Mike White threw another INT on the next possession after moving the ball well to start the drive. It showed White’s limitations when having to push the ball down the field.

• The Bills marched back down the field on a stunning Gabriel Davis catch against Michael Carter II. It was punched in by Moss, but it was Davis that set that up. Beautiful catch.

• There was a positive with the Jets secondary getting their first INT of the season through Neasman, off a top by Isaiah Dunn. You have the take the small accomplishments right.

• Michael Carter got his 4th rushing TD of the season. Although he was marked down at the 1 on his run against Poyer, he took it in a couple of plays later.

• Michael Carter II fell on a Matt Breida fumble, so multiple turnovers by the Jets defense, something we’re not overly familiar with.

• Devin Singeltary got in on the action after the officials gave the ball to Buffalo after Crowder caught an outstanding 4th down throw. It is what it is, but that was embarrassing by the NFL officials.

• If you turned off early, first of all I don’t blame you at all. But you missed a couple of nice plays, Elijah Moore climbing the ladder on a Flacco pass was a particular favorite of mine before he took it in for a consolation score.

Mike White - Good while it lasted

White was a great story. If you’ve read this newsletter you’ll know I was a proponent of playing him today. However, he showed his limitations today.

He pushed the ball into double coverage, he failed to move the safeties with his eyes, he looked uncomfortable when pushing the ball more than 10 years down the field.

The Mike White story was good while it lasted, it gave us a distraction. But he also made it extremely easy to go back to Zach Wilson next week.

The Jets are 2-7 on the season and now it’s time to completely go into evaluation mode for 2022.

Injury Room 🤒

Brandin Echols - Quad injury

Mike White - Was cleared to return.

📈 Stat Corner 📊

• Entering this weeks matchup the Jets have the most snaps played by rookies in the NFL with 2,393, that’s over 200 more than the closest team (Steelers, 2,119)

• A Jets QB has now been sacked in 44 straight games which is the longest active streak in the NFL.

• Josh Allen’s 3rd quarter INT was his 11th turnover against the Jets in 6 career games, the most vs any single opponent.

• Michael Carter’s 4th rushing TD is the most by a Jets player in a season since Isaiah Crowell back in 2018.

• The Jets have allowed 175 points in their last 4 games. That's the 2nd-most points allowed in a 4-game span by any team since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger (Titans allowed 177 points in 4 games in 2004). H/t to Rich Cimini

• The 2021 Jets are the 1st team to allow at least 45 points 3 times in a 4-game span since the 1966 Giants.

• They have surrendered 1,890 total yards during the last 4 games, the worst four-game period in franchise history.

🗨️ Who Said What 💬

Coach Saleh on the teams defense:

“Obviously it’s not good enough. That always starts with me but obviously, we’ve got 8 games left and we’ve got to figure it out”

“Ever since that Tennessee game, it hasn’t been good enough. Atlanta we played alright but since that bye week it’s not nearly as good as we want it to be”

On Mike Whites struggle:

"Give those guys credit, they're the number one defense in football, they're a championship-caliber football team, give them credit, it starts from there”

On Corey Davis’s fumble:

" When you’re playing a team of Buffalo’s caliber and we have the self-inflicted wounds that we have 5 turnovers, you're going to give up points and you’re not going to score very many, it’s ugly”

On where is on the QB for next week:

" We’ll see where we are with all the injuries and let that sort out. We’ll have a better idea tomorrow afternoon”

On why they didn’t put Hall on Diggs:

" Fair question, we're not a team that matches. Diggs was lining up in certain spots and to start chasing a player when that’s not your style, there's a lot of different things that go into play when you start doing that”

Morgan Moses on moving forward:

“We have to figure our identity, and what kind of team we want to be”

Corey Davis on his fumble:

“I was just trying to make a play”

On the team in general and the direction:

"We're in the process of flipping this thing and it's gonna be a challenge, but we've got the right guys to do so."

Bryce Hall on moving forward:

“It’s one thing to say you’re good it’s another thing to believe it”

Mike White on his performance:

"When guys are out there fighting their tails off for four quarters and you turn the ball over four times, it's tough."

Draft Chat 🏈

With how the games went yesterday, the Jets currently hold the #3 and #7 overall picks. Based on what we’ve seen, we desperately need to hit on them.

🌠 Stars of the Game 🌠

I was genuinely stumped on who to give the first star to. I certainly wasn’t going to give it to a defensive player, so I headed to Twitter to get some answers:

TBD Treb 🇺🇸 🛡️ @trebtrouble

@DWyattHupton Kicker

Matt Ammendola 🌟

Let’s do it. He didn’t do anything wrong, he hit his extra point and his field goal, so why shouldn’t be get recognition. He’s as deserving as anyone else. Congrats Matt, you’re in the Jets Way star rating.

Elijah Moore 🌟🌟

I guess the positive is that we have two rookies on this list. Moore was very quiet for most of the game. Flacco found him for a score right at the end to give him a respectable line of 3 catches for 44 yards and 1 TD.

Moore came up against a very very tough team in the Bills and this will be a great learning curve for him. To come out and finish it strong, even if the Bills were playing softly. I’ve got a lot of time for it.

Michael Carter 🌟🌟🌟

His stat line doesn’t look amazing, but he gets so many tough yards. He fights for every single inch and I absolutely love that about him.

I truly believe we’ve found our RB1 going forward, he has a bit of everything and his development is exciting to watch.

He only ran at 2.4 yards per carry, but he was hit in the backfield so often that I’m surprised it’s that high. With 39 yards, 1 TD and 4 catches for 43 yards, he gets my best mark.

Well, that was a depressing read, wasn’t it? If you want to cheer yourself up and dream of a brighter future. Don’t forget to check out my Tyler Linderbaum profile.