Photo: Special to the NY Post
It was a huge and promising moment for the New York Jets as they defeated the Buffalo Bills 20-17 Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.
The Jets got back into the swing of things following last weekend’s loss against New England and redeemed themselves with the victory over the team that sits first place in the AFC East. New York had a slow start, but defense was relentless, offense did their part and both were fired up as they made a comeback after half time. “Couldn’t be more proud of the fight, especially offensively and defensively,” said Coach Robert Saleh.
Buffalo scored first with a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Josh Allen. The Jets followed it up with a 53-yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein before the end of the quarter.
The Bills answered with a touchdown in the second quarter. Allen ran 36-yards for the score with 6:30 minutes to go. The Jets responded with less than 35 seconds to halftime. Jets quarterback Zach Wilson handed off to running back Michael Carter who ran 6-yards for a touchdown cutting the lead to 14-10 at halftime.
The New York defense stepped up at the end of the third quarter when Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner intercepted Allen’s pass. “I felt like I had a feel for Josh Allen and the throws he likes to make,” Gardner said. “I was trying to time it up to make the play.”
Wilson guided Gang Green connecting with running back James Robinson for the 7-yard touchdown pass with a little more than 4 minutes to go who ran for the touchdown taking the lead at17-14.
The Bills started their drive going into into the fourth quarter, but the Jets stayed defensive. Buffalo made it close enough to manage a 51-yard field goal by Tyler Bass to tie the score at 17.
The New York teams fought back and fourth, but the Jets pushed ahead and gained a three-point lead after a field goal by Zuerlein with less than 1:45 minutes in the game. The Jets held off the Bills, with exceptional coverage by Gardner in the last 45 seconds of the game. The Jets got the ball back and Wilson knelt to run out the clock.
“I didn’t see any signs of the ball being thrown short, so, I couldn’t believe it,” Gardner said about his coverage in the last few seconds of the game. “He (wide receiver Gabe Davis) was trying to push off a little bit, I just stayed poised and I made the play.”
Gardner said by Wednesday he had to put last week’s loss behind him and focus on the Bills. “There’s a great group of receivers I got to go against,” he told himself. “Let me lock in on this week’s.”
Wilson also said following last week’s loss he “quieted the noise” and worked on a few things. “One play at a time, going through my progressions, getting the ball out of my hands, hanging in the pocket, all the things a quarterback’s got to do,” Wilson said.
Wilson completed 18 of 25 attempted passes for 154-yards and threw one touchdown. He had no interceptions, an improvement from last week.
Allen completed 18 of 34 passes for 205-yards, threw no touchdowns and had two interceptions.
Jets safety Jordan Whitehead picked off Wilson’s second interception in the first quarter. Jets sacked Allen five times.
“Coming into the locker room, we had a chance to lap them,” said Coach Saleh. “The defense got the interception afterwards and we scored. I thought the defense was lights-out. I thought our offense, just the time-consuming drives to keep those guys off the field, especially that last drive that led to points.”
New York will now have a chance to rest with the upcoming bye week and look to get revenge when they travel to New England on Sunday afternoon November 20th.
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