Buffalo drops to 0-2 following the 37-31 loss to their East Division rival.
Buffalo Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
A recap of Buffalo’s Week 2 matchup against the New York Jets.
Regular season records: Buffalo (0-2), New York (1-1)
In a nutshell:
The Jets offense was humming from the start and closed strong en route to a big Week 2 division win over the Bills 37-30 on Thursday Night Football. Ryan Fitzpatrick led a Jets passing game that could not be stopped as he threw for 374 yards and a touchdown.
Jets receivers Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker teamed up for 227 yards receiving and a touchdown. Second-year receiver Quincy Enunwa had another 92 yards on six catches as Buffalo’s defense could not get stops. New York went 8-13 on third down conversions.
Matt Forte had three rushing touchdowns in the victory.
Down 20-7 in the first half the Bills made a game of it scoring 17 straight points with a field goal drive at the end of the half followed by a 71-yard scoring play from Tyrod Taylor and a Nickell Robey-Coleman fumble return for a touchdown just four minutes into the third quarter to take a 24-20 lead.
But the Jets would score the next 17 points of the game to win going away despite a late score by Mike Gillislee that made it a one score game with a minute left.
How it went down:
-The Jets put together a long opening drive that took more than eight minutes off the clock and overcame penalties and a fumble and got three points out of it with a 28-yard field goal from Nick Folk for a 3-0 lead with 6:41 left in the first quarter.
-Buffalo answered just three plays later when Tyrod Taylor uncorked a bomb down the right sideline on a 3rd-and-12 hitting Marquise Goodwin in stride for an 84-yard touchdown (7-3) with just over five minutes left in the opening quarter.
-The Jets staged a field goal drive in response as Nick Folk put a 29-yard attempt up and through to pull New York to within one (7-6) as the first quarter came to a close.
-After a three and out by Buffalo’s offense, the Jets staged their third consecutive scoring drive marching 66 yards on six plays before Matt Forte plunged in from a yard out to give the Jets the lead (13-7) early in the second quarter.
-That was followed by another touchdown drive as Ryan Fitzpatrick hit a slanting Eric Decker for a five-yard scoring play to cap a seven-play 77-yard drive to push their lead to 13 (20-7) with four minutes left in the first half.
-Dan Carpenter put a 39-yard field goal attempt through to make it a 10-point game at halftime (20-10).
-The Bills took all of 38 seconds in the third quarter before Tyrod Taylor bought time scrambling out of the pocket before he found Greg Salas for a 71-yard touchdown to make it a field goal game (20-17).
-On the ensuing Jets possession Preston Brown forced Jalin Marshall to fumble at the Jets 35, Nickel Robey-Coleman scooped up the loose ball and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown to give the Bills the lead 24-20 just four minutes into the third quarter.
-The Jets retook the lead with a methodical 12-play 84-yard drive capped by Matt Forte’s four-yard touchdown run with two minutes left in the third quarter (27-24).
-New York’s offense then capitalized on a Tyrod Taylor interception deep in Jets territory moving 69 yards on eight plays before Nick Folk was true on a 36-yard field goal (30-24) with 10 minutes left in regulation.
-Matt Forte closed the door on the Bills with a 12-yard touchdown run to finish off a 56-yard scoring drive with four minutes left in the game.
-Mike Gillislee scored on a diving plunge after an 18-yard catch and run with 1:17 remaining to make it a one score game (37-30).
Subplots:
-Tyrod Taylor became the fifth Bills quarterback to throw two 70-plus yard touchdown passes in the same game joining Dennis Shaw (9/19/71 vs. Dallas), Joe Ferguson (9/23/79 vs. NY Jets), Jim Kelly (12/4/94 at Miami) and JP Losman (11/9/06 at Houston).
-Taylor was taken out as part of the concussion protocol late in the third quarter. EJ Manuel came in and ran two plays before Taylor was cleared and returned. For the game Taylor was 17-29 passing for 269 yards with three touchdowns, an interception and a passer rating of 109.7.
-Both of Buffalo’s touchdown drives lasted only three plays each covering 82 and 75 yards.
-LeSean McCoy had a direct snap carry out of the Wildcat formation for six yards in the first half.
-The 84-yard touchdown by Tyrod Taylor to Marquise Goodwin is the longest at a home game in team history.
-Lorenzo Alexander had a forced fumble when he stripped Ryan Fitzpatrick of the ball in the pocket, but the Jets recovered.
-The safety rotation continued opposite Corey Graham. Duke Williams, Robert Blanton and Aaron Williams all rotated through on the team’s opening defensive series.
-EJ Manuel converted a 4th-and-1 play on a sneak near the end of the first half to keep a Bills drive alive.
-The Bills were unable to get a yard on two consecutive plays with seven minutes left in the game trailing by six (30-24) as the Jets forced a turnover on downs at the New York 45-yard line.
-The Bills have not been 0-2 to start a season since 2010. Rex Ryan has never started a season 0-2 as a head coach.
Inactives:
K Jordan Gay, QB Cardale Jones, RB Jonathan Williams, S Colt Anderson, LB Brandon Spikes, C Patrick Lewis, OT Cordy Glenn.
Up next:
The Bills play host to the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 25th for a 1 pm kickoff in Week 3.