Four Things Learned from the New York Jets in a Week 7 Loss to the Buffalo Bills
The New York Jets are now 0-7, following an 18-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
After going up 10-0 at the midpoint of the second quarter, the Jets offense went cold and the Bills rattled off 18 unanswered points. With the win, the Bills are 5-2 and atop the AFC East.
‘Four Things Learned from the Jets in Week 7’:
Dowell and Out – On Sunday, head coach Adam Gase handed over the play-calling duties for the offense to coordinator Dowell Loggains. It was a move perhaps long overdue, given how the Jets offense has struggled this year.
In last week’s shutout loss at the Miami Dolphins, the Jets had just 13 first downs and 263 yards of total offense. In losing to the AFC East leading Bills, the Jets managed 17 first downs but just 190 yards of total offense.
And quarterback Sam Darnold look poor in his first game back off of a two-week injury hiatus with a sprained AC joint (shoulder). His 12-of-23 for 120 yards with two interceptions is not a building block for this franchise quarterback.
Getting Perine Running - La’Mical Perine not only got his first NFL touchdown, a five-yard run off the right side for a 10-0 Jets lead in the second quarter, but he showed how he can potentially be a big part of the Jets offense moving forward.
The rookie running back saw the most touches of his career with 16 carries for 39 yards and two receptions for 16 yards. Not huge numbers but given the state of the offense, certainly not terrible.
Last week, Perine had just 27 rushing yards on seven carries and two catches for nine yards. Jets head coach Adam Gase was criticized by the media during the week for the lack of touches for his fourth round pick.
Perine’s larger role in the offense was one of the few positives for the Jets on Sunday.
Williams Not to Blame – Through six games this year, the Jets defense under coordinator Gregg Williams has been equally culpable as the offense for the team’s terrible start. This week, however, wasn’t the case.
While the Bills did manage 422 yards of total offense, they were kept out of the end zone. The defense bent but didn’t break. Given the struggles of the offense after going up 10-0 midway through the second quarter, it wasn’t a bad performance from the defense.
Not perfect, but the Jets made the Bills work for it at least, limiting them to six field goals to keep the game close.
Now What? – So, the Jets are now two losses away from another losing season, something that seems almost like a certainty at this point.
With Loggains taking over the play-calling and showing no substantial improvement over Gase and the defense still flawed (albeit improved from a week ago). Nothing about this team right now is clicking.
This season continues its flight downhill and shows no signs of being able to turn things around, especially with the lack of talent on this roster.
