By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun and Olean Star Senior Sports Columnist
Oh, this one was ugly.
Monday night’s meeting for the lead in the AFC East between the Bills (now 4-2) and Jets (2-4) was everything it shouldn’t have been: a sloppy flag-fest replete with red-zone stalls, poor coaching decisions and lousy kicking.
Buffalo didn’t so much win, as it survived and gratefully accepted the gift victory from the Jets.
This was a game neither team deserved to win and Bills coach Sean McDermott allowed in his post-game press conference, “We have a lot to clean up, we’ve got to be more disciplined in situational football.”
Ya think?
Incredibly, despite the sloppiness, this wasn’t a battle of turnovers. Slot cornerback Taron Johnson’s acrobatic interception of an Aaron Rodgers pass that wide receiver Mike Williams seemed to have caught with 5 ½ minutes to go was the only one … and it decided the game.
No, what made this game so hard to watch was lack of self-control as it relates to the rule book and some coaching stupidity.
Consider this, the officiating crew threw 28 flags, 22 of them marked off, 11 to each team, with the total penalty yards, 204, the most in an NFL game this season. Six other flags were off-setting and a seventh, against the Jets, was picked up.
Buffalo and New York were each penalized for six pre-snap or post-play violations and they also combined for 12 offensive or defensive holding penalties and offensive or defensive pass interference citations.
Two calls were abject ignorance, Buffalo tackle Dion Dawkins was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct during the lights-out time between the third and fourth period and Jets defensive lineman Javon Kinlaw got a similar citation for swearing in an officials’ face for flagging him for offside on Buffalo’s winning field goal.
THEN THERE were the dumb decisions (In fairness I only kept track of Bills coach Sean McDermott, not the Jets new boss Jeff Ulbrich).
With eight seconds left in the half and the Bills up 20-10, the Jets had the ball at their own 48. There were two choices, run a quick out to get about nine more yards, close enough for kicker Greg Zweirlein to try a 61-yard field goal, the longest of his career, OR, rush only two defenders and load the endzone to prevent a “Hail Mary” touchdown.
McDermott chose the former, then realized that Rodgers, who had already thrown three successful “Hail Marys” in his career, was opting for Door No. 2 and watched as New York wide receiver Allen Lazard out-jump Buffalo’s secondary for the 52-yard TD that made it 20-17 at intermission.
“We were guarding the sidelines because of the potential for a field goal,” McDermott said, “then they checked to a Hail Mary, so we have to go back and examine that as well.”
In other words your defensive backfield can’t think on its collective feet?
Meanwhile, the warning light is flashing over kicker Tyler Bass who missed his third field goal (this from 47 yards) and second extra point after struggling in training camp.
When asked about his fifth-year kicker, McDermott was terse, “He knows he has to make those kicks.”
But, Zweirlein had a worse night, missing relatively modest-length kicks — 32 and 43 yards — both hitting the upright and each would have given the Jets the lead.
Oh yeah, McDermott has clearly forgotten the message from the “13 Seconds” playoff loss in Kansas City.
With Buffalo up 23-20, he opted for a deep kickoff, the same decision he won’t admit to in that Chiefs defeat and gave the Jets the ball at their own 30 with 3:43 and all three timeouts remaining.
Fortunately Buffalo’s defense held, thanks to Johnson’s pick, or we’d have been revisiting that issue all over again.
BY THE WAY, there was a football game as Allen went 19-of-25 for 215 yards and two touchdowns and got 97 yards on 22 carries and 55 receiving yards from Ray Davis in the injured absence of running back James Cook.
For the record, the lead changed hands five times before the Bills finally prevailed.
NOTES FROM the Bills’ 23-20 win over the Jets on Monday night at Metlife Stadium:
— The defensive play of the game was made by Bills nickelback Johnson one of the NFL’s elite slot corners. His diving interception of a Aaron Rodgers pass that he took away from Jets receiver Mike Williams clinched the win.
— When Greg Zuerlein kicked a 34-yard field goal on the Jets’ first possession, it marked the first time New York scored on the opening drive of a game all season.
— Allen scored on a quarterback sneak at the end of the Bills’ first possession, it was his 56th rushing TD as a pro.
— Dawson Knox’s 12-yard touchdown reception at the end of the first half was his first of the season.
— The Bills initial sack of Rodgers was logged by defensive tackle DaQuan Jones, his first of the season with the next two going to A.J. Epenesa, giving him a pair on the season. Epenesa’s third sack was nullified by an unnecessary roughness call as he landed on Rodgers with his full body weight.
— Jets defensive linemen Will McDonald (team-leading seven) and Quinnen Williams (2) sacked Allen
— Allen’s 42-yard connection with Davis was the longest pass connection of his career to a running back.
— Place-kicker Tyler Bass missed the extra point after Buffalo’s second touchdown. And though it fluttered badly, it didn’t appear to have been blocked. It was his second point-after miss of the season.
Later he missed a 47-yarder, his third unsuccessful field goal in 11 tries.
— Bills safety Taylor Rapp, who returned from concussion protocol wearing the Guardian protection cover on his helmet, led Buffalo in tackles (8) and solo stops (5). Jets linebacker Jamien Sherwood had game-highs in tackles (13) and solo stops (7).
— Inactive for the Bills were running back James Cook (toe), defensive tackle Ed Oliver (hamstring), linebackers Joe Andreessen and Edufaun Ulofoshio, safety Mike Edwards and tackle Will Clapp.
Before the game, Buffalo activated running back Frank Gore Jr. from the practice squad in anticipation of Cook being inactive.
— Out for the Jets were cornerback Michael Carter II (back) and linebacker C.J. Mosely (toe) and during the game, safety Chuck Clark (ankle) left as did cornerback D.J. Reed (groin) neither returned.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
