Jets produce franchise-low 53 yards in loss to…

ORCHARD PARK — The view of the Jets’ season-ending loss to the Bills depends on which side of the ball you want to look at. 

The defense delivered one of its best performances this season. The offense delivered the worst performance in the history of the franchise. 

All of it added up to Buffalo clinching its second straight AFC East crown with a 27-10 win over the Jets at Highmark Stadium. The Bills used a dominating defense and got just enough from Josh Allen late in the game to secure the win and a home playoff game. 

The Jets’ defense played what might have been its best game of the season. The unit, which entered the game dead last in the NFL in points and yards allowed, forced seven punts from the high-powered Bills offense and it was just a three-point game in the fourth quarter. 

Allen had a tough day in the air, throwing through heavy winds, but he made a few plays with his legs in the fourth quarter to move the Bills down the field. His 32-yard scramble led to a 1-yard Devin Singletary touchdown that put the Bills up 20-10 and salted the game away with 8:21 left in the game. 

Singletary caught a touchdown pass from Allen with 3:53 remaining to extend the lead to 27-10. Allen finished the game 24 of 45 for 239 yards and two touchdowns. He ran five times for 63 yards. 

While the Jets’ defense showed up, the offense did not. The Jets finished with 53 total yards, the lowest total in franchise history. The previous low was 72 against the Bengals on Dec. 12, 1976 at Shea Stadium. The Jets went 1-for-14 on third down and could basically get nothing going all day against the No. 1 defense in the NFL. 

Quarterback Zach Wilson ended his rookie year by going 7-for-20 for 87 yards and one touchdown. The Jets could not establish any sort of running game, gaining just 48 rushing yards and the Bills got nine sacks as the Jets’ offensive line had a long day. The sacks led to a loss of 82 yards, which is what gave the Jets such an incredibly low total of yardage. 

Robert Saleh’s first season as a head coach ends with a 4-13 record. It is the second straight season the Jets have lost at least 13 games. It was the fourth time in franchise history the Jets lost at least 13 games and the first time since 1995-96 that they lost 13 in back-to-back years. 

The game was close until the Bills scored the two fourth-quarter touchdowns but it never felt like the Jets were going to pull off the upset with how putrid their offense was. 

The teams traded punts in the third quarter until the Bills botched one. The snap was wide to punter Matt Haack, who had a rough day. Haack could not field the snap cleanly and ended up punting for just 7 yards. That gave the Jets the ball at the Bills’ 22, but they could not reach the end zone. Wilson was sacked on third down and lost 10 yards, but kicker Eddy Pineiro was able to kick a 49-yard field goal to cut the score to 13-10 with 3:55 left in the third quarter. 

It looked like it was going to be a blowout early. The Bills opened things up with a seven-play, 75-yard drive. Singletary ripped off a 40-yard run on the drive to get the Bills to the 10-yard line. From there, Allen broke a few tackles and avoided the Jets’ pass rush to throw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs, who barely got his two feet in for the 7-0 lead. 

After a three-and-out from the Jets, the Bills scored again, but this time Diggs could not get his feet in for a touchdown. Allen threw a pretty 23-yard pass to Diggs, who made a fantastic catch for an apparent touchdown, but the replay showed that Diggs did not get two feet down and the touchdown was overturned. The Bills had to kick a 41-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead. 

The Jets’ defense then buckled down. After those two early scores, the Jets stopped the Bills on fourth down to end the next possession and then forced three straight punts. The Bills put together a nice 10-play drive at the end of the first half but could not finish it off. Buffalo got to the Jets’ 3 but had to settle for another Tyler Bass field goal and a 13-7 halftime lead. 

While the defense was coming up with stop after stop, the offense was struggling to move the ball. The Jets had just 69 yards of total offense in the first half and 40 came on a fourth-down touchdown pass from Wilson to Cole. The long strike was the only big play the Jets had. They had 19 rushing yards in the first half. 

The game was played in tough conditions. There were 21 mile per hour winds at the start of the game and it was just 34 degrees with a mix of rain and snow. Both teams had a tough time throwing the ball into the wind and punting was an adventure. The Jets had one punt blocked and Haack shanked three straight punts in the first half.