Game Week thread - Bills at Jets

[Thrivefourfive]

Goals change during the season. As we sit on the eve of the Bills going 2-0 and the Chiefs 0-2, the goal is now to wrap up the #1 seed asap. But, don’t kill yourself doing it. The team is too experienced to not be confident in getting the to the SB via road trip. 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

On 9/11/2025 at 8:09 AM, eball said:

 

Every year…it never fails.  Repeat after me:  IN THE NFL THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A TRAP GAME.  Teams that are favored to win beat the teams they are playing at the same rate, whether they are coming off a “tough and emotional” win or whether they have an upcoming “big game” the following week.  Listen to the players and coaches!  They all say the same thing — it’s hard to win in the league.  Nobody takes anyone for granted and they are all just trying to “go 1-0” in the current week.

 

The notion of trap games and letdowns is a fan fallacy, at least in the NFL.

 

It’s a trap game for fans/betters is what I mean. Of course the players and McDermott are taking a week 2 divisional game serious. I never questioned that. 

[RochesterLifer]

5 hours ago, bills742 said:

 

 

I really don’t know the Jets’ roster. Are these players of any consequence?

Bonus points if you can phonetically spell the RB’s last name.

[newcam2012]

1 hour ago, Thrivefourfive said:

Goals change during the season. As we sit on the eve of the Bills going 2-0 and the Chiefs 0-2, the goal is now to wrap up the #1 seed asap. But, don’t kill yourself doing it. The team is too experienced to not be confident in getting the to the SB via road trip. 

Right now it's a one game at a time mentality for the Bills. Talk about one seed and Super Bowl thoughts are months away. 

[Shortchaz]

1 hour ago, Thrivefourfive said:

Goals change during the season. As we sit on the eve of the Bills going 2-0 and the Chiefs 0-2, the goal is now to wrap up the #1 seed asap. But, don’t kill yourself doing it. The team is too experienced to not be confident in getting the to the SB via road trip. 

Don’t worry, we always kill ourselves not doing it 👍

[Richard Noggin]

6 hours ago, Dan said:

This is why I think those PFF scores are crap… how is Derek Henry not the #1 ranked RB last week?   One fumble, I guess, negates the fact that he literally ran the Bills D into the ground. 

 

Because production is different than opportunity. Derrick Henry did VERY well to sprint through those gaping holes and cutback lanes and 2nd and 3rd level defenders taking abysmal angles and just being physically outmatched (by what a beast Henry is, no doubt). But I'm guessing Hall did more with LESS, according to the evaluators. Simple, really. 

 

5 hours ago, MJS said:

He was running through wide open holes.

 

For the most part, Henry was kept clean through the line the way we wish Bernard, on the other side, could be. I googled Henry's yards BEFORE contact in week 1 to see about that, and here's AI's summary (which is mathematically incoherent...because that many avg yards before contact on 18 carries equals over 250 yards rushing before contact in total...so I'm just lost):

 

 

[NewEra]

9 hours ago, Pete said:

Taron questionable.  I wonder if we play 4-3 mostly if he’s out 

Might be a smart move due to the Jets lack of WR talent.  I thought Williams was a plus starter vs the run last season.  Not so much vs the ravens though 

[Mike in Horseheads]

3 hours ago, Thrivefourfive said:

Goals change during the season. As we sit on the eve of the Bills going 2-0 and the Chiefs 0-2, the goal is now to wrap up the #1 seed asap. But, don’t kill yourself doing it. The team is too experienced to not be confident in getting the to the SB via road trip. 

I never take any Bills win for granted, been burned by that too many over the years

[Chandler#81]

On 9/9/2025 at 9:22 AM, K-9 said:

I worry about a let down after such an emotional comeback win and going to a place that has given us fits in the past. And the Jest offense looked pretty good on Sunday, so I hope we solve our run fit issues. Plus, divisional games between opponents who know each other so well adds an element as well. Nice to know we shredded an Aaron Glenn defense the last time we faced it.

 

Gonna be difficult to solve this issue given the only player who did ANYTHING is out..

[finn]

2 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

Gonna be difficult to solve this issue given the only player who did ANYTHING is out..

Right. Watching the game again when the Ravens were on offense is painful. To their credit, the defense rallied to the ball and didn't give up, but the tackles were consistently shunted aside, the ends never got home, the tiny linebackers were either out of position or blown up by blockers, and the safeties were either slow or took bad angles. Only Bosa, Benford, and Strong did ok. Not great, at all, but ok.

 

Oliver, though, wow. It was like watching a NFL player on a college team. Where can we find 10 more of him? (Or 11, since he, of all people on that wretched defense, is out.)

[jcamm1966]

No more Kincade screens please

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

15 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Christ what is with this team?  Beat the Ravens and cant hardly field a team against a division rival and it almost always seems to be mostly Defensive players.  

Consequences of having a defense full of smaller, faster guys. I think that’s what it comes down to. This is why depth is crucial in a McDermott defense. 

[Tierlifer]

9 hours ago, RochesterLifer said:

I really don’t know the Jets’ roster. Are these players of any consequence?

Bonus points if you can phonetically spell the RB’s last name.

Doug Mientkiewicz nods with approval if you can as well. 

[Goin Breakdown]

18 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

The Ravens game reminds me of a movie where the Hero wins an epic battle, walks away, and then collapses. 

[Rockinon]

4 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

Gonna be difficult to solve this issue given the only player who did ANYTHING is out..

Is he the only player that did anything? I know it seems that way but...

[wjag]

From what I glean, Jets are down Reynolds and their TE1 was on/off the injury report this week.  That means they will likely elevate Lazard who has been recovering from a camp injury.  Would not surpise to see that Wilson is sore too after that last hit Ramsey put on him to end the game.  Gardner was on/off the injury report this week as well.

 

Makes me think the Bills will play close to the LOS this week and challenge the Jets to beat them over the top.

Edited September 13 by wjag

[finn]

1 hour ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

Consequences of having a defense full of smaller, faster guys. I think that’s what it comes down to. This is why depth is crucial in a McDermott defense. 

McBeane built this team to beat KC, which it can't do, at the expense of being tissue paper against power teams like Baltimore. A lose-lose proposition, at least so far. The only redeeming quality I can see is that they play with heart and get turnovers, as in the Ravens game. Otherwise, the best they can do is serve as a speed bump so Allen has at least a fighting chance of scoring more points than they give up, again as in the Ravens game. 

 

If I'm the Jets, I play classic ball control. Short throws, 3.5 yards per carry, milk the clock, 43-minute TOP. Keep Allen on the bench and exhaust the small, overmatched defense. If you're facing arguably the worst defense and best offense in the league, which do you keep on the field and which do you keep on the sidelines? 

[RunTheBall]

4 minutes ago, finn said:

McBeane built this team to beat KC, which it can't do, at the expense of being tissue paper against power teams like Baltimore. A lose-lose proposition, at least so far. The only redeeming quality I can see is that they play with heart and get turnovers, as in the Ravens game. Otherwise, the best they can do is serve as a speed bump so Allen has at least a fighting chance of scoring more points than they give up, again as in the Ravens game. 

 

If I'm the Jets, I play classic ball control. Short throws, 3.5 yards per carry, milk the clock, 43-minute TOP. Keep Allen on the bench and exhaust the small, overmatched defense. If you're facing arguably the worst defense and best offense in the league, which do you keep on the field and which do you keep on the sidelines? 

I tend to agree with your overall summary of the McD defense, although to call them the worst in the league is a bit of hyperbole.

 

We won’t see what this defense can do until Hoecht and Okinjobi come back. The defense will improve. We have too many talented guys who looked like ass against the Ravens. Milano sucked. Bernard sucked. Rapp sucked. Bishop was meh. I fully expect improvement especially from the LBs.

 

They looked like a team that hadn’t had a lot of pre season reps. First game is a liar. 

 

If we don’t turn the ball over against the Jets we win easily.

 

[SCBills]

I’m guessing the Defense will have a solid showing, even without Oliver.  
 

They were utterly humiliated on Sunday Night and get a chance to redeem themselves against a similar style Offense.  
 

That said… I agree with many of the comments above.   It’s beyond frustrating to hear people say “well, Baltimore is unique”… ok, cool, they’re only a team we likely have to beat to get to the Super Bowl, but alright. 
 

And Oliver’s injury is just bad luck, but yes.. we have an injury issue every year on Defense because we have a small, undersized Defense.   It’s not irony.. it’s cause and effect.   We’re built to beat KC, but haven’t been able to do that when it matters, and as a side effect of that style, we struggle against good running teams that have any above average passing element and then deal with injuries on that side of the ball all the time. 

[harryS]

If the D stays healthy (a big question, unfortunately), it should gradually improve into being pretty good.  Like 10th best defense in the league or so.  Safety play (and likely injuries) will put the ceiling there.