Considering how the New York Jets looked in their first six games of the 2020 NFL season, it seemed like the franchise was destined for a winless year and were all-in for the Tank for Trevor.
Then, to everyone’s surprise, it looked like they were going to secure a win against the Buffalo Bills in Week 7, as the double-digit underdogs went up on the struggling Bills 10-0 during the second quarter and led them by 4 points at the half. Things returned to normal after the restart, however, as they didn’t score a point the remainder of the game and ended the contest with an 18-10 loss.
Editor's note: All of PFF's grades and advanced stats from this game will be finalized and made available to ELITE subscribers within 24 hours of the final whistle.
STORY OF THE GAME
Quarterback Josh Allen had this Buffalo offense rolling the first four weeks of the year, leading them to the fourth-most efficient offense in that span. They fell off the wagon in their Week 5 and 6 losses, and the bad offensive play carried into this one against one of the worst teams in the NFL.
The Bills entered the Jets’ territory in all nine of their possessions, and not a single one ended with a touchdown. Instead, they made six field goals, missed two field goals and lost a fumble. Buffalo had by far the least efficient offense on third down of the week — they converted just three of 11 third downs and Allen had a couple of turnover-worthy plays on those downs. In Jets territory, they converted only one of nine third downs.
Allen could not get anything cooking, as he completed just two of nine passes over 10 yards downfield — the lowest completion rate on such throws for the week so far. In each of Allen’s first five games, he had at a minimum eight completions of over 10-plus yards downfield. In his last two games, Allen has just five.
Allen and the Bills couldn’t do enough to close and score a touchdown on any of those drives, but they still did plenty to put themselves in a position to at least put points on the board. They effectively moved the ball in their own territory, as Allen went 18-of-19 for 205 yards on such plays — that equates to 10.8 yards per attempt, which was nearly double his average depth of target of 5.7 yards.
While the Bills had their fair share of offensive struggles, it was nowhere near the magnitude of the Jets’. Quarterback Sam Darnold led New York to the only passing offense to not generate positive EPA per pass play when kept clean for the week so far, and they were nowhere close to being positive (-0.56). When he was free from pressure, Darnold went 7-for-18 for 59 yards and two interceptions. That’ll likely lead to the worst clean-pocket passing grade in a single game this year.
The tank continues.
ROOKIE WATCH
Fourth-round rookie Gabriel Davis saw plenty of snaps with John Brown out again this week, but he was relatively ineffective. Davis had just one catch on 47 routes, giving him 0.23 yards per route run for the game. That’s the fifth-lowest per-route production by a wide receiver to run at least 40 routes in a single game this season.
Buffalo trotted out seventh-round pick Dane Jackson to make his rookie debut and start opposite Tre’Davious White, and he performed incredibly well. He saw four targets in coverage lined up at wide corner and allowed just two to be caught for 33 yards with an interception and forced incompletion. It certainly helps when you are facing an offense as bad as the Jets, but that’s still impressive for an NFL debut.
Denzel Mims also made his NFL debut in this one after sitting on IR the first six weeks of the season. He had to endure some poor quarterback play, but he was still able to generate a solid 2.31 yards per route run when lined up out wide.
The Jets' prized selection from the 2020 NFL Draft, tackle Mekhi Becton, had an overall subpar day. It wasn’t too great, but he was far from a liability like some pieces on the offensive line. He gave up a sack and two hurries on 30 pass-block snaps and lost an additional rep on top of that.
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