ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Let’s play pick your adjective to describe Sunday’s 40-14 Jets loss to the Bills.
You could go with pathetic.
You could go with embarrassing.
You could go with humiliating.
You could go with all of the above and still not capture just how bad this loss was.
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This looked like the varsity playing the JV. The Bills showed they are the class of the AFC East and maybe the whole AFC while the Jets looked like they might struggle in the SEC.
The Jets lost by 26 points and it was not even that close.
The only good news for the Jets is there is just one more game left in the season and it was a short plane ride home. The Jets did nothing well in this game. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw two interceptions and was sacked four times, including once for a safety. He threw for just 112 yards. It got so bad that Rodgers was benched in the fourth quarter for Tyrod Taylor. The offense could not sniff the end zone until garbage time when Taylor threw a touchdown to Garrett Wilson.
The defense was no match for Josh Allen and the Bills offense as they scored five touchdowns. The Bills scored 28 points in the second half.
The Jets continued to be the most undisciplined team you’ve ever seen. They had 16 accepted penalties for 120 yards. Five of those penalties were personal fouls for unnecessary roughness.
The Bills opened the game with a 12-play, 70-yard drive that was aided by three Jets penalties. Allen plunged in from the 1-yard line for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. The touchdown was preceded by a pass interference penalty on Sauce Gardner in the end zone that put the ball on the 1. D.J. Reed committed a hands to the face penalty earlier on the drive that turned a third-and-17 for the Bills into a first down.
The Jets got the ball to the Bills’ 6 on their first drive but a holding penalty moved them back to the 34 and then they were stuffed on fourth-and-1 from the 24 when Braelon Allen was stopped for no gain.
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The Jets made another trip to the red zone midway through the second quarter, getting to the Buffalo 12. Rodgers then threw his ninth interception of the season. He was trying to throw a quick pass to Davante Adams and Bills defensive end Greg Rousseau tipped it into the air and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips caught it for the pick, ending the Jets’ scoring hopes again.
The Bills added to their lead on defense when defensive end A.J. Epenesa blew past Max Mitchell, who was starting at left tackle, and sacked Rodgers in the end zone for a safety and a 9-0 lead with 2:31 left in the first half.
Buffalo tacked on a 39-yard field goal by Tyler Bass at the end of the half to make it 12-0 at halftime.
The Jets had some hope again in the second half after getting good field position at the Bills’ 45. But the drive ended with Rodgers’ second interception of the game and 10th of the season. This one by Bills cornerback Christian Benford. To add a dash of insult to the interception, Rodgers was then penalized for hitting Benford out of bounds after he returned it 24 yards.
The Bills turned the takeaway into a touchdown with Allen throwing a 30-yard touchdown to Amari Cooper, who made an acrobatic catch. The score put the Bills up 19-0 with 5:13 left in the third quarter.
Running back James Cook then scored from the 1 late in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 26-0.
The humiliation kept coming when Garrett Wilson fumbled at the Jets 20 and Bills linebacker Matt Milano recovered it. Allen found Keon Coleman for a 14-yard touchdown on a play when he had all day to throw to push the embarrassment to 33-0.
The score went to 40-0 when Bills backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky threw a short pass to practice squad receiver Tyrell Shavers and he went 69 yards for yet another touchdown.
With the game out of reach, Taylor replaced Rodgers in the fourth quarter and led two touchdown drives to avoid the shutout.