Turnovers Doom Jets Against Rex and Bills

The Jets suffer their third loss in their last four games with a 22-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills. And as it was the case against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Jets fell behind early and their comeback fell just short. Both the Jets and the Bills have 5-4 records but the Bills hold the tie breaker for second place.

The Jets will head to Houston next Sunday to take on the Texans but before we look forward to that game, here are some takeaways from Thursday night.

1. Todd Bowles – Other than the four turnovers hurting the Jets, Todd Bowles made some very questionable and debatable decisions in the fourth quarter. The first one came on a 4^th and short situation early in the fourth quarter with the Jets trailing by 12 points. Instead of kicking a field goal, Bowles decided to go for it. And when a team goes for it on fourth down, you have to pass the ball to the first down marker. Instead of doing so, Fitzpatrick threw a quick pass to Brandon Marshall who was standing one yard behind the line of scrimmage and never had a chance to make a play. So instead of kicking a field goal and potentially cutting the deficit to nine, the Jets turned it over on downs on a horrible play call. And the difference between a nine point game and a 12 point game is huge because a 12 point deficit requires two touchdowns while a nine point game requires just a touchdown and a field goal.

The second questionable call came after the muffed punt by the Bills. The Jets were handed the ball in the red zone when they were trailing 22-17. And with the ball inside the ten yard line, Bowles decided to go for it on fourth and short with about three minutes remaining and all three timeouts in Bowles’ pocket. A lot of people have been saying that the Jets should have kicked a field goal to make it a two point game but the only problem with that decision is that the Jets would need get the ball back from Buffalo, which was not a guarantee, and drive down the field for another field goal, which was not a guarantee. Bowles rather decided to go for a touchdown on 4^th and two. And sure enough it didn’t work out but sometimes, the right decision doesn’t work out so I do not criticize Bowles for going for it on 4^th down late in the game. However, going for it on fourth down early in the fourth quarter was probably the wrong decision.

2. Defense – The Jets defense was really good and consistent against the Bills. The scoreboard read 22 for the Bills at the end of the game but keep in mind that six of those points came off of the fumble returned for a touchdown on the kickoff, so the defense really only allowed 16 points. And to only give up 16 points while the offense spots the other team three turnovers (not counting the kickoff return fumble) just shows how much this defense was able to keep the Bills offense in check. The Bills finished with just 132 passing yards and 280 total yards.

Even though the Jets had a really good chance to win this game, it is incredibly hard to win a game when you give the other team four extra possessions. Their record may be 5-4, but if they played cleaner football against the Bills and the Eagles, then the Jets could very easily be 7-2 right now and battling New England for the division instead of fighting for a wild card spot. But hopefully the Jets can rest up and bounce back in Houston next weekend.