Breaking Down Jets' Dominant Performance on Defense in Win Over Bills

This former Jets scout breaks down New York's performance on defense against Buffalo.

The Jets pulled off an improbable 20-17 win over the Bills Sunday, thanks to their defense. 

It's hard to single out a defensive player or two, as this was a collective team effort that saw a good number of key contributions. 

The game didn't look like it was going to go all that well after Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen hit receiver Stefon Diggs on a big play-action pass down to the Jets' 14-yard line right off the bat. 

However, that is when the Jets defense began stepping up. 

First, defensive end Carl Lawson got good pressure off the edge. Then, came the big interception by safety Jordan Whitehead to put kibosh on the Buffalo's opening drive. 

It is then that a number of New York defenders started making plays. Safety Lamarcus Joyner was all over the place, as was linebacker Jamien Sherwood. 

Sherwood and Joyner had big games with five tackles each, and Sherwood even added half a sack for good measure. 

Speaking of sacks, New York got to Allen five times, but that wasn't the main storyline. 

The Jets got noticeable pressure on Allen all afternoon, from start to finish, as his pocket never looked that comfy or cozy.

I tallied up four pressures from Jets' defensive end John Franklin-Myers, and rookie pass rusher Jermaine Johnson added a big sack chasing Allen down.

New York tore a page out of Kansas City's playbook from an earlier game this season by harassing the heck out of Allen. He looked human as a result, throwing two interceptions and completing only 53% of his passes. 

That is remarkable considering Allen has completed 64.1% of his passes on the season. 

Prior to the game, this is exactly what I wrote the Jets defense needed to do and it worked. The Jets out-aggressed the aggressive natured Allen. 

A number of his passes were errant as a result, and Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner stepped between one of those wayward passes and picked it off. 

Gardner additionally came up with a huge play to close out the game as he broke up a last ditch 4th and 21 deep pass with little time left. 

They tried @iamSauceGardner.

Game over.#BUFvsNYJ on CBS. pic.twitter.com/93vkhZHils

— New York Jets (@nyjets) November 6, 2022

His counterpart, cornerback D.J. Reed knocked away another deep attempt earlier in the 4th quarter intended for Diggs, which kept the score knotted up 17-17, before the Jets went ahead 20-17. 

There were just a bunch of individuals that stood out and who made stand out plays on the Jets' defense throughout. 

Linebackers Quincy Williams and C.J. Mosley were also all over the field lighting things up. Defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins deserves to be mentioned for stripping the ball from Allen earlier in the game and defensive end Bryce Huff came up big with a sack too. 

Despite how good all of these individual performances were, the game ball goes to New York's run defense.

For the most part outside of Allen's running efforts, New York bottled up Buffalo's run game, and I could tell nothing made the Bills' quarterback more uncomfortable. 

Normally Bills' running backs Devin Singletary and James Cook are slicing through defenses like a knife running through butter, but not on this day. 

New York held Singletary to eight carries for 24 yards, and Cook had four carries for 15 yards. I'm not a mathematician, but that is 12 carries for only 39 yards between the two of them. 

That's pretty good considering over the past three years since Jets' General Manager Joe Douglas was hired, the team's run defense has steadily fallen off a cliff. 

2019: No. 2

2020: No. 12

2021: No. 29

You wouldn't have guessed that watching this year's run defense, which is now ranked No. 9 in the NFL. 

While the old saying is "Defense wins championships," it is too early to say if this defense will win a championship or not. 

One thing is for sure, though. This defense was good enough to beat Buffalo and bring New York within a half game of being in first place in the AFC East. 

MORE:

• These Numbers Show Just How Much Josh Allen Struggled Against Jets Defense
• Jets' Zach Wilson Gives Injury Update After Taking Shot in Win Over Bills
• Jets Make Another Statement With Upset Over Bills

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