EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – For the second year in a row, the Buffalo Bills are at MetLife Stadium for a Monday night test against the New York Jets.
Last year, the Bills and Jets met in Week 1 and despite losing star quarterback Aaron Rodgers – who was making his Jets debut after 18 years in Green Bay – on the fourth play of the game to a season-ending Achilles injury, New York found a way to pull out a 22-16 overtime victory on a walk-off punt return touchdown by Xavier Gipson.
There is more drama surrounding the Jets this time around, too, as owner Woody Johnson fired head coach Robert Saleh last week and the team will now be led by defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, while the offensive play calling has been taken away from former Bills offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and given to Jets QB coach/passing game coordinator Todd Downing.
Stay right here all night for live updates:
Buffalo defense gets a stop – 12:06 2nd quarter
New York picked up one first down on a 14-yard reception by Garrett Wilson. Buffalo’s defense stepped up after that. Taron Johnson stopped Breece Hall for a 1-yard run, Terrel Bernard invaded the backfield to drop Hall for a 5-yard loss and Aaron Rodgers third-down pass was incomplete. Thomas Morstead punted 45 yards and Kaiir Elam was flagged for holding on the return. Buffalo starts from the New York 10-yard line.
Bills go three-and-out – :25 1st quarter
It was the first possession without points. Josh Allen threw incomplete, Ray Davis rushed for 4 yards and a third-and-6 completion to Curtis Samuel was stopped after 4 yards. Sam Martin punted 62 yards to the end zone.
Jets 10, Bills 7: Garrett Wilson makes sliding touchdown catch
For whatever reason, the Bills are helpless when they play against Breece Hall. He came into this game averaging just three yards per carry, but as he has done in the past, he is carving up the Bills defense.
He accounted for 57 rushing and receiving yards on New York’s second possession, and that set up Aaron Rodgers’ five-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson. The Jets matched the Bills TD drive exactly, nine plays, 70 yards, and the Bills provided no resistance.
Bills 7, Jets 3: Josh Allen punches in touchdown run on physical drive
That was quite an answer by the Bills as they steamrolled their way down the field to take a 7-3 lead.
Ty Johnson opened the drive against his former team with a 12-yard run around right end, then Josh Allen hit Dalton Kincaid for a gain of 14 and he ran over New York’s Tony Adams along the sideline. And from there, it was the Ray Davis show as the rookie carried six times for 48 yards before Josh Allen plowed in from the 1.
It was nine-play, 70-yard drive, and the Bills even overcame a penalty at the 1 that pushed them back five yards.
Jets 3, Bills 0: Greg Zuerlein makes field goal on first possession
Buffalo won the coin toss, deferred as it loves to do, and then the defense went out and looked pretty uninspiring on the Jets opening possession. New York moved right downfield and the only thing that stopped Aaron Rodgers was a third down dropped pass by Breece Hall, so the Jets settled for a 34-yard Greg Zuerlein field goal.
Rodgers completed a 24-yard pass to Garrett Wilson to get the Jets into field goal position, a play where Dorian Williams missed an open field tackle.
James Cook inactive but Khalil Shakir, Taron Johnson are playing for Bills
As expected once we saw that Frank Gore was called up from the practice squad, Cook will not be playing Monday night due to the toe injury he suffered last week in Houston.
However, the Bills are getting back their most productive receiver as Shakir will be back after getting hurt in Baltimore and then missing the Houston game.
Also, Johnson will be playing for the first time since the first quarter of the season opener against Arizona when he suffered a broken forearm. The Bills’ defense has sorely missed Johnson, particularly in the last two losses to the Ravens and Texans. His return should help solidify the Bills run defense as well as his slot coverage, where he’s likely to see a healthy dose of the Jets best receiver, Garrett Wilson who lines up in the slot about one-third of the time.
We already knew defensive tackle Ed Oliver would be inactive, and he’s joined by Cook, LBs Joe Andreessen and Edefuan Ulofoshio, OL Will Clapp, and FS Mike Edwards.
Bills elevate RB Frank Gore from practice squad
We won’t know for sure whether RB James Cook is playing until the inactive list is announced at 6:45, but an indication that he might not comes via the news that Gore is being added to the 53-man roster.
There is still a chance that Cook will be available, and perhaps Gore is only up in case there’s a turn for the worse. He could be inactive. Or, it could be that both players will be active and Gore will be nothing more than an insurance policy.
The good news for the Bills is that by not elevating a wide receiver from the practice squad, that would seem to say that Khalil Shakir is going to play. Like Cook, he was listed as questionable for the game.
What time is the Bills vs Jets game?
- Date: Monday
- Time: 8:15 p.m.
- Place: MetLife Stadium
Who is favored to win Bills vs. Jets game
- Betting line: Bills -1
- Over-under: 41
- Money line: Bills minus-120 (bet $120 to win $100) and Jets plus-100 (bet $100 to win $100).
When I made my original pick early in the week, I had the Bills winning the game. Now that the Jets have switched head coaches, and it’s looking like both Cook and Shakir will be unable to play for an offense that is already struggling mightily, I have to switch. My sense is that the Jets defense, which remains one of the best in the league, is going to give the Bills’ punchless offense fits, and the Jets are also going to get an inspired effort as they play for a new head coach, plus will have passing game coordinator Todd Downing calling the offensive plays instead of beleaguered Nathaniel Hackett. Jets 20, Bills 16
Who is announcing the Bills vs. Jets game
- Play-by-play: Joe Buck
- Analyst: Troy Aikman
- Sideline reporter: Lisa Salters
∎ Cable/Network TV: ESPN. The game will be available on Spectrum channel 24 in Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, channel 25 in Binghamton, channel 29 in Elmira, channel 30 in Buffalo, channel 43 in Utica.
∎ Online streaming services: With your TV subscription you can watch on your phone or tablet on ESPN.com, the ESPN mobile app, and ESPN Deportes. You can also watch games on NFL.com and the NFL mobile app, and you can subscribe to NFL+, the league’s own streaming service, though you can’t cast the games to your TV – you must watch on your phone or tablet.
∎ TV streaming: You can also stream if you have subscriptions to Spectrum, DirecTV, fuboTVNFL+, SlingVidgo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV.
Watch Bills vs Jets live on Fubo (free trial)
On the radio: How to listen to the Bills vs Jets game
You can listen on SiriusXM satellite radio on channel 225 (Bills feed) and channel 226 (Jets feed), and on traditional radio, the Bills Radio Network has stations all across the state. Chris Brown has the play-by-play, Eric Wood is the analyst, and Sal Capaccio is the sideline reporter. The network includes:
- Rochester (WCMF 96.5 and WROC 950 AM)
- Buffalo (WGR550, 550 AM)
- Syracuse (WTKW 99.5/WTKV 105.5)
- Binghamton (WDRE 100.5FM)
- Ithaca (WIII 99.9/100.3 FM)
- Bath (WVIN 98.3 FM)
- Newark (WACK 1420 AM)
- Dansville (WDNY 93.9 FM)
- Elmira (WNGZ 1490 AM)
- Auburn (WAUB 98.1 FM/1590 AM)
- Geneva (WGVA 95.9 FM, 1240 AM)
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
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