Jets needed just six minutes to completely unravel versus Bills

The Jets let the game against the Bills on Sunday get away from them in an instant. 

They were in the game with 1:53 left in the first half after a 48-yard field goal from Matt Ammendola made it a 10-3 game. But things crumbled quickly from there. 

Bills quarterback Josh Allen hit star receiver Stefon Diggs for a 57-yard gain on the first play of the next series. Diggs scored a 12-yard touchdown four plays later to put Buffalo up 17-3. The Jets had a chance to cut into the lead before halftime, but wide receiver Corey Davis fumbled on the Bills 27 and Buffalo recovered. 

The Bills opened the second half with a 75-yard touchdown drive to go up 24-3. Mike White then threw his second interception of the game, and the Bills turned that into a 64-yard touchdown drive to make it 31-3 with 10:47 left in the third quarter, just six minutes of game time after it had been a one-score game. 

“Those are things that a young group has to understand, understand what teams are trying to achieve in a two-minute situation on the first play,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said of the 57-yard pass on which Diggs beat Brandin Echols with a double move. “Especially them and the way they operate. It’s why a lot of teams defer. You score before the half, you score coming out of the locker room, and all of a sudden, a 10-3 game turns into 24-3 in a heartbeat. You’re like, ‘What the hell just happened?’ We have to be better. A lot of it is understanding situations and clearly getting better in those situations.” 

Linebacker C.J. Mosley said this is all part of the Jets young team learning how to win. 

“We’ve got to go through these learning curves,” Mosley said. “It’s going to hurt. That’s for sure. It definitely has been.” 

The Jets had a brutal penalty early in the second quarter. They had a fourth-and-1 at the Bills 45 and were trailing, 10-0. The Jets lined up to go for it, but were penalized for delay of game. 

“We felt good with where we were aligned, procedure,” Saleh said. “We should have got the ball off. We all felt good. We checked the headset and felt good about where we were with the play clock and where we were lined up. The procedure did not go the way we thought it would.” 

White left the game in the fourth quarter after getting hit. He said he landed on the ball and had the wind knocked out of him. He was cleared to return to the game, Saleh said. … Echols has a quad injury. … The Jets have allowed an average of 472.5 yards and 43.8 points per game over their last four games.