Stock up, stock down following the Bills’ win over the Jets
The Bills needed a bounce back after two consecutive loses to the Chiefs and Titans, respectively, and they got it against the Jets. It wasn’t easy, especially in the first half, but the Bills rallied from being down 10-0, to pull out an 18-10 victory.
The Bills needed rookies from all across the roster to make plays, whether it was fullback Reggie Gilliam, cornerback Dane Jackson, defensive end AJ Epenesa, or kicker Tyler Bass. It was a great team performance, that was marred by an inconsistent red zone offense, poor decision-making, and bad penalties.
Buffalo still pulled out the victory to sweep the Jets in 2020 and move to 5-2 on the season. With that, let’s see who performed or underperformed in New Jersey via this week’s stock report:
Stock up
Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes. Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Dane Jackson
The Bills came into their game against the Jets with a secondary that’s missing some key pieces, cornerbacks Josh Norman and Levi Wallace were both out due to injury. It’s also a secondary that hasn’t made many plays this season, but rookie Dane Jackson, in his first career game, looked up to the task. Jackson started off strong by breaking up a pass on third down to force a New York field goal early in the contest.
Jackson continued his debut by making three tackles, breaking up two more passes, and picking off quarterback Sam Darnold once. It was the type of performance that the Bills secondary hasn’t seen this season, and Jackson could have played himself into a starting role in the backend of the season.
Tyler Bass
Kicker Tyler Bass hasn’t had the best start to his NFL career, but the Bills never had to rely on the rookie… until they faced the Jets. Buffalo’s offense struggled once they made it into Jets territory, that meant Bass needed to produce. He attempted eight field goals, making six of them, with a long of 53 yards.
Frankly, Bass was one of the reasons that Buffalo beat the Jets, while Bass hasn’t been perfect this year, he showed up when his team needed him.
Cole Beasley
While Buffalo only scored 18 points they moved the ball relatively well up until the they hit the red zone and receiver Cole Beasley was a big part of that. Beasley finished the day 11 catches, a new career high, for 112 yards. Quarterback Josh Allen found Beasley on the underneath routes, and then Beasley made defenders miss when the ball was in his hands.
Beasley also made a tremendous one handed grab in the red zone, showing his awareness and great hands.
Jerry Hughes
This spot could have gone to the entire defensive line because for the first time this season the Bills generated consistent pressure with their front four. The Bills defense sacked Darnold six times, with two of the six coming from Jerry Hughes. The other four came from the likes of: Tre’Davious White, Matt Milano, AJ Epenesa, and Trent Murphy.
Hughes finished the game with six tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble, and the game sealing interception.
Honorable mentions
Josh Allen had a bounce back performance with 368 total yards, but made some bad decisions that cost his team points. Zach Moss, the rookie back, had a strong second half, finishing the game with 72 total yards. Tyler Kroft, the lone tight end had four catches for 64 yards.
Stock down
New York Jets’ Blessuan Austin, bottom, breaks up a pass intended for Buffalo Bills’ Gabriel Davis (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Mitch Morse
Center Mitch Morse has been the anchor of Buffalo’s offensive line since he joined the team in the 2019 offseason. That’s still been the case for the majority of this season, but against New York he got outmatched by sophomore defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.
Williams had two sacks on Josh Allen, both came from when he was matched up against Morse.
Gabriel Davis
Receiver Gabriel Davis has a had an underrated rookie season, against the Jets though he was invisible. This could have been another breakout game for Davis, but he couldn’t capitalize on the absence of John Brown. In a game where the Bills were struggling in the red zone, having a receiver like Davis could have opened up the game for the Bills, yet he couldn’t get open.
Davis ended the game with just one catch for 11 yards, the Bills will need to see more production from the rookie.
Tre’Davious White
This feels sacrilegious to put the cornerstone of the Bills defense for the past four years here, but Tre White hasn’t had a great season so far. In a game where the Jets don’t have their best receiver due to injury, White should have dominated, but he looked average at best. Throughout the game he got beat in coverage by the likes of Breshard Perriman and Denzel Mims.
It wasn’t all bad for White though, he finished the game four tackles and contributed with a half of a sack.
Penalties
A sign of good coaching is a lack of penalties, that couldn’t be said for the Bills against the Jets. Buffalo committed 11 penalties that cost them over 100 yards. Simply put, that’s not good football. Penalties were especially an issue for the Bills offense, a killer penalty was an illegal shift against Davis that nullified his own touchdown.
Dishonorable mentions
Running back Devin Singletary had just 47 total yards against one of the worst defenses in the league. Defensive tackle Ed Oliver contributed just two tackles. Dawson Knox didn’t play due to COVID-19 but he now looks disposable due to the consistency of Kroft.
