The Bills looked well on their way to a loss in the opening game of the regular season, but their offense found its footing late in the third quarter and pulled off a major comeback.
John Brown’s 38-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter made it 17 straight points for the Bills and a 17-16 lead over the Jets in the Meadowlands. The Jets would move the ball near midfield on their ensuing drive, but Sam Darnold missed an open Robby Anderson deep a couple of times and the Bills defense held for the win.
Rookie running back Devin Singletary played a big part in the offensive turnaround. He didn’t get a carry in the first half, but ran four times for 70 yards and also caught four passes for 28 yards. That helped set up Brown’s touchdown as well as a running score for Josh Allen earlier in the fourth quarter.
Allen was intercepted twice and lost a fumble in the first half, but he got rolling in the second half and finished the day 24-of-37 for 254 yards. The Bills offense was helped by linebacker C.J. Mosley’s absence as the Jets veteran was forced out by a groin injury at the end of the third quarter. He’d stuffed the stat sheet before getting hurt and any extended time out would be a very bad development for the Jets defense.
Le’Veon Bell had 17 carries for 60 yards and six catches for 32 yards and a touchdown in his Jets debut. Darnold was 27-of-40 for 179 yards and was under pressure often behind a leaky offensive line. The line play definitely hindered the Jets and they’ll have to hope things improve as center Ryan Kalil, left guard Kelechi Osemele and right guard Brian Winters didn’t play together at all in the preseason.
The Bills will be back at the Meadowlands to face the Giants next weekend and they’ll be hoping to pick up where they left off on Sunday.
