News Every Day | 30 December 2024, 08:06

Bills clinch the AFC’s No. 2 seed with a 40-14 rout of the undisciplined Jets

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen reflected on Buffalo’s many offseason critics and doubters when asked about the Bills achieving their latest milestones while sewing up the AFC’s No. 2 seed with a 40-14 rout of the unraveling and undisciplined New York Jets on Sunday.

It was a the Bills quarterback’s “I told you so moment,” even though Allen elected not to use those exact words.

“It speaks to the staff that we’ve got here, the guys that we’ve got in this locker room, how this team is put together and the culture that we have,” Allen said. “We didn’t really pay attention to the preseason notions, but we heard them and we saw them and we knew what people were saying.

“But it had no effect on us.”

Well, that might be a stretch when it comes to motivation.

What’s unquestioned is how Allen and the Bills (13-3) overcame a young, patchwork roster following the offseason departure of six of eight team captains — including Stefon Diggs being traded to Houston — to run away with their fifth consecutive AFC East title and win a franchise-best 13 games for the fifth time in team history, and third since 2020.

Coach Sean McDermott didn’t leave much doubt as to who deserves the most credit for leading the Bills to their sixth consecutive playoff berth, and helping them set the single-season franchise records for points (509) and touchdowns (63).

“I think Josh Allen continues to show why he should be the MVP,” McDermott said. “I’ve been around this league long enough to know to see MVP every year for many years. And what he has done on this team and this organization in this community — and no offense to anybody else — but I’ve got a hard time believing that someone’s done more.”

Allen threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score to become the NFL’s first player to score 40 touchdowns in five consecutive seasons.

He did so in an outing Buffalo blew the game open by capitalizing on two Jets turnovers and scoring three touchdowns over a 5:01 span in the closing minutes of the third quarter. Buffalo’s defense forced three takeaways overall and sacked Aaron Rodgers four times, including a 2-yard loss for a safety in the second quarter.

Nothing went right in what became a comedy of errors for Rodgers and the Jets (4-12). New York will finish with five or fewer wins for the seventh time over a 14-season playoff drought — the NFL’s longest active streak.

“It’s kind of like the season, it just got away from us. Too many games got away from us,” said Rodgers, who finished 12 of 18 for 112 yards and two interceptions before being pulled in favor of Tyrod Taylor with Buffalo leading 40-0. “We were moving the ball well and then just hit a wall. And that’s kind of been the season.”

Rodgers, who entered the game with 499 career TD passes and looking to become just the fifth player to reach 500, was instead shut out and became the NFL’s most sacked quarterback. The 41-year-old has now been sacked 568 times, moving ahead of Tom Brady (565) and into first place on the career list.

Taylor accounted for all of New York’s points, with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson and a 20-yarder to Tyler Conklin.

Discipline was an issue for a Jets team that fell to 2-9 since Jeff Ulbrich took over as interim coach. New York finished with 16 accepted penalties for 120 yards.

“It’s frustrating, it’s embarrassing, it’s maddening. It’s all of that,” Ulbrich said.

Allen had a short and efficient outing, finishing 16 of 27 for 182 yards with a 30-yard TD pass to Amari Cooper and a 14-yarder to Keon Coleman before giving way to backup Mitchell Trubisky with Buffalo leading 33-0 through three quarters. And Trubisky piled on by completing a 69-yard touchdown pass to practice squad call-up Tyrell Shavers 2:23 into the fourth quarter.

Shavers became the 13th Bills player to catch a touchdown pass, matching the single-season NFL record, to validate the “everybody eats” mantra Allen and the offense used to approach this season.

The Bills defense enjoyed a dominating performance to snap a shaky three-game stretch in which it combined to allow 1,357 yards, 86 first downs and 107 points.

“I wouldn’t say need … and I don’t want to say reassurance, either,” said A.J. Epenesa, who sacked Rodgers for the safety. “But it just shows that this is what we can do and this is the standard that needs to be upheld.”

Milestones

Allen’s 1-yard score was the 65th rushing TD of his career, matching the team record held by Thurman Thomas. … James Cook scored on a 4-yard run for his 15th TD rushing of the season, one short of the Bills’ single-season record set by O.J. Simpson in a 14-game season in 1975. Cook matched Allen, who scored 15 last year. … Wilson reached 1,000 yards receiving for the third straight year to start his career, the first Jets player to do so and the 10th player in NFL history to accomplish the feat.