Bills rout the Jets 37-14

The 7th ranked defense in the NFL played more like the 27th ranked defense in Orchard Park Sunday.  On the other hand, Buffalo’s defense controlled the game from the get go.  The Jets didn’t eclipse double digit points until the game was well out of reach.

That can be attributed to the defensive line of the Bills.

Buffalo’s defensive line absolutely dominated the Jets offensive line today, applying pressure all game on Geno Smith which forced four turnovers out of the rookie quarterback.  Smith was eventually benched in the fourth quarter in favor of Matt Simms, who played far better than Smith.  On third downs, the Jets were able to convert only 18% of the time, while the Bills converted 42% of their third downs.

It’s difficult to win in the NFL with stats like that on third down.

Smith went just 8-23 for 103 yards with three interceptions and a fumble.  Again, it’s difficult to win in the NFL when your starting quarterback plays that poorly.  After all, this is a quarterback’s league.

“I’m putting everything into getting better, every single thing I have in me to get better and to continue to lead this team,” Geno Smith said after his poor performance Sunday.

“Yeah, I think we were prepared.  I think that they had been doing a good job recently in New York…and we knew the challenge was we had to make sure we were able to get them to stop running the football,” Bills head coach Doug Marrone said following his defense’s dominating performance.

Of the four New York turnovers, three were interceptions and one was a fumble.  Two of those interceptions fell into the hands of Jairus Byrd while the third was a hand-wrapped gift to Da’Norris Searcy that he finished off by getting into the endzone.

“I’m having a lot of fun.  It’s just a feel.  You just go out there, you study, you prepare,” Byrd said referencing his interceptions.

The roller coaster of a season continues for the Jets, who made history today by being the first team to alternate a win with a loss the following game, for every single game to start the season.  The Jets have done this for the first 10 games this season, earning them a 5-5 record.

“We’ve got some wins over some quality teams, and I think if we take care of the football and we do a better job in coverage, I think we’ll have a chance to compete with anybody,” Jets head coach Rex Ryan told reporters following the Jets loss.

Offensively, the Bills were able to move the ball with relative ease through the air.  They struggled mightily in the running game however, which isn’t too surprising as the Jets came in allowing 73 yards on the ground per game, which ranked first in the NFL.

The main reason the Bills were able to win the way they did was because they turned turnovers into points, which isn’t always the case with the Bills offense.

“It was great.  Obviously it was a team victory for us today.  The bigger thing for our offense is we just have to do our job and we did a good job executing today,” EJ Manuel said after the win.

Manuel followed his worst game in the NFL with potentially his best one.  When asked about his different play from last week to today, Manuel replied “Just playing more confident.  Knowing where I’m going with the ball and just letting it rip.  That’s it.”  Manuel has seemingly shook off the rust from missing four weeks due to a knee injury he obtained in Week 3 against Cleveland.

What started as a slow, uneventful game ended in a rout for the Bills.  If the Bills can click on all cylinders as they did today, then they will have the ability to compete with almost anyone in the NFL.  Minimizing hits on Manuel and keeping him healthy is crucial to the teams’ success.  It was reported that winds were blowing as fast as 30 mph on the field, and he went 20-28 with 245 yards and two touchdowns.

Oh, and Manuel did that without both of his starting wide receivers, Stevie Johnson and Robert Woods.  Marquise Goodwin and T.J. Graham stepped up quite well in their absence, as both of them found their way into the endzone Sunday.

Manuel finished with a 121.9 quarterback rating Sunday.  Smith’s final quarterback rating was 10.1.

Yes, he is still young.  Yes, he is still developing.  But it’s games like today that validate the Bills decision to draft EJ Manuel, not Geno Smith, as the first quarterback in April’s draft.