He didn’t have a catch in the first half, despite being targeted five times.
Advertisement
It was Ryan’s first game at the Meadowlands since being fired last winter after six years as head coach of the Jets. Every guy in the room has been dumped by a few girl before. You move on, and every now and then, they call you back. Then, they failed to stop Buffalo at all on the opening drive of the second half, allowing the Bills to drive the ball down their throat and take a commanding 16-point lead just over three minutes into the second half.
Dan Carpenter matched Bullock’s efforts with 5:47 remaining in the second to tie the game, but that was quickly followed by Duke Williams’ 19-yard scoop and score of Jets special teamer Devin Smith on the ensuing kickoff return to give Buffalo a 9-3 lead.
In the same press conference, Ryan was asked what it was like for the Jets to fire him after four straight seasons out of the playoffs and a 4-12 finish last season. So now we can say that the Ryan storyline was peripheral. Bowles’ Jets fell apart, like many of Ryan’s lesser teams did … with Bowles’ help this time.
Because the Jets have already enjoyed a bye week, Friday gives Fitzpatrick the most time to heal, since he won’t have to suit up again for another 10 days, when they travel to Houston to play the Texans on November 22. It was the one career guarantee Ryan actually backed up, and the one he really needed to spike into a trash bin the way he spiked his red cap and headset Thursday night after Bacarri Rambo’s interception decided things in the final seconds.
“Being down 22-3, is just bad”, Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said. The team got off to a strong start, but recently the offense has not looked good as mistakes and inconsistencies are setting the Jets back as the recently lost to the Buffalo Bills. The Bills played nearly the entire game without Mario Williams, so add that to the continued absence of Kyle Williams and the Bills defense was definitely shorthanded. Fans had burned him in effigy in the parking lot.
“I saw everyone waving ‘Happy Day, ‘” Ryan joked.
“It’s pretty satisfying, without question”, Ryan said after his Bills beat the NY Jets 22-17 on Thursday night. Their toughest win came at mediocre Tennessee, a game in which the Sooners were dominated, held to a single field goal until the fourth quarter.
Buffalo kept the pressure on in the third quarter, adding a Karlos Williams receiving TD from Tyrod Taylor from 26 yards out, and another Carpenter field goal shortly thereafter.
Despite injuries to the running back corps, the Jets running game wasn’t their undoing, as NY rushed for 128 yards on 24 carries. The ball did bounce off Marshall’s hands, though, before safety Corey Graham intercepted it. So Jets coach Todd Bowles holds Marshall partly at fault for the pick. NY forced a three-and-out by the Buffalo offense and regained the ball. When NY reached the Buffalo 20, though, it eschewed a field goal and tried a unusual pass to Marshall well behind the line of scrimmage on fourth-and-2. He was well covered and thrown for a 2-yard loss, then limped off, but returned on the Jets’ next series.
The Jets finally got in the end zone when Ryan Fitzpatrick connected with Brandon Marshall on a 14-yard touchdown toss. (He also spent time with Indianapolis.) It’s possible that Ryan was referring to Johnson’s familiarity with Bowles from the latter’s time in Arizona, where Johnson would have prepared for the Cardinals’ defense when Bowles was their defensive coordinator.
Advertisement
The biggest break for NY came with a little more than five minutes left in the game.
