The Jets had a 300-yard passer, a 100-yard rusher and two 100 yard receivers against the Bills. A dismal Week 1 showing against the Baltimore Ravens (160 offensive yards, 7 points) should also be kept in mind, and that probably played a big role in Roman’s firing. Ryan’s defense watched as none other than Ryan Fitzpatrick hung up almost 500 yards of total offense, including almost 400 through the air.
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Regardless of who is running the show for a Bills team that, aside from Watkins, is pretty thin at wide receiver, the issues will always go directly back to the defense until there’s some fix figured out on that side of the ball. “I know I have to step up and make those plays, so I’ll do that”. But in Buffalo, Goodwin burned Revis on the outside, running right past the former All Pro cornerback for a momentum-shifting score. Fitzpatrick then threw on third and eight to Eric Decker for a first down.
“It was good just getting them back involved in the ball game”, Todd Bowles said of his top tandem. Given that they also led the league in rushing last season under Roman, the move to replace him Friday with assistant Anthony Lynn seemed a bit perplexing. Or maybe the Buffalo Bills coach is just in a bad place these days.
In its first drive of the second half, Taylor scrambled for success again. The number five defense in the league overall last season, they were sixth against the run, eighth against the pass, eighth in third down defense and seventh in points allowed.
After the game Thursday, the offense didn’t appear to be on Ryan’s radar. “We have to get better at a lot of things, offensively as well as defensively and special teams. It looked like a mismatch”. Rex Ryan, the team’s second-year head coach, brought in his brother, Rob, during the off-season to help coach the Bills’ defence.
“I should have”, Bowles said of going for the conversion. He said he was too caught up with the defense at the time and apparently didn’t do the math.
Taylor’s first play of the fourth quarter was an interception on a long pass down the left sideline. The first shakeup in Western New York came down on Friday afternoon in the form of a canning. In two games, offseason free-agent addition has combined for 52 carries for 196 yards and added seven catches for 68 yards.
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The move is interesting on the Bills’ part, both because of the timing and because they are just coming off a game in which the offense put up 393 total yards and scored 24 of the team’s 31 points-the Bills scored one defensive touchdown on a fumble return.
