On a day when the Jets didn’t do a lot right in a 30-10 loss to the Bills, the worst of their performance came in the first quarter in the form of yet another boneheaded penalty from defensive end Micheal Clemons, a player whose career is becoming defined by them.
The Bills were facing a third-and-19 from the Jets 30-yard line on their first offensive possession when Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen threw a pass to Khalil Shakir that was broken up by Michael Carter II.
The defensive stop, however, was negated when Clemons, who’s spent his career committing dumb, undisciplined penalties, was called for roughing the passer with a late hit on Allen.
Buffalo turned that free first down into a 1-yard rushing TD by James Cook for a 7-0 lead.
“I did my best to hit him clean,” Clemons told noti.group’s Brian Costello. “I have to look at it and observe it, but they threw the flag at the end of the day.”
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn, whose mantra is not tolerating players making plays that cause the team to lose, still had Clemons back on the field on the next defensive series.
“The thing is we know they call that call — when you hit the quarterback high, when you hit him in the head and neck area,” Glenn said. “That’s just what they’re calling now, so we have to be smarter than that.’’
Other than starting quarterback Justin Fields, who was lost for the game to a concussion suffered in the fourth quarter, the Jets lost edge rusher Jermaine Johnson II to an ankle injury in the second quarter.
Safety Tony Adams was knocked out of the game with a groin injury, and Carter suffered a shoulder injury.
“All of these guys, we have to see exactly where they are at,” Glenn said.
The starkest difference between this week’s game and last week’s 34-32 loss to the Steelers was the Jets offensive performance.
Fields was 16-of-22 for 218 yards and a TD passing in the opener and was 3-of-11 for 27 yards and a lost fumble Sunday.
The Jets rushing game produced 182 yards against Pittsburgh with Breece Hall rushing for 107 yards on 19 carries.
It seemed like the blueprint of the way Glenn wants to play offense.
On Sunday, though, the Jets rushed for just 100 yards, 49 of which came on Fields scrambles. Hall was held to just 29 yards on 10 carries.
This was all somewhat of a surprise, considering the Bills allowed 238 yards rushing to the Ravens last week.
“Obviously, everybody fixes their stuff,” Jets left guard John Simpson said. “One day, you might have something crazy happen to you, and the next, you’re going to try your hardest not to let that happen again. That’s what they did.”
Glenn said it best when he said: “Whatever the Bills did last week, they fixed their problems. It’s a league in which teams compete, fix problems and move on. We have to do that.”
The Bills, whom the Jets have not beaten since the 2023 season opener, have won the AFC East the past five years.
The Jets’ division record in that span now is 6-24.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
