Bills Fall To Jets In Week 1 Monday Night Football Matchup

By John Holguin

October 6, 2023

As the Buffalo Bills marched into MetLife stadium, thousands upon thousands of rowdy Jets fans gave them an unwelcome roar. The Josh Allen-lead Bills and the Aaron Rodgers-lead Jets  faced off against each other live on Monday Night Football. These two New York teams would be in for a battle of a lifetime. The Bills were favored to win this matchup, but the Jets didn’t make it easy on Josh Allen’s offense.

The Bills offense started off slow in the 1st quarter, with Tyler Bass hitting a 40 yard field goal to put the Bills on the board and lead 3-0. The Jets defense held their ground against the Bills’ explosive offense.

Only Four snaps into the Jets’ week one opener, quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a torn Achllies after being sacked by linebacker Leonard Floyd. Zach Wilson, the second string quarterback for the Jets, would then have to step up as first string quarterback. The Jets still remained scoreless throughout the 1st quarter.

In the 2nd quarter, the Jets’ newly signed kicker, Greg Zurlien, kicked a 26 yard field goal to make the score an even 3 to 3. With the Bills’ first drive of the 2nd quarter after the Jets failed to score, Josh Allen threw his first interception of the night to Jordan Whitehead. However, the Jets failed to capitalize on the pick and punted the ball back to the Bills’ offense.

 Josh Allen then led his offense and drove the ball down field 75 yards while only doing it in 11 plays and resulted in a 5 yard touchdown to Bills Wide Receiver Stefon Diggs. This makes the score 9 to 3 with the Bill’s ahead of the Jets. Bill’s kicker, Tyler Bass added on one extra point after the touchdown to make the score 10-3.

The Jets’ offense would still stand scoreless against the Bills in the 2nd quarter Zach Wilson with an interception by Bills Linebacker Matt Milano. 

The Bills were then able to use this opportunity and drive the ball downfield only to be stopped by the Jets’ defense. This led to kicker Tyler Bass having to take a 34 yard field goal which was good. The score was now 13-3 to end the half.

With two more quarters to go, the Jets were still not losing hope with 1 touchdown, 1 interception and 120 yards passing from quarterback Zach Wilson. The Bills were not totally home free yet from the Jets grasp. It was only a matter of time of what would happen in the next hour of football.

To start the half, the Bills kicked the ball to the Jets. Quarterback Zach Wilson drove the ball down field but would come up short after throwing an incompletion to Garrett Wilson on 3rd down leaving Jets kicker Greg Zurlien to take a 43 yard field goal which was good; making the score 13-6.

The Bills did not get their shot at scoring in the third quarter because quarterback Josh Allen would throw his second interception on 2nd down to Jordan Whitehead.

Zach Wilson now had a shot at getting ahead of the Bills, which he does, leading to an 8 play, 57 yard drive down field for a touchdown pass to wide receiver Garrett Wilson. Greg Zurlien kicks an extra point after the touchdown, making the score 13-13. On the Bills’ first play of their next drive, quarterback Josh Allen fumbled the ball, which ended up in the hands of the Jets’ defense, turning the ball back over to the Jets. Zach Wilson then led a drive down field but was stopped on 3rd down. This would force the Jets to take a field goal making the score 16-13.

With only 1:45 left in the game, Josh Allen needed to lead a field goal drive in order to go into overtime or a touchdown drive to win it. Josh Allen proceeded to lead a 35 yard field goal drive with only 2 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter. The Bills' kicker lined up for a 50 yard field goal to send the game into overtime. The field goal was good and tied the score 16-16 to head into overtime.

The Bills won the coin toss and played from their own 35 yard line. Josh Allen led a drive until a 3rd & 12 where he threw an incomplete pass leading to 4th & 12. The Bills Punter, Sam Martin, would then punt the ball back to the Jets.

Jets returner Xavier Gibson ran the 65 yard punt return back to the endzone for a game-sealing touchdown which would make the score 22-16 with the Jets coming out with the win.