One of the sidebars from Sunday's Jets-Bills play count amounts was running back usage. The first sign of a changeup was Stevan Ridley getting the start at tailback — his first start as a Jet and in fact his first since Week 6 of the 2014 season, when he started for the Patriots at Buffalo and injured his knee.
Chris Ivory, listed as probable with a knee injury, played and provided the Jets with their longest offensive play of the game and longest run of the season, a 58-yard dash in the second quarter.
After the game, Ivory attributed his reduced role to "just the game plan," as did head coach Todd Bowles.
"It was game-plan-related. We tried to give him a break a little bit, too, because he wasn't 100 percent, but he was good enough to play," Bowles said. "We could've given him more plays in there, but the game didn't dictate that way."
Ivory's 29 offensive plays weren't far off the 36 plays/game he was averaging in his first 14 games. And with Bilal Powell (ankle) inactive, Ridley's 25 plays, although his high as a Jet, were still a lot lower than the 45 offensive plays that Powell and Ridley had averaged together behind Ivory for the previous six games.
On the other hand, Ivory had six offensive touches, all runs, well off his season average of 19 touches/game, while Ridley had 11 touches (9 runs, 2 receptions)
Some other notes on the game:
■ The Jets' 75 defensive plays for the game were the most this season, which led to Sheldon Richardson logging a career-high 82 plays (75 defense, 7 special teams), the same amount as Antonio Cromartie (71 defense, 11 ST), which were individual defensive highs this season. (Several offensive linemen had 83-play games earlier in the year.)
■ Strategy considerations led to OLB Calvin Pace being charted with a season-high 57 defensive plays, ILB Erin Henderson putting in 45 plays, one off his season high at Dallas, and Demario Davis getting a season-low 16 defensive snaps (plus 12 more on specials).
■ When Muhammad Wilkerson left with a broken leg midway through the third quarter, Stephen Bowen came on at DE and put in a season-high 24 defensive plays.
The play counts below from the NFL play-by-play for the game include all offensive, defensive and special teams plays plus some penalty plays. The numbers sometimes are revised during the week.
| OFFENSIVE LINE | * POS | OFF | DEF | ST | Total |
| Carpenter, James | G | 57 | 4 | 61 | |
| Ferguson, D'Brickashaw | T | 57 | 4 | 61 | |
| Giacomini, Breno | T | 57 | 4 | 61 | |
| Winters, Brian | G | 57 | 4 | 61 | |
| Mangold, Nick | C | 57 | 57 | ||
| Johnson, Wes | C | 4 | 4 | ||
| Qvale, Brent | T | 4 | 4 | ||
| WIDE RECEIVERS | POS | OFF | DEF | ST | Total |
| Marshall, Brandon | WR | 56 | 56 | ||
| Decker, Eric | WR | 56 | 56 | ||
| Enunwa, Quincy | WR | 44 | 11 | 55 | |
| Thompkins, Kenbrell | WR | 49 | 49 | ||
| Kerley, Jeremy | WR | 5 | 5 | 10 | |
| TIGHT ENDS | POS | OFF | DEF | ST | Total |
| Davis, Kellen | TE | 11 | 11 | ||
| Cumberland, Jeff | TE | 3 | 22 | 25 | |
| RUNNING BACKS | POS | OFF | DEF | ST | Total |
| Ivory, Chris | RB | 29 | 29 | ||
| Ridley, Stevan | RB | 25 | 25 | ||
| Bohanon, Tommy | FB | 7 | 14 | 21 | |
| QUARTERBACKS | POS | OFF | DEF | ST | Total |
| Fitzpatrick, Ryan | QB | 57 | 57 | ||
| DEFENSIVE LINE | POS | OFF | DEF | ST | Total |
| Richardson, Sheldon | DE | 75 | 7 | 82 | |
| Williams, Leonard | DE | 72 | 6 | 78 | |
| Harrison, Damon | NT | 55 | 2 | 57 | |
| Wilkerson, Muhammad | DE | 52 | 3 | 55 | |
| Bowen, Stephen | DE | 24 | 3 | 27 | |
| Douzable, Leger | DE | 11 | 8 | 19 | |
| LINEBACKERS | POS | OFF | DEF | ST | Total |
| Harris, David | ILB | 75 | 6 | 81 | |
| Pace, Calvin | OLB | 57 | 5 | 62 | |
| Henderson, Erin | ILB | 45 | 8 | 53 | |
| Davis, Demario | ILB | 16 | 12 | 28 | |
| Mauldin, Lorenzo | OLB | 15 | 4 | 19 | |
| Reillly, Trevor | ILB | 19 | 19 | ||
| Lattimore, Jamari | ILB | 18 | 18 | ||
| DEFENSIVE BACKS | POS | OFF | DEF | ST | Total |
| Gilchrist, Marcus | FS | 75 | 5 | 80 | |
| Revis, Darrelle | CB | 74 | 5 | 79 | |
| Cromartie, Antonio | CB | 71 | 11 | 82 | |
| Pryor, Calvin | SS | 64 | 6 | 70 | |
| Skrine, Buster | CB | 28 | 4 | 32 | |
| Williams, Marcus | CB | 15 | 19 | 34 | |
| Miles, Rontez | SS | 1 | 18 | 19 | |
| Walls, Darrin | CB | 17 | 17 | ||
| Martin, Ronald | SS | 14 | 14 | ||
| McDougle, Dexter | CB | 8 | 8 | ||
| SPECIALISTS | POS | OFF | DEF | ST | Total |
| Purdum, Tanner | LS | 8 | 8 | ||
| Bullock, Randy | K | 8 | 8 | ||
| Quigley, Ryan | P | 8 | 8 | ||
| TEAM | 57 | 75 | 28 | 160 | |
| DID NOT PLAY:* Smith, Geno; Ijalana, Ben | |||||
| INACTIVE: Petty, Bryce; Milliner, Dee; Powell, Bilal; Bailey, Dion; Jones, Taiwan; Dozier, Dakota; Harris, Josh | |||||
