The Jets will close out a two-game homestand to begin the regular season when they host the Buffalo Bills Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
The Bills come southeast after a thrilling victory over the Baltimore Ravens, 41-40, in Week 1 on Sunday night. Aaron Glenn and Co. will have their hands full with the reigning league MVP, QB Josh Allen, and HC Sean McDermott.
Let's take a deeper look at What To Expect from the Jets' Week 2 opponent, the reigning AFC East champion Buffalo Bills.
With their Offense, Buffalo is Never Out of It
Entering Week 1, teams trailing by 15 or more points in the final four minutes of a game since 2000 had a record of 3-2,312 (.001), according to ESPN Research.
Sunday night the Bills became the fourth team ever to overcome those odds, defeating the Ravens despite trailing 40-25 with 3:25 remaining in the fourth quarter.
In the final quarter, Bills QB Josh Allen threw for 251 yards, totaled three TDs and posted a 131.3 passer rating.
"You got to play this game for 60 minutes," Allen said.
The Bills offense picked up where they left off last season. Dating back to Week 7, Buffalo has scored 30-plus points in 10 consecutives contests started by Allen.
Their cast of characters on offense remains mostly the same as last season with Buffalo returning 9 of its 11 starters on offense, highlighted by Pro Bowl RB James Cook and second-year WR Keon Coleman.
Coleman posted a career-high 8 receptions for 112 yards and a touchdown against Baltimore and Cook, who signed an extension over the offseason, totaled 102 yards from scrimmage and rushing touchdown Sunday night.
The Bills O-Line also remains one of the best in the league, anchored by Pro Bowl LT Dion Dawkins and RT Spencer Brown.
The Jets defense will have to be prepared to go the distance (and maybe more) against the Bills offense that has shown few signs of slowing down.
"It's never over until it's 0:00 on the clock with them," Ravens QB Lamar Jackson said. "We found that out tonight."
On Defense, Buffalo is a Work in Progress
The average age of Buffalo's defense in Week 1 of 2024 was 27.5 with five players over 30. This year, the unit's average for the Bills is 25.9 and three players eclipse 30.
Sunday night against the Ravens, Bill HC Sean McDermott said he thought their youth showed through.
"We have a really young group that did some good things, but there wasn't enough overall consistency," Sean McDermott said. "I thought we played good early and in the late moments of the games, but the in between was too inconsistent. There were moments where the standard was met, but there were others that it wasn't."
The Bills surrendered 238 rushing yards on 29 carries, an average of 8.2 yards a pop, and 3 touchdowns. Baltimore had 10 runs of at least 10 yards and three runs of at least 30 yards.
Unlike the Bills offense, Buffalo has a few of unfamiliar faces starting for them on defense including defensive end Joey Bosa.
While a majority of the unit struggled in a 40-point outburst from the Ravens offense, DL Ed Oliver will be one to watch versus the Jets. Oliver amassed 6 tackles, 3 TFL, 1 sack, 1 FF and posted a 95.1 run defense effectiveness grade according to Pro Football Focus.
Buffalo will have a lot to clean up before facing another prolific rushing offense in the Jets. The Green & White gashed the Steelers for 182 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground in Week 1, including 107 yards from RB Breece Halland 2 rushing scores by QB Justin Fields.
"We'll go back and get it corrected. It's the first week of the season," LB and captain Terrel Bernard said. "Obviously a lot of stuff to clean up and figure out."
