Forte, Powell lead charge vs. Buffalo
Matt Forte had a point, after all. Less than a week after the veteran running back called out offensive coordinator John Morton for abandoning the run in a loss Sunday, Forte and the Jets returned to the field at MetLife Stadium. And this time, under the primetime lights of Thursday Night Football, Morton relied on Forte, Bilal Powell and the Jets’ rushing attack to spearhead a dominant performance in a 34-21 victory over the Bills, ending a three-game losing streak. “At the end of the day, if we got someone hot, keep with it, and I think we had a chance to do that in the run game,” left tackle Kelvin Beachum said. “We’ve got to find a way, as an offensive line, to make it very apparent for our offensive coordinator to keep doing that. So we got to do our job up front and do it more consistently.” Todd Bowles’ defense, meanwhile, provided one of its best and most-complete performances of the season in the win. The unit limited LeSean McCoy to 25 yards from scrimmage, all on the ground. He didn’t catch a pass. During the teams’ first meeting in Week 1, a Bills victory, McCoy sliced his way through the Jets defense to the tune of 159 total yards. He didn’t have the same success Thursday night. “We all, defensively, had this game marked,” linebacker Demario Davis said when asked about McCoy. “It wasn’t that we did anything different. We just needed to respond to the challenge, which we didn’t do the first time.” On top of slowing down McCoy, the Gang Green defense hounded Tyrod Taylor (286 passing yards, three touchdowns) with a consistent pass rush all game. The Jets totaled seven sacks, five of which came in the first half, and 11 quarterback hits. Leonard Williams earned his first half-sack of the season, and Muhammad Wilkerson added his second. The Jets entered the game with 11 sacks in eight games.
Wilkerson also batted down a pass on a crucial second down in the third quarter. The Jets forced three fumbles and recovered them all, including a Jordan Jenkins strip sack with 11:26 left in the fourth quarter, setting Josh McCown and the offense up at the Bills’ 5-yard line.
“We proved that we can be a premier defense in the league,” Jenkins said.
Forte walked into the end zone on the next play for his second touchdown, putting the finishing touches on his stellar day.
Forte finished with season-highs in carries (14) and rushing yards (77). His 10-yard touchdown with 4:16 remaining in the third quarter proved to be the decisive blow. Powell set up the score with an impressive 51-yard dash, juking and side-stepping multiple Bills defenders on his way to the second level and the open field.
Powell ran for 74 yards on nine carries. Rookie Elijah McGuire added 30 yards on 13 carries. The Jets amassed 194 rushing yards, their second-most in a game this season, after averaging fewer than 61 yards per game over the last four weeks. Morton called 36 runs and 23 passes. Last week, in intense rain and wind, the OC called 37 passes and only 21 runs. “We did a good job staying with the run game,” Bowles said. “We kept it moving.”
The Jets carried a 10-7 lead into halftime after opening the scoring midway through the first quarter. McCown led the offense on an eight-play, 54yard scoring drive that the 38-year-old capped off with a 10-yard touchdown run. It was McCown’s third rushing touchdown of the season, more than six other NFL teams, including the Giants. He also threw for 140 yards and a score.
The Bills tied the game eight seconds into the second quarter when Taylor connected with rookie Zay Jones on a 10-yard touchdown pass.
The Jets responded with a field goal on the ensuing possession. They then took a 17-7 lead on their first offensive series of the second half. They then protected a fourth-quarter lead after blowing advantages in their previous two games.
“I’m not going to get into he said, she said,” Beachum said. “But the fact is, we had a chance to run the ball effectively today, and we did so.”