The Buffalo Bills entered Thursday night’s game against the New York Jets as the third-ranked rushing defense in the NFL.
That didn’t stop Matt Forte, Bilal Powell and the Jets from running seemingly unchecked through the Buffalo defense to the tune of 194 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a 34-21 victory.
Forte rushed for 77 yards and two touchdowns as the Jets took advantage of three Buffalo fumbles on the night. Powell also rushed for 74 yards on nine carries for the Jets. New York also sacked Tyrod Taylor seven times as the Jets dominated the line of scrimmage.
After Josh McCown and Zay Jones traded 10-yard touchdowns, the Jets slowly took control as the Bills kept making mistakes.
McCown connected with Robbie Anderson for a 25-yard touchdown pass on the Jets’ opening possession of the third quarter. Powell sprung for a 51-yard run before Forte scored his first touchdown of the night on a 10-yard carry to extend the Jets lead to 24-7. A Nick O’Leary touchdown set up a 5-yard Forte touchdown run to give the Jets a 31-7 cushion.
O’Leary, Taylor and Jordan Matthews each lost fumbles for Buffalo. The first six Buffalo possessions of the second half resulted in just two total first downs and none of the six drives lasted longer than five plays.
Deonte Thompson caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Taylor with 4:10 remaining and Taylor scored on a quarterback sneak after the Bills recovered an onside kick, but it was far too little, too late.
Taylor completed 29 of 40 passes for 285 yards and two touchdowns for the Bills, but many of those yards came in garbage time with the game already in hand. LeSean McCoy was held to just 25 yards on 12 carries.
