Fitz Finally Solves Rex

It was a shootout in New York in Thursday night’s AFC East matchup and the Jets ultimately came out on top 37-31. The Jets were highly impressive on offense and nobody played bigger than Ryan Fitzpatrick. He’s struggled his entire career against Rex Ryan-coached teams, especially last season where the Jets were 0-2 against the Bills and ultimately missed the playoffs because of Rex. However, Fitzpatrick and company had different plans this year, as they not only won but they won because their offense gave it to Rex. Fitzpatrick played like a QB worthy of the kind of contract he coveted and held out for during the off-season in this game. He made plays with his arm and legs and was extremely posed all night. The Ryan brothers came after Fitz from the jump and he handled himself nicely hanging tough in the pocket. A lot of his success came simply due to the fact he’s throwing to one of the most talented receiving corps in the league and was simply able to just throw it up and his guys came down with it. The Bills have one of the best secondaries in the NFL, so for Fitzpatrick and this Jets passing attack to come out and throw for 374 yards was highly impressive. But a man that was just as vital to the Jets offense as Fitzpatrick had to be the Jets’ new RB Matt Forte. Forte rushed for a 100 yards on 30 carries and had three rushing TDs. Despite getting up there in age, Forte looked like his vintage self on Thursday night. The YPC average wasn’t great but the Bills have a stout defense up front and Forte churned out what I like to call tough and meaningful yards all night. And in the red zone where in this league you must score TDs and not FGs it was Forte that delivered for them.

The Bills didn’t play too bad on offense either. The last TD was more of a garbage time score and ultimately when the Bills needed this offense to deliver in the 2nd half, they didn’t come through. But they have to be optimistic in the fact they looked a whole lot better than they did in week 1 vs. the Ravens. Tyrod Taylor threw for nearly 300 yards and 3 TDs. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to find much on the ground as McCoy only chimed in with 59 yards and a 3.9 YPC avg.  Even though the offense has some things to clean up and glaring timing issues to work on, the offense certainly wasn’t the problem last night. Buddy Ryan has to be rolling over in his grave as his son’s defense was getting smoked through the air, by Ryan Fitzpatrick of all people, all night. Both of the Bills starting corners Stephon Gilmore and Ronald Darby were getting the business on both sides of the field. The Bills got some pressure on Fitzpatrick in the 1st half but didn’t do nearly enough in the 2nd. They also did not do a good job of maintaining rush integrity allowing Fitzpatrick to escape the pocket and run for first downs or extend plays and make completions after the coverage breaks down.

I thought Rex Ryan’s comments after the game were perfectly apropos saying, “Last week, we weren’t good on offense, this week we weren’t good on defense.” The Bills have to find a way to put it all together because the talent is there but the execution is simply lacking. I don’t want to say it was a must win game in week 2 but it was certainly a critical game for both teams in a division where the Patriots seem to be rolling without Brady in the lineup and the Dolphins look improved. It was both a huge victory for the Jets and major defeat for the Bills.

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