As has been the case all season, the New York Jets offense struggled to create much of anything positive against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon. While they pulled to within 10 at the end of the first half with a touchdown drive that snapped a streak of 40(!) consecutive drives without reaching the end zone, they still just could not provide their defense with the requisite support to stay in the game.
In the second half, the dam broke for the Jets defense as Josh Allen and the Bills finally got loose to put things to rest in the third quarter, taking a 29-6 lead. That was thanks in large part to a New York offense that had 54 combined yards total in their six non-TD drives in the first three quarters, with the defense seemingly trying to take greater and greater risks to create big plays themselves.
Zach Wilson continued his nightmarish season, completing less than half of his passes with one TD and one INT and getting sacked five times in the first three quarters of play. On their first drive of the third quarter, Wilson tried to break the pocket for a second down scramble and got pushed out of bounds at the line of scrimmage by Tyrel Dodson, crashing into Jets head coach Robert Saleh in the process.
Zach Wilson and Robert Saleh just hit the deck together. pic.twitter.com/4Q6IVgC0OZ
— NFL on CBS
(@NFLonCBS) November 19, 2023
Saleh tried to grab his QB as he careened into him, but could only hold on as they both went down to the ground. The good news was both Saleh and Wilson were fine, but it was maybe a bit of a heavy-handed metaphor from the football gods to show Wilson physically taking Saleh down.
Saleh has been almost oddly loyal to Wilson, with plenty wondering what pressure there is behind the scenes to stick with the former No. 2 pick from ownership and/or the front office. Saleh himself even struggled to find a defense for continuing with Wilson recently, pleading the fifth to a radio interview question about the quarterback situation, and unfortunately for him, despite the defense’s play, there will be some heat applied to him if the Jets end up with a dismal record again this season even with subpar QB play.
Wilson got one more drive (a five-play, 10-yard effort) before finally getting moved to the bench as the Jets turned to Tim Boyle for their last drive of the third quarter, signaling that the breaking point might have finally been reached in New York.