The Jets picked up their first victory of the season Thursday night, defeating Rex Ryan’s Bills, 37-31. Here are some thoughts and observations from the game:
1. Who knew Quincy Enunwa was capable of this? The third-year wide receiver has developed into a really nice piece of the Jets offense. It is a remarkable rise for a player who was an afterthought as a rookie. He was active for the final game that season as a reward for his work in practice. But when new coach Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey came to the Jets, they saw something in the sixth-round pick from Nebraska.
Last season, the Jets took advantage of Enunwa’s blocking skills. The coaches liked the 6-foot-2, 225-pounder as a physical player in the run game, and his receiving skills were secondary. This season, he is seeing many more balls thrown his way. He had six catches for 92 yards against the Bills. Five of those catches came in the first half, two on huge third-down pickups on the Jets’ first series.
The Jets spent all of last season looking for that third option in the passing game to discourage opponents from just concentrating on Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. Enunwa has become that guy.
2. I watched the final minute of the game from the tunnel that leads to the locker room. I was curious to see how the Jets acted coming off the field. This was an emotional win over a division rival and — for many players — their former coach. The memory of Week 17 last year is still fresh. I thought it could be a scene like after a playoff win.
Instead, the Jets seemed very businesslike leaving the field. There were a few joyous yells, but for the most part they acted as if this was an expected win.
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was one of the last players off the field, surely because of on-field interviews. As he came up the tunnel, he began to jog and then gave defensive end Sheldon Richardson a big slap on the behind. That was a move Brett Favre used to do coming off the field. While Fitzpatrick will never rival Favre on the field, he has similar leadership abilities.
The way they reacted to the win shows a progression in the Jets. Last year, they were learning to win as a group that had a lot of new members. Toward the end of the season, they began to expect to win. This year, they are starting off with that attitude.
3. The negative in this game was easy to find. The Jets continue to allow huge plays. It hurt them against the Bengals and showed up again Thursday night. The Bills did very little offensively, but scored two touchdowns on long pass plays. The 84-yard touchdown from Tyrod Taylor to Marquise Goodwin was Goodwin just showing his Olympic speed by blowing past Darrelle Revis. Then the Bills hit a 71-yard pass to Greg Salas when it looked like confusion fell over the Jets secondary.
The Revis play will draw more attention because it came against him, but the broken coverage was more troubling. A.J. Green’s long touchdown in Week 1 came on a broken coverage. The Jets need to get that fixed, especially with good quarterbacks Alex Smith, Russell Wilson, Ben Roethlisberger and Carson Palmer coming up on the schedule.
4. There were plenty of accolades for the offense after the game, but one group that got overlooked was the offensive line. They again did a magnificent job against a tough front. Fitzpatrick was hit a bit early on, but then stayed clean for most of the night. He was sacked just once. They also stuck with the running game and wore down the Bills defense. The holes began to open up in the second half. The Jets have to be concerned about the loss of left guard James Carpenter, who left the game with a calf injury in the first half. That could be a big blow if he misses much time.
Revealing number: The Jets ran 75 plays, controlling the ball for 39:12 of the game. The Bills only ran 53 plays and had the ball for 20:48. The Jets offense really controlled the game. The score was close because the Bills hit two big plays on offense and returned a fumble for a touchdown. But the Jets really dominated the game. The play differential shows that.
Surprising snap count: One of the biggest questions I got in radio interviews during the preseason was how the Jets would split the carries between running backs Matt Forte and Bilal Powell. So far it is not even close. Powell played just 17 out of 75 offensive snaps (23 percent) on Thursday night. I do think there will be games in which Powell has a larger role, but the Jets are riding the hot hand with Forte right now. That has left Powell marginalized and his fantasy football owners upset.
Game ball: I like to go under the radar here sometimes, but this week it’s hard to go with anyone other than Fitzpatrick. The veteran played a brilliant game, completing 24 of 34 passes for 374 yards and one touchdown. Fitzpatrick threw his wide receivers open and seemed to be one step ahead of the Bills defense all night. If he plays like that all season, the Jets offense will be scary.