One of the storylines of the season has been a lack of a pass rush from the Jets.
It’s time for a new storyline. The Jets had a season-high seven sacks Thursday, badgering Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor in a 34-21 win over Buffalo Thursday night at MetLife Stadium.
The sack party started right away. Jordan Jenkins sacked Taylor on the Bills’ first snap of the game. Jenkins also had another sack that caused a fumble the Jets recovered.
“It told everybody we were coming and we were not gonna fall for any of the BS trick plays,” Jenkins said. “We were gonna keep attacking, play after play after play.”
The Jets defense entered the game ranked 30th in the NFL with just 11 sacks. The unit had gotten tired of hearing about the lack of sacks.
“It definitely gets pretty irksome hearing that week in and week out,” Jenkins said.
Muhammad Wilkerson got his second sack of the season and his second sack in as many weeks. Wilkerson had a big game with three tackles, the sack, two quarterback hits and a tipped pass.
“We just gotta keep playing that style of football. … We know what type of defense we can be,” Wilkerson said.
Leonard Williams, who had no sacks coming in, had a half-sack.
The Jets’ penalty issues continued. They had 10 penalties for 66 yards.
The Bills were worse, with 11 for 99 yards.
WR Jeremy Kerley, who is expected to be suspended by the NFL anytime now, played, but injured his ankle early in the game and did not return.
The Jets were without cornerback Morris Claiborne.
Claiborne injured his foot in Sunday’s loss to the Falcons and did not practice this week. Coach Todd Bowles did not reveal the severity of the injury, saying only that Claiborne had a “sore foot.”
Claiborne has been valuable for the Jets in his first season with the team. He has played well and been assigned to the other team’s top receiver in several games. He covered Falcons star Julio Jones last week.
The other inactives were: QB Christian Hackenberg, S Terrence Brooks, CB Derrick Jones, FB Lawrence Thomas, OLB Obum Gwacham and RT Brandon Shell.