:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47652879/usa-today-8919773.0.jpg)
The Buffalo Bills beat the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football, 22-17. It was a colorful game, featuring all-red jerseys for the Bills and all-green jerseys for the Jets, but on the field this game was everything we expected. Both teams fielded an aggressive defense that occasionally gave up big plays and both offenses made mistakes.
The Bills made fewer of those mistakes, though. Tyrod Taylor tossed a touchdown and didn't throw any interceptions despite being sacked four times for a loss of 26 yards. Running back LeSean McCoy had a big game despite being limited by injury coming into the game. He finished with 19 carries for 112 yards.
Ryan Fitzpatrick also found the end zone for the Jets, but he also threw an interception and the Jets lost multiple fumbles, which the Bills turned into points. Fitzpatrick threw two touchdowns in total, one to Brandon Marshall and one to Eric Decker.
Buffalo almost didn't hold on to the lead. They stalled out on multiple offensive drives in the fourth quarter, and a costly special teams turnover set the Jets up with a go-ahead touchdown opportunity with under four minutes to go. Fortunately for Rex Ryan's Bills, they held on as the Jets couldn't convert.
A couple first downs allowed the Bills to finally kill most of the clock. When New York took over for the last time, they had under 30 seconds and a Buffalo interception by Bacarri Rambo sealed the game.
It was a quiet first half in general, with both starting quarterbacks struggling to get anything done. Taylor was sacked three times, but he was helped big time by McCoy and the Bills managed to put up a a couple field goals in the second quarter. The big swing came on defense, when Aaron Williams recovered a fumble for a touchdown, while the Jets only managed a single field goal in the first half.
When the second half got underway, Taylor and the Bills hit the ground running. They drove down the field and Karlos Williams took a 26-yard pass in for a touchdown. Then the Jets started to unravel, and their second fumble of the game led to a Bills field goal.
The game slowed down considerably from there, but it picked up again halfway through the final quarter, when Fitzpatrick found Decker for a touchdown to bring the Jets within a score of the Bills. Things heated up and the Bills had the aforementioned special teams turnover to make it much more interesting. But a failed fourth down conversion for the Jets -- not their first on the day -- allowed the Bills to close out the game.
3 things we learned from Thursday's game
Marshall doesn't look healthy
Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall has been banged up for much of the season and on Thursday, it was clear that Marshall wasn't 100 percent. He was listed as probable on the official injury report with toe and ankle injuries prior to Thursday, and he looked limited running routes. The Jets weren't using him as a decoy though, as he was targeted by Fitzpatrick five times in the first half. Unfortunately, Marshall did not catch any of those passes.
Then again, he's still Brandon Marshall, and he's still going to do stuff like that.
Turnovers suck, did you know?
Probably the understatement of the year, but turnovers significantly hurt the Jets on Thursday. Going into the game, the Jets were tied for second in the league with a plus-seven turnover margin. They had 10 interceptions and nine recovered fumbles, and only threw eight interceptions and lost four fumbles. They were much better at forcing turnovers, but sloppy play hurt them big time against the Bills. One led directly to a Bills touchdown and another set the Bills up in good position to kick a field goal to increase their lead early in the third quarter. The Jets basically didn't give themselves a chance to pick up momentum.
Color Rush is off to an odd start
The NFL debuted its new Color Rush campaign with this game and the results were ... weird. For some, the jerseys were simply ugly or jarring. The all-red clashing with the all-green maybe wasn't the best combination. When you factor in the fact that millions of Americans have to deal with red/green colorblindness, the decision gets even more questionable. The game was basically unwatchable for a large group of people. Keep in mind that kind of colorblindness is actually the most common kind of colorblindness in the country. You'd think this is something the NFL would have taken into consideration.