Taron Johnson and Ray Davis are bright spots in the Bills' win while troubling trends emerge

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – After two straight road losses, the Bills appeared to be well on their way to a third loss.

An Aaron Rodgers shot into the end zone at the end of the first half turned the Bills' two-point lead into a paltry three-point lead over the Jets, and the Bills had only themselves to blame. Over the next quarter and a half, the Bills' offense couldn't get its act together.

But the defense held up well enough, the Bills' offense was just enough in the end, and Buffalo escaped with a 23-20 victory over the Jets to clinch the AFC East lead. With the win, the 4-2 Bills remain in control of their playoff fate, but still have questions about their roster.

Here are some observations about the Bills' win.

The Bills were successful on offense in several ways

Facing a host of questions about the overall effectiveness of their passing attack, the Bills took the opposite approach rather than forcing the issue. The strength of the offense all season has been the run game, and they came out on top in a big way against the Jets. The Bills said they wanted to bring physicality to the line of scrimmage, and that's how offensive coordinator Joe Brady approached his play calls. In the Bills' 57 offensive snaps with no penalties and no kneeling, Brady had the Bills 52.6 in one of 12 personnel (two tight ends), 13 personnel (three tight ends), or 22 personnel (one fullback, two tight ends). put up percent of their snaps. That's also how they gained the majority of their yards in the contest, averaging 6.7 yards per play on all of those snaps. They also scored all three touchdowns in one of these personnel lineups, as that was clearly their matchup advantage.

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However, it probably wouldn't have been possible if rookie running back Ray Davis hadn't stepped in so well for the injured James Cook. Davis was a revelation Monday night, the unexpected engine of the Bills' offense that hasn't gotten out of the dirt over the past two weeks. The rookie seemed to always be at the forefront. He showed great vision, good physicality, good movement skills and always strived for more mileage. Add in the 42-yard reception on an impromptu play and Davis is the star of the show. With the wide receivers once again failing to provide much of a spark (nine receptions for 97 yards), it made Davis' performance all the more impressive. The Bills probably won't win without Davis calling the shots.

Ray Davis set the tone for the Bills as James Cook missed the game with a foot injury. (Chris Pedota/USA Today)

The defense saved the team, but the explosive plays are becoming worrisome

For the second week in a row, the Bills defense deserved credit for keeping the team afloat and poised for a win with their second-half efforts. The defense has only allowed nine points in the second half of the last two games, which is an outstanding performance. It takes a lot of mental strength to endure so many difficult moments and still get stops. However, they took the bend but don't break philosophy to the extreme, as the Jets routinely marched the ball down the field only to see most of their drives end without a touchdown – and sometimes even one Points. It all comes down to the Bills' explosive plays, which have gone from a one-game problem to a real trend.

Of the Jets' 57 plays without a penalty, the Bills allowed an explosive play – a gain of ten or more yards – 15 times. That's a whopping 26.8 percent of their plays, which is a terrible number for just one game. But it's not just a game. It's become a pretty consistent trend for defensive coordinator Bobby Babich and head coach Sean McDermott. The Bills allowed explosive play in 18 of 66 games without a penalty against the Texans and then in another 14 of 54 games without a penalty against the Ravens. That's a total of 47 explosive opponents in the last three games, with an explosive opponent rate of 26.7 percent. All of these numbers are untenable — especially considering the offense is still trying to figure things out.

One of the hallmarks of the Bills' great defense from past seasons was avoiding what they called “explosives.” Some of the problems are probably personnel related. The defensive line didn't get enough pressure. On the other hand, tackling has been a problem at times this year. The safety game leaves the most to be desired – and as players who are supposed to limit these big plays, being beaten at this eye-popping rate is a huge problem. The Bills undoubtedly need more of these starters if they want to curb this problem.

Although there was a bit of rust early in the game, star nickel corner Taron Johnson ultimately took on a crucial role for the Bills in his first game back. Johnson had missed the last four games with a broken forearm and only suffered seven games in Week 1, and it was a long time without one of his best players. But he immediately got back into the fight and showed extremely tough defense. Then his play that sealed the game with a sliding interception in the fourth quarter was just another reason why he is one of their toughest and most trustworthy defenders on the field.

WELCOME BACK, TARON‼️

📺: @ESPNNFL pic.twitter.com/9s9ZTphPBQ

– Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) October 15, 2024

But his mere presence on the field made a difference, as the Bills felt compelled to stay in nickel for nearly the entire game, regardless of the personnel formation the Jets chose to use against them. They would have sacrificed some size and physicality with Cam Lewis in the game, but that was no longer an issue with Johnson in the lineup. And from the way his teammates talked about him after the game, you could tell that Johnson was sorely missed on the field.

It's time to act on the kicker

After another night of struggles and losing points in a near-defeat, kicker Tyler Bass shouldn't be able to rely on the benefit of the doubt anymore. The Bills were patient and gave Bass the time and space to figure everything out. From offseason workouts to training camp and preseason struggles to the regular season, the Bills are lucky that the Jets' double-double kicker Greg Zuerlein was just as bad, otherwise they could go to 3-3 The AFC East is in second place. Bass cost the Bills four points in that game. The first time was a “blocked” attempt to score an extra point, although the trajectory of the kick before it was blocked was trending toward a miss. The NFL even removed the suspension from the game's official scorebook. Later, on a 47-yard attempt, Bass shot wide of the right goal. Although his season-long stats don't look bad, a closer look shows that it's time for the team to act. Bass made just two of five attempts from 40 or more yards, the exact same distance that had caused him problems this summer. The Bills were lucky that Bass didn't directly cost them a game, but at some point that luck will run out as his misfires have turned from a cold streak into exactly what he is now.

What do the bills do? The first and most likely step is to sign a kicker to the training group. In this way, it gives the team some security, while Bass gets a little nervous knowing that he can't continue like this much longer. Perhaps Bass will get another game, but if the problems continue, increasing the practice squad will come into play. The team can no longer afford to sit idle, and you can tell McDermott is frustrated. When asked about his confidence against Bass, the coach only said one thing. “The bottom line is he knows he has to do those kicks.” Sort of a mic drop. Don't be surprised if a Kicker acquisition happens at some point in the next few days.

A big sign that her trust in Dorian Williams is growing

Despite a loss to the Texans in Week 5, one of the storylines that was little known revolved around second-year linebacker Dorian Williams' performance in all functions of the job. He was rock solid in coverage, run defense and it seemed like the game slowed down for him. Week 5 was easily his best game in the NFL to date. The Bills appeared to be on the same page about Williams' development as a player as his role changed Monday night. In the first five games, they took Williams off the field and played well in most third-down and obvious passing situations, probably because they didn't want opponents to take advantage of his aggressiveness against him. But against the Jets, Williams never left the field in any situation. The only time he wasn't on defense was at the end of the first half, when the Bills formed a preventive defense in just three plays. He played the other 62 snaps with middle linebacker Terrel Bernard. The team must be extremely optimistic about Williams' development as a player over the last month.

Bills MVP: RB Ray Davis – Even though he didn't technically get the “start,” Davis completed nearly 60 percent of the running back snaps and finished with 152 all-purpose yards on just 23 touches. Because of his running behavior and the offensive line's good defensive options, they took the lead early.

Bills LVP: Sean McDermott – The Hail Mary touchdown almost cost the Bills the game because of their excessive sideline defense at the end of the first half to prevent the field goal from being missed. With Greg Rousseau and AJ Epenesa effectively guarding the first-down marker on either side of the field, Aaron Rodgers lost two rushers. Rodgers checked into the Hail Mary and fired the Bills with all his goodwill toward halftime.

Next: After three straight road games, the 4-2 Bills head home to face the 1-4 Titans at Orchard Park on Sunday at 1 p.m.

(Top photo by Taron Johnson: Luke Hales / Getty Images)