4 winners (and 2 losers) in Bills close primetime win over Jets

Happy Victory Tuesday, Bills Mafia! The Buffalo Bills are back in the win column for the first time in three weeks. After losing their previous last two games, the Bills knew that they needed a desperate win over the New York Jets. The top spot in AFC East was up for grabs and the Jets were coming into this game with new interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich.

In a game where 22 penalties for 204 yards were accepted, those are the kind of games where the Bills usually suffer a heartbreaking loss. So much adversity was being brought to them and there has been a recent memory of Buffalo crumbling under pressure.

That wasn’t the case this time. The Bills are now 4-2 and will head back to Orchard Park next week for a 1PM battle against the Tennessee Titans.

There were four players who shined for the Bills, while two others were holding the team back in some capacity. Let’s take a look at who our winners and losers were from the Bills’ primetime win.

Winner: RB Ray Davis

After it was officially confirmed that James Cook was ruled inactive due to a toe injury, the rushing attack shifted to former Jet Ty Johnson and rookie running back Ray Davis. However, it was the Ray Davis show all night long in the backfield.

Buffalo’s fourth-round pick from this past year had 97 rushing yards, and even led the Bills in receiving yards with 55. He demonstrated that he is a physical run who can cut back outside to pick up extra yardage. It seemed like every time he had the ball in his hands, the Bills either were close to a first down, or managed to move the chains.

In Cook’s absence, Davis showed Bills fans that he can carry the load and that losing Cook wouldn’t hurt them at all. Nothing better than having a breakout game under the lights, on the road, against a division rival.

Winner: DE A.J. Epenesa

The Bills pass rush had been close to nonexistent the last two weeks, but Aaron Rodgers certainly felt it against the Bills. One of the players that contributed to it was A.J. Epenesa, who led the Bills with 2 sacks on Rodgers. However, Epenesa was wrongfully penalized for a roughing the passer call on Rodgers which caused a lot of backlash. It was such a horrendous call that even Rodgers himself said that the hit was not roughing the passer.

Either way, Epenesa was making future Hall of Famer left tackle Tyron Smith look silly all night long and Epenesa was putting him on skates.

Winner: S Taylor Rapp

There is an argument to be made that Taylor Rapp was arguably the best defensive player for the Bills in this game. He was all over the place and made some crucial stops on passing attempts. He was tied for the most total tackles (8) with Taron Johnson but he had 3 pass deflections throughout the game.

Rapp’s presence looked like a younger Micah Hyde back in the day where he would make critical stops in the secondary to take the Jets’ offense off the field.

Winner: QB Josh Allen

After a horrendous Week 5 performance, Josh Allen played great football against a team he has a history of playing bad against. He completed 76% of his passes for 215 yards and had 3 total touchdowns. Then for the sixth consecutive game, Allen avoided throwing an interception.

Allen played fantastic football and he played a major role as to why Buffalo won this game. His biggest highlight of this game came from a broken play where he rolled out right to the sideline and chucked the ball 42 yards to Ray Davis.

Loser: OT Spencer Brown

Another week of Spencer Brown costing the Bills yards with penalties. He was called for two penalties (even though one of them was a simple routine block but was called unnecessary roughness), He also had a false start go against him. Then there were plenty of times where the right side of the pocket started to collapse and Allen had to scramble to get away from pressure.

Loser: K Tyler Bass

It’s time to have a serious conversation about Tyler Bass. It seems like ever since the end of last year, every time the Bills are going for a field goal attempt, Bills fans get nervous with Bass. He has become inconsistent and Bass cost the Bills four points with a missed PAT attempt and a missed field goal.

Financially, the Bills couldn’t replace Bass but Brandon Beane needs to strongly consider bringing in competition for the veteran kicker for the rest of the season.

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