The Jets will be a home underdog against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, having lost seven of their last eight games. Other than a last-gasp loss to the Patriots in week four, the Bills’ record is unblemished this year. Surely the Jets can’t pull off an upset, can they?
Here are six storylines to watch as New York seeks to flip their season on its head:
It’s a trap!
America is already looking ahead to the Bills-Chiefs game scheduled to take place in the evening of Thanksgiving Thursday. While Buffalo has
two games to play between now and then, they will feel good about their chances of still only having one loss after playing the Jets this week and Miami next week. Kansas City has lost just twice so this could be decisive in the race for the AFC’s top seed.
We’ve seen situations like this before though. While the Jets are rarely the team to take advantage of the opportunity, their profile as a team that has kept a lot of games close and come up just short in the end could make them dangerous if the Bills get complacent.
And if they did get complacent, who could blame them? After all, the last time these teams met, the Bills rested all of their starters and still won 35-8. Then again, that was a very different Jets team too. The only current non-offensive line starters who started that game are Harrison Phillips, Jamien Sherwood and Adonai Mitchell.
Can Mitchell bounce back?
It’s become traditional this year to have at least one high profile player that doesn’t get the ball on offense. Last week, it was Adonai Mitchell, a player who seven days earlier, had posted the best numbers of his career.
The Jets really seem to be struggling with the whole “many mouths to feed” aspect of having provided their quarterback with an adequate number of pass catching weapons for the first time in several seasons. However, Mitchell not seeing the ball last week was not for the want of trying as he was thrown to seven times.
Opening drive success
We could easily spend column inches here talking about why the Jets can’t convert in the red zone, or how they shouldn’t abandon the running game, or when are they ever going to intercept another pass, but how about we discuss something they have actually been doing well?
For each of the past five games, the Jets have driven downfield and scored on their opening possession, which has played a big part in them still being competitive heading into the second half of each game. So, now we have to ask the question – can this continue? And…how will the team react if it doesn’t?
This isn’t the first time in recent memory that the offensive has looked good early on in games, and executed the scripted part of the gameplan effectively, only to then go on to struggle in the second half when points are needed to convert wins. Back in 2020, where Adam Gase’s Jets were in danger of going winless until very late in the season, they actually scored eight times in a row on their opening drive. The current decision makers would ideally not like to have too many similarities to that 2020 team.
Gregory Rousseau’s ascent to super-stardom
The biggest threat on the Bills defense is obviously edge rusher Gregory Rousseau, who is having a monster year. After just eight games, Rousseau has already tied his career-high with eight sacks, while also doubling his career mark for passes defensed with another eight.
Rousseau primarily lines up on the left, so it will be mostly up to Armand Membou to try and keep him quiet. Rousseau had a two sack game against the Jets in his second season in 2022, but surprisingly otherwise only has one sack in eight other games against the Jets. The Bills are 7-2 in these matchups, though.
Having not been traded, is Will McDonald’s role going to change?
The Jets opted not to trade former first round pick Will McDonald during the week, despite reports of interest from a number of teams. Head coach Aaron Glenn has been suggesting McDonald is still very much in the Jets plans for the rest of this season, and he is of course under contract for next year after New York exercised his fifth year option. He even implied McDonald had earned a bigger role.
McDonald’s defensive snap count percentage has dropped from 66% in both 2024 and 2025 to just 46% in 2026 and, even more confoundingly, his percentage of run snaps has increased.
Will an increase in playing time for McDonald happen on Sunday? And, if it does, are we destined to see diminishing returns in regard to his production?
What’s the plan for the secondary?
A matchup against the team with the number one offense in the entire NFL is not really the ideal time to experiment with line-up changes but the Jets are desperately striving for more consistency from their back seven, in addition to having an undermanned front that is struggling to stop the run.
Having missed a meeting and made some on-field mistakes, the previous starting slot corner – Jarvis Brownlee Jr. – is in the doghouse. However, rookie D’Angelo Ponds has looked overmatched at times which is hardly surprising given how he is learning a new position and missed half of training camp.
New York also experimented with using Minkah Fitzpatrick in the slot on Sunday, elevating Malachi Moore into the lineup at safety for basically the first time all year. Could this be the answer? Time will tell.
Let us know how you see things going in Sunday’s game in the comments section…
