EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills are off to their best start in 33 years, Josh Allen and the high-scoring offense are clicking, and they're tied for the top record in the NFL.
In a season during which many things have gone right so far, the Bills know better than to overlook a struggling AFC East rival when they face the New York Jets on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
“This is a division game on the road, it’s going to be as hard as it gets,
right?” first-year coach Joe Brady said. “We showed that we can go on the road and win a hard game. We've got to go do it again.
“And if we think otherwise, then I’m not doing a good enough job.”
Coming off a 23-6 victory at Minnesota on Monday night, Buffalo is 7-1 — tops in the AFC and tied for the NFL lead with San Francisco. It's the first time since 1993 the Bills have opened a season 7-1 or better. A win over the Jets (2-7) — who they've beaten in their past five meetings — would give them their best start since 1991, when they began 10-1 on the way to a second straight Super Bowl appearance.
“We know we’re always going to get everybody’s best, as we should,” Brady said. “And we’re going to have to bring it to be able to come out with a win. We know it’s not going to be easy, but we wouldn’t want it any other way.”
The Bills lead the NFL in total yards and points per game, with their 256 points through eight games ranking as the third most by a team with a first-year head coach in the Super Bowl era, trailing only the Mike Martz-coached 2000 St. Louis Rams (330) and Sean McVay-coached 2017 Los Angeles Rams (263).
It would seem the ultimate mismatch for a team struggling as badly as the Jets, who have dropped four in a row, have a coach in Aaron Glenn sitting on a blazing hot seat and a slumping, underperforming defense.
But of New York's seven losses, just two have been by more than one score, including its 35-12 defeat last Sunday at Kansas City. That has Glenn and the Jets hopeful they can stave off stretching the franchise's postseason drought to 16 straight seasons.
“Listen, there’s a number of things that we've got to fix and get better at, but we feel like, man, we’re right on the cusp of trying to break through and we’re going to do everything we can to do that,” Glenn said. "And that’s my responsibility. ... I just have to continue to really look hard at what we’re doing to make sure that we get ourselves over that hump to start winning these games.”
Buffalo (7-1) at New York Jets (2-7)
When/where to watch: Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS.
Latest odds: Bills by 7 1/2.
Against the spread: Bills 6-2; Jets 3-5-1.
Last week: Bills beat Vikings 23-6; Jets lost to Chiefs 35-12.
Last meeting: Bills won 35-8 on Jan. 4, 2026, in Orchard Park, New York.
Series record: Bills lead 73-58.
Bills RB James Cook vs. Jets’ run defense. Cook had 107 yards rushing on 31 carries against Minnesota and ranks fifth in the NFL with 814 yards rushing entering Week 10. He'll face a Jets defense that's 26th in the league, allowing 128 yards per game. New York will also need to keep an eye on Allen, who leads NFL quarterbacks with 285 yards rushing.
— Brady, off to the best start by a Bills coach in his first season, could join Jim Caldwell (7-0, Colts, 2009) and Herman Edwards (5-0, Jets, 2001) as the only NFL coaches to win their first five road games in their first season.
— Allen’s 322 regular-season TDs (232 passing, 88 rushing and two receiving) tie Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning for the most by a player through their first 10 seasons, even though Allen is still in his ninth year.
— Cook is the Bills' first player to top 75 yards and score a touchdown in seven consecutive outings. The most recent NFL player to do so was the Chargers' LaDainian Tomlinson with an eight-game streak in 2006.
— Safety Amani Hooker, acquired from Tennessee this week, is in line to start spot opposite Cole Bishop. Hooker is tied with Green Bay's Xavier McKinney for the NFL lead in interceptions, matching a career high with five.
— OLB Greg Rousseau has matched a career best with eight sacks, tied for second in the NFL behind Houston’s Will Anderson (9 1/2).
— K Tyler Bass has made a franchise-record 24 consecutive field goals.
— The Jets will try to prevent their first five-game losing streak since they dropped their final five games last season.
— RB Breece Hall has 3,622 yards rushing and needs 54 to pass Bilal Powell for eighth on the franchise's career list.
— The Jets have scored on their opening possession in five straight games, the longest active streak in the NFL.
— New York has been outscored 107-9 in the final two minutes of the first half in 26 games with Glenn as coach.
— David Bailey has a team-leading 7 1/2 sacks and can become the fourth rookie with at least nine in his first nine games since 1982 (when sacks became an official statistic). The others are Pro Football Hall of Famer Julius Peppers (10), Hugh Douglas (nine) and Santana Dotson (nine).
— New York is the only team to not allow a player to get 100 yards receiving.
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AP Sports Writer John Wawrow in Orchard Park, New York, contributed.
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