Grading the Jets

OFFENSE

C+The Jets could easily have blown the Bills out if it wasn't for their offense's miscues in the first half. Mark Sanchez's killer interception in the red zone ended a perfectly good-looking first drive, and also coughed up a fumble late in the second quarter with the Jets just having obtained the ball at their own 49-yard line. But they regained their poise after scoring just three first-half points, and also rattled off 17 unanswered points in the third to take command.

DEFENSE

AThis unit played one of its best games of the season. Buffalo had 287 total yards of offense, but 136 of those came after the Jets grabbed a 20-3 third-quarter cushion and harassed Ryan Fitzpatrick, completely taking the Bills quarterback out of his game with Calvin Pace and David Harris each picking Fitzpatrick off once. They held Fred Jackson, who came in as the NFL's fourth-leading rusher, to 82 yards and even made him fumble for the first time this season. The only negative is they surrendered an 80-yard drive to the Bills in garbage time in the fourth.

SPECIAL TEAMS

B-Nick Folk finally missed, sending a 50-yarder wide right in the second quarter. But it came after he made a 49-yarder to give the Jets a 3-0 lead, at the time making him 11-for-11 this season and setting a franchise record for most field goals to start a season. Joe McKnight averaged 41.5 yards on his two returns, and took the opening second-half kickoff back 59 yards.

COACHING

AFrom the way they mixed coverages to confuse Fitzpatrick to the offensive game plan, the coaches seemed to get it all right. Even Rex Ryan's move of holding Mike DeVito (knee) out after not liking what he saw in pregame warm-ups was a smart move. In the second quarter, challenging George Wilson's interception coming out of a television timeout was also a good decision. The call was overturned and the Jets got a field goal, taking a lead they never relinquished.