Bills 45, Jets 17: 5 Takeaways From Blowout Victory

The Buffalo Bills punished the undermanned New York Jets Sunday, sending them to a 45-17 defeat.

Here are five instant takeaways from this game, which kept the Bills from being overtaken by the New England Patriots in the AFC East race.  

Bills depth apparent early

Though it should come as no surprise, it's worth noting that the Bills finished off their first offensive series with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Josh Allen to running back Matt Breida, 

On their second defensive series, a heavy rush by defensive end Efe Obada forced an errant throw by Mike White that Taron Johnson intercepted.

Breida and Obada are veteran newcomers who had been operating mostly in the background until Sunday.

Breida had been a healthy scratch for six straight games until the coaching staff decided to add an extra back to their game-day rotation in the wake of Zack Moss having only been cleared the day before to return from his concussion.

Breida played a big part in Sunday's win, running for 28 yards and a touchdown on three carries and catching three passes for 22 yards, including a TD.

Alas, perhaps the major reason he hadn't been part of their plans for so long showed in the fourth quarter, when he lost a fumble after a 6-yard run.

Obada had been inactive for all but three games before Sunday, when he contributed two tackles, including a sack, and a pass breakup.

Scoring in bunches

This looked like another low-scoring scrum for the longest time -- until the Jets broke through with their second touchdown with under a minute remaining in the first half to take a 17-3 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Then they scored touchdowns on their first four possessions of the second half to put the game out of reach. 

If at first you don't succeed ...

Allen aimed a pass at Stefon Diggs that was originally ruled a 12-yard touchdown but then taken off the board when replays showed he didn't get both feet down in bounds.

No problem. The two hooked up on the next play for the score as the Bills began to pick on cornerback Javelin Guidry following the departure of starter Brandin Echols with a thigh injury.

Diggs finished with a 162 yards on eight catches.

Mr. Hyde

The monster that is Micah Hyde emerged with under a minute remaining in the first half and the Jets approaching field-goal range.

Hyde violenty tossed Corey Davis to the ground after a 28-yard completion, ripped the ball loose in the process and pounced on it for the recovery. That eliminated any chance for the Jets to get some momentum back with a field goal at the end of the half.

Return of the ground game

The Bills wanted to improve their running game, and they did on this day, albeit against an excruciatingly poor run defense.

Devin Singletary ran for 43 yards on seven carries. Breida finished with 28 yards on three attempts. Isaiah McKenzie and Emmanuel Sanders had big runs on end-arounds, with McKenzie scoring on one. And Zack Moss added 27 yards on seven carries.

In the end, the Bills averaged a satisfying 5.8 yards on 24 attempts, only two of which were by Allen, who was their second leading rusher coming in.