Jets vs Bills:
When: 4:25 PM ET, Sunday, November 19, 2023
Where: Highmark Stadium, Orchard Park, New York
Status quo wasn’t working for the Buffalo Bills.
Coach Sean McDermott fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey on Tuesday, a move he deemed necessary less than 24 hours after a 24-22 loss at home to the Broncos that featured four turnovers and a pair of last-minute penalties that set up Denver’s game-winning field goal.
“I just felt that this was the right time,” McDermott said of firing Dorsey with seven games left in the regular season. “The best thing to do right now is not get into kind of what the reasons were that led to this change, but just overall what we do about it going forward.”
Buffalo has a U-turn in its GPS starting Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y. when it hosts the New York Jets (4-5) in an AFC East matchup with possible postseason ramifications.
The Bills (5-5) are 1 1/2 games behind Miami in the division with the tough part of their schedule dead ahead.
The next five weeks bring games at Philadelphia (8-1), the bye week, at Kansas City (7-2), versus Dallas (6-3) and at the Los Angeles Chargers (4-5).
Or translated into coach speak: Super Bowl finalist, a bye, Super Bowl champion, NFC contender and very talented team that should be better than its record.
Josh Allen said he felt personally responsible for Dorsey losing his job. Allen leads the NFL with 11 interceptions.
Joe Brady will run the offense over the last seven games, and his first task has to be reducing Allen’s mistakes. Allen is completing 70.3 percent of his passes for 19 touchdowns in 10 games. In addition to two interceptions last week pushing his season total to an NFL-worst, he has lost four fumbles.
“It hurts a lot to see someone you care about go through a situation like that and to know that if I could have done more, if this offense could have done more, we wouldn’t have had to do something like that,” Allen said of the coordinator change.
In an era where quarterbacks throw fewer interceptions than ever, tossing more than one per game is a sure recipe for trouble.
“Probably not where we’d like him to be,” McDermott said of Allen. “That’s natural based on some of the results that we’ve gotten this year. But I’m confident that he’ll find it.”
Based on past history, Allen might not locate it this week.
Jets head coach Robert Saleh’s defense has clamped down on Allen the way few teams have in recent years. It forced four turnovers out of him in Week 1 (three interceptions, one fumble), when it overcame the early loss of Aaron Rodgers for a 22-16 win on Xavier Gipson’s 65-yard punt return for a touchdown 39 seconds into overtime.
The Jets have struggled to consistently score, ratcheting up the degree of difficulty for their own defense. Last week’s 16-12 loss at Las Vegas was the latest example, as Zach Wilson accounted for 317 total yards but couldn’t get the offense into the end zone. The Jets have an NFL-worst streak of 36 possessions over 11 quarters without an offensive touchdown.
Wilson was 23 of 39 for 263 yards in the air but tossed a critical interception to Robert Spillane with just over one minute left in the game at the Raiders’ 15-yard line. With Rodgers rehabbing an Achilles’ injury, New York has managed just eight touchdowns in nine games.
“I want to play better. The whole offense wants to play better,” wide receiver Garrett Wilson said. “We come out every week trying to make it happen. It’s frustrating. I’m tired of this.”
Garrett Wilson (elbow) said Friday he will be in the lineup this week, but the Jets are not planning for left tackle Duane Brown to return after missing the past seven games.
The Bills had “full participation” in Friday’s practice and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips (knee) and wide receiver Trent Sherfield (ankle) could both be available. McDermott said Friday no players are ruled out for the game.
–Field Level Media
