One could say that Taylor Rapp and the Buffalo Bills’ defense forced the New York Jets to trade for All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams on Tuesday. After throwing an interception to Bills cornerback Taron Johnson with 1:52 remaining in the fourth quarter, Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers blamed wide receiver Mike Williams for the play.
“It was two verticals,” Rodgers told the media after the game. “Allen [Lazard is] down the seam, Mike’s down the red line. So I’m looking at Allen, he puts his hand up, three guys go with him. So, I’m throwing a no-look to the red line. And when I just peek my eyes back there, he’s running an in-breaker. So. Um, it’s gotta be down the red line.”
One of those three players covering the four verticals concept wasn’t former Washington Huskies star safety Taylor Rapp, who was in the midst of an exceptional game.
Rapp was tied for the team lead with 8 tackles and added 3 pass breakups on the day, including a few game-saving plays. The first came when he forced running back Breece Hall out of bounds at the three-yard line on a 42-yard run, which set up a goal-line stand from his teammates, forcing a field goal and a 20-20 tie.
On the next drive, Rapp broke up a pass in the end zone intended for wide receiver Garrett Wilson on third down, forcing another field goal try from kicker Greg Zuerlein, which careened off the uprights to keep the score tied.
“We missed them last week,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said of Rapp and Johnson after the game. “Good to have them both back, made some big plays for us. We got some young guys out there playing, and those two are some of our veteran players. You could tell in the week of practice there was a difference in just the communication and the speed in which we were playing with on defense.”