The Buffalo Bills appeared to have an upper hand in their Monday Night Football season opener against the Jets in New Jersey.
QB Aaron Rodgers left the game early, suffering a season-ending Achilles injury while scrambling to evade a tackle on the MetLife Stadium turf.
Without the future Hall of Famer under center, Sean McDermott’s squad was then in a position to win under the unfortunate circumstances.
Yet the Bills got off to a rough start that mostly continued the rest of the way, resulting in a loss to a divisional opponent.
And much of that had to do with turning the ball over.
“When you turn the ball over four times it’s hard to win in this league and you’re playing two opponents,” HC Sean McDermott said to the media after the game. “The one on the other sideline and yourself and that’s what we did tonight.”
By his own admission, that was a result of poor decision-making by QB Josh Allen despite having good pass protection and a strong performance by WR1 Stefon Diggs. He threw three interceptions to Jets Safety Jordan Whitehead and also fumbled after a high snap.
“I hurt our team tonight. I cost our team tonight,” Allen said. “It feels eerily similar to last year, and I hate that it’s something I do.”
Allen has 84 turnovers since his rookie year in 2018, which leads the NFL in that period. He is also the quarterback with the most overtime losses without a win or tie (0-5) in the regular season and playoffs, per ESPN Stats & Information research.
The offense continued their struggles from last season under OC Ken Dorsey. After yielding only a field goal in the first quarter and then adding another in the second, it seemed like Buffalo was starting to right the ship when the offensive unit followed those points up with a strong second-quarter drive that resulted in a touchdown pass from QB Josh Allen to WR Stefon Diggs.
But the rest of the game was a poor outing. Whether it was the defense giving up long-running plays and not being more aggressive with second-year quarterback Zach Wilson, Dorsey’s playcalling and Allen’s turning the ball over, or the coaching staff declining a penalty against the Jets that allowed a 43-yard field goal fourth down play instead of accepting it and putting them out of range on third and 23.
The officiating was poor as well. Referees failed to call multiple helmet-to-helmet targeting hits by Jets players, including one on Allen in the fourth-quarter fumble play. They also had a tripping non-call on Jets LB Chazz Surratt during their game-winning punt return in overtime.
Still, the game provided plenty of opportunities for the Bills to win despite the officiating, with the turnovers especially standing out as costly. Buffalo will look to correct these mistakes ahead of their NFL Week 2 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders.
“It’s a long season in the NFL,” McDermott added. “And unfortunately, sometimes you have to be reminded of these things. And it hurts with a loss, right? And so, it’s a constant, constant reminder during the week of, ‘Hey, take care of the football — take the football away, that wins games when you do that.’ And in this case, it loses games.”