Bills vs. Jets: 5 Things We Learned from Bills 28-24 Loss

The Buffalo Bills dropped a hard-fought AFC East division battle today to the New York Jets, 28-24. The game was a see-saw affair as the teams took turns coming back on each other and the game was in doubt up until the final second when the Bills had the ball at the Jets' 23-yard line.

The Bills resembled the team that played in the first half of the season, as they played with heart and passion today. The team that was 0-3 and humiliated in the prior three losses was nowhere to be seen today.

The Bills didn't appear to suffer any major injuries, but the loss means that the Jets, 6-5, now have swept the Bills, 5-6, and have the upper hand in the AFC playoff race. For the Bills, this loss means that they would have to win out their remaining five games to finish at 10-6 and hope to have a shot at the playoffs.

We will now look at five things that we learned about the Bills from today's game.

Steve Johnson Made Darrelle Revis Look Bad

The Buffalo Bills decided to attack Darrelle Revis today with lots of passes to Steve Johnson. How many is lots? Try 13 targets, of which Johnson caught eight passes. Teams are typically afraid to throw at Revis Island, and for good reason, but the Bills didn't believe that Revis could stop Johnson. With his eight receptions, Johnson had 75 yards in receptions along with a touchdown.

You saw evidence that the Bills thought Johnson could beat Revis back in Week 9 when Fitzpatrick targeted Johnson six times, and Johnson came up with three catches for 84 yards, including a 52-yard completion.

I think that Johnson and Fitzpatrick would like another crack at the final three targets the duo attempted in the game. The first one came when Aaron Maybin jumped off-sides and Fitzpatrick threw a pass that hit Johnson in stride at the 20. Johnson was so wide open that he could have sauntered into the end zone. The next pass, again Johnson was wide open, this time in the back of the end zone, as he beat Revis badly on the play. But Fitzpatrick was throwing on the run, and the pass was not accurate enough.

The third attempt was on the final play of the game, and Fitzpatrick threw the ball a little high. If he had brought it down a little bit, Johnson looked like he was in position to score.

This certainly bodes well, though, for the future, as the Bills (assuming that they sign Johnson to a new contract) know that they have a weapon that they can go to and handle Revis.

4th Quarter Magic Is No Longer There

Ryan Fitzpatrick led the Bills on some impressive drives today, but with the game on the line, the Bills quarterback wasn't able to dial up the right plays for a dramatic comeback win.

Fitzpatrick went to Steve Johnson twice and Brad Smith once in the final three plays with the ball sitting at the Jets' 24-yard line. I was surprised that with those three opportunities the Bills didn't attempt to use their height advantage with either Scott Chandler or David Nelson, since the Jets weren't applying that much pressure on Fitzpatrick.

What I liked that Fitzpatrick did was that he was showing his old level of confidence in his players and giving them a chance to make plays on the ball. I also liked the play where Fitzpatrick scrambled during the final drive and absolutely leveled corner Donald Strickland.

The way that Fitzpatrick drove the Bills down the field was reminiscent of the comeback drives against the Patriots and Raiders, but the old Fitzmagic wasn't there today.

For the day, Fitzpatrick completed 66.6 percent of his passes (26-of-39) for 264 yards, three touchdown passes and no interceptions. To do that against the Jets' defense was a very positive sign for Fitzpatrick and for the Bills' offense.

Offensive Line Held Up Okay Considering

Considering that the Bills were playing musical chairs with the offensive line, they held up pretty well, all things being considered.

The Bills' offensive line got nailed with five penalty calls and gave up three sacks. The biggest change saw Ryan Fitzpatrick move up to take the snaps directly under center, as opposed to going back into the shot gun. There were not any bad snaps and the hikes from center Kraig Urbik all game were never an issue, which is a big change from what happened against the Dolphins with Andy Levitre.

There were penalties against Erik Pears, who allowed ex-Bills Aaron Maybin to beat him for a sack, and there were also calls against Levitre and Chad Rinehart.

The funny thing was that three times the Bills had penalties against the offensive line for holding, but each time the Bills were able to overcome the setback and pick up a first down to keep the drives alive. The ability to continually do that had to be disheartening to the Jets' defense.

The Bills played a much better game today than they did against the Jets back in Buffalo. This seemed like a real team again today, not the pretend team we saw for the last three weeks.

Defense Gave Up 4 Mark Sanchez Touchdowns

For the day, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez completed less than half of his passes (17-of-35), but still threw for four touchdowns. The Bills had some blown coverages or missed assignments on at least two of the touchdowns as Dustin Keller and Santonio Holmes were left wide open for easy scores.

Sanchez threw for 180 yards, with one interception to go with the four scores. The Bills defensive backs had their hands on numerous passes, but could only come up with one interception, that by Drayton Florence.

In fact, the Bills won the turnover battle, two to none, and were able to convert both turnovers into a touchdown. The Jets caught a big break when Bills kicker Dave Rayner muffed on a kickoff, and the ball only went 10 yards. The Jets were able to turn the gift field position into a touchdown drive.

The Bills has some sporadic pressure on Sanchez, but not enough. They did not have a sack again, and it was the lack of a pass rush that allowed Sanchez to find a little more rhythm and gain some confidence in the second half.

Brad Smith Is a Better WR Than C.J. Spiller Is a RB

The Bills have been forced to plug guys into the offense to offset injuries to starters Fred Jackson and Donald Jones. Brad Smith replaced Jones, while C.J. Spiller replaced Jackson.

Against the Jets, Smith looked like the better replacement option. Smith caught four passes for 77 yards and a beautiful 36-yard touchdown catch, when he tipped the ball to himself and beat Antonio Cromartie. Smith averaged 19. 3 yards per catch, and is turning into a viable wide receiver option, in light of all the Bills receivers that have been lost to injuries.

Spiller rushed 19 times for 55 yards, which amounted to an average of 2.9 yards per carry. Many of his rushes went for no gain, or maybe one yard, which shows the difference between Spiller and Fred Jackson. When there is no hole for Jackson, he is able to power through the pile for three or four extra yards. When Spiller gets hit, he usually goes down immediately, and you seldom see him breaking many tackles. 

The Bills will want to give Spiller an extended look over the final five games to see what he can do. For now, it seems that his best asset is to use him as a pass receiver out of the backfield, isolating him against a linebacker, and let him use his speed to beat the guy going long. But as a running back, there wasn't a lot there to like today.

New Bills running back Tashard Choice had an auspicious Bills debut, as he lost eight yards on two carries. Obviously he will do better, but he couldn't have done much worse today.

The Bills have a home game against the Tennessee Titans next Sunday.