1. What did McDermott say at halftime?
Buffalo had a rough first half. The team had four turnovers and zero points, but were only down six points. Head coach Sean McDermott had to deliver a message to his team at halftime.
"Look, it's hard to win in this league," McDermott said. "You go into some tough environments and we expected a 12-round fight, really. They're a good football team, well-coached team, good players – C.J. Mosley, Le'Veon Bell, you guys know. We expected this type of game and I thought our guys kept their composure and put a good effort together in that second half. I think the guys felt good at halftime. I think they did. As much as we had some mistakes in the first half with the turnovers and penalties, I thought the guys felt like the morale was up. At least I felt that in the locker room. We know if we came out in the second half and covered the kickoff, had a good stop, that we'd be right in the game, which we were."
2. Josh Allen remaining calm in critical situations
Josh Allen has led the Bills on game-winning drives before. It's a situation he knows well early on in his career and one the Bills practice regularly. Allen credits his preparedness for leading the Bills to victory.
"I was just trying to stay as calm as possible," Allen said. "I knew the situation and the task at hand. This is something we practice all the time. Coach (Sean) McDermott does a great job with situational football. We probably had that situation a handful of times in practice. (I was) just trying to stay calm out there and trust my eyes. If I see the coverage, trust it and go with it. I settled in in the fourth quarter. I felt like I calmed down. I was letting things come to me instead of forcing things"
3. Tipped balls at the line
The Bills defensive front was able to get to Sam Darnold four times on Sunday but when they couldn't get past the Jets offensive line the front four of the Bills immediately put their hands up. It worked and the Bills batted down multiple of Darnold's throwing attempts.
"No. That's what they do. It's littered through all of their tape. They constantly get all kinds of tipped balls. Most of the time, they get a turnover off of it, which almost happened to us," Jets head coach Adam Gase said
"The coaches say affect the quarterback. That is the game plan throughout the week. If you can't get their fast enough get your hands up or get him off his spot. Our goal was to affect him," Shaq Lawson said
"Towards the end of the game, especially on that last drive, it was a huge. We knew that with nine seconds left there wasn't much of a down-field threat. So, it was just us trying to bat the ball down and do what we can to try and tip the ball up and just end the game," Jerry Hughes said.
4. Devin Singletary finding a groove
The rookie running back was huge for the Bills in the second half against the Jets. Singletary finished with 70 yards on just four carries plus he had five catches for 28 yards.
"It was good to get him in the mix there," head coach Sean McDermott said. "A lot of our young guys I thought stepped in and did some good things, which is good to see early in the season. It wasn't too big for them, which is great. Now, we're going to just continue to grow. I know some of these guys were a little nervous prior for their first game in their NFL careers, but now they've got it under their belt. So, good stuff."
Singletary wasn't anxious to take his first NFL handoffs.
"Not at all. You don't want to force anything, you have to let the game come to you. I just waited and did whatever the team asked," Singletary said.
In fact, he didn't even take a handoff until the third quarter.
"There are four quarters in football. That's all I was thinking," Singletary said.
Singletary earned some praise from his teammates as well.
"One (of his runs) was an unbelievable cut," Josh Allen said. "He was tucked inside and he was able to get outside. I don't know how he did it, but that's just the kind of thing he brings to the table. He's very elusive, very slippery. He's tough to tackle. I'm glad he was on our team tonight and we're going to be happy with the process and the progress he makes going forward."
5. The run game is like mac and cheese
One of the more interesting quotes after Sunday's win came from Dion Dawkins. He was asked about the run game.
"If you think about it, it's like a train," Dawkins said. "You got to oil that train up, you got to start that engine. If it's a diesel truck you got to start off slow and then that thing opens up. That's exactly what happened. You start off, keep churning, keep churning, keep churning. If you're making mac and cheese, you stir that mac and cheese up and eventually that mac and cheese will be nice, wet and juicy. You know what I'm saying?"
