Three stats, and more, to know about the Jets' 23-20 home loss to Buffalo at MetLife Stadium on Monday night:
Hall Turns on the Jets vs. Bills
Breece Hall wasn't happy with the game's outcome but he was bullish on the offense's strong showing and what it can mean for the weeks ahead: "We've still got everything in front of us that we want, so I'm not really too worried about it," he said. "We've just got to go out and execute. With the people we have, if the O-line plays like this every day, we shouldn't have any reason to not be doing what we want to do on offense."
Hall executed the best he has all season. His 113 rushing yards, on 18 carries, was his first 100-yard rushing game this season and the fifth of his career, and the last Jet to get to five 100-yard games was Bilal Powell in 2017. Hall's 42-yard dash to the Bills 3 in the third quarter was the sixth 40-yard run of his career, and the last Jet with more was Curtis Martin, who got his seventh 40 in 2005.
And with 56 yards on 5 catches, Hall had 169 scrimmage yards, the 10th time in his three Jets seasons that he's cleared 100 YFS in a game.
Garrett, Allen & Aaron, Hail & Hearty
Garrett Wilson is as hot as Hall if not hotter. His 8 catches for 107 yards gave him his sixth 100-yard receiving game and back-to-back 100-yard games for the first time in his career. And he teamed up with Allen Lazard, who had 6 receptions for 114 yards, including that seemingly game-changing 52-yard Hail Mary catch to end the first half.
As was widely reported, that was the fourth Hail Mary TD pass thrown by Rodgers in his career. Less known was that it was the fourth HM TD executed by the Jets since 1984 and the third at home vs. Buffalo. The first was Boomer Esiason to RB Adrian Murrell for 41 yards at the end of the 1995 game, but the two-point conversion failed and the Jets lost, 28-26. The second was Vinny Testaverde to CB-turned WR Marcus Coleman for 45 yards at the end of the first half in 2000, helping the Green & White defeat the Bills, 27-14.
McDonald Gets the McDrop on Allen
Lost during the game perhaps was Will McDonald IV's sack of Josh Allen on that weird second-quarter play on which Allen lost the handle on the ball as he tried to pass while getting hit by WMcD. The play was ruled a stripsack. It was McDonald's second strip this season and in the Jets' last 18 games, he's got 3 strips and the rest of the Jets have none.
McDonald also chalked up his team-leading seventh sack on the play, tying him with the Giants' Dexter Lawrence for second in the NFL after six weeks. And since the NFL leader, the Lions' Aidan Hutchinson with 7.5, suffered a serious lower-leg injury Sunday, there's a really good chance those two MetLife Stadium denizens will be duelng for the league's top spot before Halloween.
