Coming into Week 17, the Buffalo Bills knew they were battling for the AFC’s top seed, but needed the Chiefs to lose on Christmas Day. That didn’t happen, so the next best thing would be to defeat the New York Jets and secure the number two seed, as well as an opportunity to rest starters and get healthy during the final week of the NFL regular season.
The Bills didn’t just win, they embarrassed the Jets 40-14, and both of the Jets’ touchdowns came in the fourth quarter when Buffalo was up 40-0 and pulled their starters. While Josh Allen didn’t have an outrageous stat line, he still added three more touchdowns to his season total. The defense performed admirably, and Buffalo introduced another new name to this season’s list of touchdown scorers. Here are our three takeaways from the Bills Week 17 thrashing of the Jets.
Bills 13th player scores a touchdown, tying an NFL record
The Bills scored five more touchdowns this week, including one to Tyrel Shavers. Shavers has spent the majority of the season on the practice squad, a place he spent most of last season as well. He was called up due to Curtis Samuel being held out, and Shavers got his chance to make a play on a simple screen pass from backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Shavers took the screen 69 yards to the endzone and became the 13th player this season to score a touchdown. It was also Shavers’s first career reception.
Likely, the Bills play mostly practice squad and backup players next week against the Patriots in the season finale. There is a very good chance someone else gets their first of the season, breaking the record with 14, possibly even 15 different players to score six for the Bills.
2024 Bills are the highest scoring offense in team history
The Bills recorded another 40+ game this season, their fourth of the year, and third in the last four games. They have scored 509 points this season, surpassing the previous record of 501 during the 2020 season. They also established new records for touchdowns (63) and rushing touchdowns (30) in a season. The previous rushing record was 29 set in 2016.
The Bills defense showed up against the Jets
The Bills’ defense has been a liability over the last few weeks, albeit with injuries to their defensive backfield and linebackers. Still, anytime you have back-to-back games giving up 40+, it raises concerns, and rightfully so. Buffalo got Taylor Rapp and Rasul Douglas back, along with Matt Milano and the team did not disappoint. They recorded two picks off Aaron Rodgers and forced a fumble. They harassed Rodgers all day, with seven quarterback hits, and four sacks, including a safety. They held the Jets to just 281 yards, and 14 garbage time points.
