Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan can rest easy as his team backed his words and put up a dominant display in a 46-26 romp of the Buffalo Bills Sunday.
After the New York Jets went 0-4 in the preseason and looked ineffective offensively, Ryan claimed that his squad had went "vanilla" in the preseason and had shown none of their offensive tricks to provide an element of surprise in their first match.
And surprise is exactly what they did. Much speculation had been made about how the two ego-maniacal quarterbacks on the Jets roster, Sanchez and Tim Tebow, could co-exist. The media was even calling the controversy a "circus." But there was nothing disorganized or disharmonious in the Jets offense. Though Tebow utilized the "Wildcat" formation to gain yards throughout the game, Sanchez was the offensive force. He threw for three touchdowns, 266 yards and completed 19 of 27 pass attempts. The Jets said prior to the start of the season that Sanchez was the number one guy and it was clear from the performance.
Running Back Schonn Greene had 27 carries for 94 yards, including one touchdown. Jets Wide Receiver Stephen Hill made five catches for 89 yards. He scored two touchdowns.
For Buffalo, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 195 yards and completed 18 of his 32 passing attempts. He threw for three touchdowns as well, but also threw three interceptions.
The Jets dominated the first half and went into halftime with a 27-7 lead off touchdowns from Jeremy Kerley and Hill.
Antonio Cromartie and Hill added two more touchdowns in the third quarter to extend the lead to 41-7 before Buffalo scored three consecutive touchdowns and cut the lead to 41-28. Greene clinched the win in the final moments with a touchdown to give the Jets a 48-28 victory.
Ryan, Tebow, and Sanchez all had a chance to emphasize how wrong the media had been about them, but chose to stay quiet.
"Vindication, chip on our shoulder, maybe that's not the right things," Ryan said. "We were just excited to play."
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