Winners and losers: 5 takeaways from Bills win over Jets in Week 6

It wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but the Buffalo Bills ended their two-game losing streak on Monday night, escaping MetLife Stadium with a 23-20 victory over the New York Jets.

Now 4-2, the four-time defending AFC East champs are once again in complete control of the division, as none of the other three teams have more than two wins through the first six weeks of this 2024 NFL season.

Truth be told, the Bills could have very easily lost three straight for the first time in the Josh Allen era, and they were lucky to walk away with a win here. While the defense made some big plays at times, overall, the unit once again struggled. And speaking of struggles, kicker Tyler Bass is having plenty of problems of his own.

But before we get into all that, let's have a look at some of the things that went right for Buffalo as we break down the winners and losers from the Bills' ugly win over the Jets to close out Week 6.

Winner: Josh Allen, QB

Coming off one of the worst games of his career in the Bills' Week 5 loss to the Houston Texans — he wasn't so great against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 4, either — Josh Allen got back on track with a strong performance against a formidable Jets defense.

Completing 19 of 25 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 18 yards and a score, Allen now has 21 games in which he's recorded at least two passing TDs and one rushing TD, putting him just one behind the all-time leader in such games, Cam Newton. Oddly enough, he was tied with Aaron Rodgers at 20 heading into this matchup.

What might be even more impressive, though, is the fact that Allen has still yet to throw an interception this season. Picks have plagued him the last few years, and while he's still lost a couple of fumbles, his turnover issues have vastly improved.

While Allen rushed for just 18 yards, his second-lowest total of the season, it was his 6-yard run on 3rd & 4 with 1:45 remaining that sealed the victory.

Winner: Ray Davis, RB

With James Cook out of the lineup with a toe injury, the Bills turned to fourth-round rookie running back Ray Davis to pick up the slack, and he came through with flying colors.

With just 30 total touches on the season coming in, the First-Team All-SEC selection out of Kentucky carried the football 20 times on Monday night, rushing for a career-high 97 yards, and also recorded three receptions for 55 yards, most notably a 42-yard catch on a pass that Allen probably shouldn't have thrown.

Nevertheless, it worked out, and the Bills ultimately ended the drive with a touchdown to take a 13-10 lead.

While Cook will undoubtedly be the RB1 when he's ready to return, Sean McDermott has to feel good knowing he can rely on Davis. This was a nice outing for the rookie, and he deserves his flowers.

Winner: Taylor Rapp, S

Overall, the Buffalo defense didn't play a great football game, which we'll get to in just a moment. But safety Taylor Rapp deserves some recognition for his individual efforts.

Following the absurd roughing the passer call on A.J. Epenesa on third down that kept the Jets' first offensive possession of the second half alive, Rapp made several big plays near the goal line to keep Gang Green out of the end zone.

Overall, Rapp tied for the team lead in total tackles with eight and recorded three key pass deflections in the victory. Epenesa, who still had a pair of sacks despite the penalty, and Taron Johnson, who also had eight tackles and made the key interception on Rodgers late in the game, played big roles as well, but Rapp deserves the most credit here.

Loser: The Bills defense as a whole

Minus what was mentioned above, the Buffalo defense did not play a great football game on Monday night. We won't even get into some of the penalties because there were just too many to mention on both sides, but some of those mistakes could have been very costly.

Overall, the Bills allowed 393 total yards, 272 through the air and 121 on the ground. Sure, that's fewer than the 427 they gave up to the Ravens and the 425 they allowed to the Texans, but this still wasn't a good performance.

Thankfully for Buffalo, the Jets continued to have the red-zone issues that have plagued them for much of the season. But this could have easily gone another way. Had Rapp not stopped Breece Hall on the aforementioned drive or shut down the passes he did, the Jets take the lead there.

But New York shouldn't have even been in that position to do so in the first place, as the defense on Rodgers' Hail Mary to Allen Lazard to close the first half was absurdly poor. For starters, the decision to only rush two players was questionable. But the fact that not one of the four Bills defenders in the area could simply knock the ball down is ridiculous, one of whom was Taron Johnson.

Yes, he redeemed himself with that late pick. But would that have happened had Mike Williams not fallen down? Buffalo caught some breaks, but those won't last forever.

When they face teams that can actually score touchdowns in the red zone, the Bills will have problems, just as they did against Baltimore and Houston, who just happen to be tied for the league lead in red-zone TD percentage at 75%. The Jets rank only 18th in that department at 52.94%.

Simply put, Buffalo will have to be better defensively when facing better teams.

Loser: Tyler Bass, K

Okay, so the wind may have played a factor in the kicking game on Monday night at MetLife as both Tyler Bass and Greg Zuerlein were dreadful. But there are clearly issues with both guys right now.

As it pertains to Bass, the Bills are essentially stuck, as they have a lot of money wrapped up in him after signing him to a four-year, $20.4 million extension ahead of last season. Yes, they have an out after this season, but they'd take a dead-cap hit of more than $3 million.

But if he continues to struggle, decisions will have to be made. The missed extra point on Monday night may not have been all his fault as replay shows the ball may have been tipped. But even if it was, look at the direction the ball was already moving, and you'll see it was probably going to miss badly anyway. And the missed field goal wasn't pretty, either. Yes, Bass did kick the game-winner, but when Bills Mafia has to be nervous about a 22-yard chip shot, that's not a good thing.

Buffalo fans haven't forgotten about his miss against the Kansas City Chiefs in the postseason this past January and can't feel great about a guy who's already missed two extra points and three field goals in six games this season.