How the Jets Defense Made Some Key Adjustments to Slow Down the Bills Offense

Sometimes, the idea of making “halftime adjustments” gets overblown. That said, the Jets did make a key second-half tweak on defense that played a critical role in helping them slow down the Bills offense in Week 9.

In the first half, Stefon Diggs (Buffalo’s best weapon outside of Josh Allen), caught 5 passes for 93 yards. 4 of those came against single-high coverage, including the first play of the game. That’s Diggs (#14) motioning across the formation:

Despite the fact that Buffalo has high-quality weapons throughout their offense, Robert Saleh and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich made a concerted effort not to allow Diggs to beat them in the second half, and it paid off. Diggs was held without a reception over the final 30 minutes.

Starting on the first play of the 3rd quarter, New York frequently rolled coverage over top of Diggs’ side. Here, the Bills started in a 3x1 set before Diggs motioned across the formation. The Jets would play quarter-quarter-half coverage (Cover-2 to Diggs’ side, Quarters to the other):

Gardner was able to aggressively jam Diggs at the line, knowing he had safety help over the top. Allen initially wanted to go to Diggs, but he was effectively taken out of the play:

Allen started moving through his reads (which happened to be covered as well), but only had a little bit of time before defensive tackle Quinnen Williams overpowered center Mitch Morse for the sack: