As the story went in Week 10 of the 2018 NFL season, the Buffalo Bills smoked the New York Jets, 41-10.
Following the game, both teams went to 3-7 on the year. Matt Barkley was the surprise victory at quarterback for the Bills, tossing for 232 yards with two touchdowns. He was the difference maker.
But according to Jets safety Jamal Adams, Barkley wasn’t the difference-maker because of his place. He simply was the difference maker because he wasn’t Josh Allen.
“We obviously planned for Josh Allen to come in there,” Adams said via NFL.com. “We thought he was going to play. Obviously, he didn’t play. Obviously, we didn’t have a lot of film on Barkley.”
Prior to the game, the Jets did have a tough task ahead of them. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott loves to play the guessing game. Last season when then-starter Tyrod Taylor could barely walk during practice, he wouldn’t officially rule Taylor out before facing the Indianapolis Colts. Then-backup Nathan Peterman ended up starting to no one’s surprise.
Speaking of Peterman, he also plays a role into this Jets equations. Before being released on Monday, Peterman was still on the Bills’ roster. So was Barkley. So was Allen. Allen practiced in a limited basis all week, Peterman had consistently under-preformed and Barkley signed 11 days prior. Who the heck could’ve accurately guess that? Not the Jets, apparently.
But for what it’s worth, Jets head coach Todd Bowles did give credit to the Bills.
“You can’t. You can’t,” Bowles said following the loss when asked how to describe the loss. “You give them some credit. We stunk it up as coaches. We stunk it up as players. We didn’t play well.”
