New York Jets: Biggest key to victory against the Buffalo Bills in Week 1

The New York Jets open up their season in MetLife Stadium against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. What’s the biggest key to coming out on top?

We’ve finally made it, folks! It’s game week in the NFL again and the New York Jets start off their 2019 campaign on Sunday against their upstate rivals, the Buffalo Bills. There are plenty of storylines to look forward to, one of them being Le’Veon Bell‘s return to the football field.

Although it may sound odd, Week 1 is a must-win for the Jets. Their following five opponents are an extremely tough group of teams to face. They play the Cleveland Browns, the Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the New England Patriots twice.

That’s one of the hardest stretches one can imagine.

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Considering the tough early schedule they face, the Jets could really use a win to open their season. Not only would it really help soften the damage of the difficult early schedule, but it would be nice to have some momentum going into the rough patch as well.

If they can have three games in the win column after Week 7, the Jets will be in good shape.

How should the Jets gameplan? The following is the team’s biggest key to coming out on top against the Bills and starting the 2019 campaign off on a strong note.

Be Aggressive

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The biggest key of all is one of Gregg Williams’ specialties: being aggressive. The Jets need to come out attacking from the start, especially on the defensive side of the ball. If they choose to play conservative, it may come back to bite them.

The secondary isn’t one of the Jets’ strengths, specifically the cornerbacks. However, there’s a good way of “hiding” bad cornerbacks on defense: by rushing the passer.

Gang Green cannot afford to let Bills quarterback Josh Allen sit in the pocket, because it may not be too difficult to find open receivers downfield.

This shouldn’t be a problem for Williams in terms of play calling. Throughout his long, impressive career as a defensive coordinator, one pattern has always been there.

He lives and dies via the blitz. With a somewhat weak group of corners, expect him to bring the heat all game long.

Although the Jets have to stay aggressive on defense, they should be aggressive on the offensive side of the ball as well. They need to play with a quick tempo, along with using all the pieces of the offense.

Sam Darnold is missing his favorite check-down target in Chris Herndon and Adam Gase needs to plan accordingly. And Darnold thinks they will.

Sam's one word on this offense:

"Electric."

— #TakeFlight (@nyjets) September 3, 2019

Gase has so many weapons to use on Sunday and he should use each and every one of them. The Jets loaded up on offensive talent this offseason and paired them up with an offensive-minded head coach who has called plays for the most explosive offensive of all time, the 2013 Denver Broncos.

The Jets’ weapons will include Le’Veon Bell, Robby Anderson, Jamison Crowder, Quincy Enunwa, and Ty Montgomery. This may not be anywhere near the talent that Gase had back in 2013, but it is still a group with a lot of potential.

Add Darnold, who has incredible playmaking ability, into that group and you can make some serious noise if you utilize your tools properly.

The coaching staff has put an emphasis on being aggressive all offseason and now it’s time to show it on the field. Jets fans have suffered long enough from the lack of creativity and aggressiveness from the team’s previous offensive coordinators.

Another sequence of run, run, pass, punt is near unbearable at this point. The Jets need to play a fast, explosive, and aggressive game on both sides of the ball on Sunday.