Preview, prediction, what to pay attention to

A look at Monday’s Week 6 NFL matchup between the Jets and Bills at MetLife Stadium:

Marquee matchup

Jets offensive line vs. Bills defensive line

The Jets have been playing the ball poorly lately. They had 36 rushing yards last week against the Vikings after only having 64 rushing yards the week before in the loss to the Broncos. The Jets have talked all week about getting the game going with new play-caller Todd Downing. They rank last in the NFL with 80.4 rushing yards per game.

The Bills could be just what the Jets need to get their rushing attack going. Buffalo, armed with the spirit of Von Miller, ranks 25th in the NFL in rushing defense, allowing 144 yards per game. The Ravens ran for a whopping 271 yards on the Bills two weeks ago.

“First of all, this team has a strong running game, we just didn’t execute it consistently enough,” Downing said. “Secondly, I think there are times now where people put a little bit of pressure on it because there’s an expectation of production and when that’s not met you feel a sense of urgency, but I think our guys are ready “To answer the call and make the quarter-turn adjustments we need to make to get this thing on the right track.”

Costello’s call

It wouldn’t shock me if the Jets won this game because the Bills are banged up. But I think this week’s chaos might be hard for them to overcome, and the Bills are just as desperate after two straight losses. Josh Allen finds a way and Jeff Ulbrich loses his debut as head coach.

Bills 24, Jets 19

Four defeats

Pick up: Aaron Rodgers had one of the worst games of his career last week against the Vikings, throwing three interceptions, one of which was a pick-six, and 25 incompletions. Rodgers said this week he felt his play contributed to the sacking of Robert Saleh and the demotion of Nathaniel Hackett. Now we’ll see if the poor play of the last few weeks was an anomaly or a sign of things to come.

“He’s had very few blips on the radar in his two-decade career, and I know Aaron himself has said the last few weeks haven’t been up to his standard,” new play-caller Todd Downing said, “but this solves it doesn’t necessarily sound an alarm. He knows how to prepare. He knows how to diagnose defenses. He knows how to set the tone on offense and that’s what we expect this week.”

Start me: The Jets came out of the gates slowly again this season. This has plagued her before and is happening again now. They have scored 14 points in the first quarter and gained just 249 yards this season, averaging 2.8 points per game and 49.8 yards per game in the first quarter.

Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich knows they have to start faster.

“We have to approach everything with a different sense of urgency, a heightened sense of urgency,” Ulbrich said. “Then it just becomes who you are, it becomes part of your DNA. It’s not something I’m thinking about, I need to start quickly. It’s just that I started quickly in everything I do, so the game will start quickly.”

Just kidding: The Jets will face Josh Allen for the 12th time on Monday. This game will be the 100th career game for Allen, who entered the league in 2018. Despite his excellent play, Allen is known as a quarterback who will turn the ball over, but he has never thrown an interception this season and has eight passing touchdowns.

Allen has a 7-4 record against the Jets, but he has lost his last two games against them at Metlife Stadium. The Jets intercepted Allen 11 times and scored 12 passing touchdowns against Gang Green.

Reed-iculous: Jets cornerback DJ Reed has been a shutdown corner this season. Playing alongside Sauce Gardner, Reed doesn’t always get the credit he deserves, but he’s been one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL this season and did a great job against the Vikings last week.

“He played at an ultra-high level,” Ulbrich said. “We give out these awards weekly in the defensive meeting rooms based on style of play, workload, effort, toughness, physicality, execution, all of those things. He’s the perennial winner of these things, another guy we’re so lucky to have. I know Sauce gets a lot of headlines, but DJ is a comparable corner in this room, and the combination of those two is deadly.”