After 'weird' week, Rodgers and Jets can't overcome mistakes and missed chances in loss to Bills

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets’ tumultuous week ended the way so many have in recent seasons.

With another gut-wrenching loss.

Aaron Rodgers threw an interception on the Jets’ final drive and Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills ran out the clock Monday night in a 23-20 victory that was there for the taking for New York.

“It’s frustrating,” Rodgers said. “I’m here to win those games, but we’ve got to be on our details. It’s little things every single time.”

Such as the 11 penalties called against New York, which Rodgers said “seemed a little ridiculous” while being critical of the officials. Buffalo also had 11 penalties.

“Some of them seemed really bad,” the quarterback said of the penalty calls.

And there were the two missed field goals by Greg Zuerlein. And the offense going 1 for 4 in the red zone. And the defense’s inability to contain Buffalo’s run game.

“We had our chances,” Rodgers said.

The Jets endured a tough loss to Minnesota in London last Sunday, the firing of head coach Robert Saleh by owner Woody Johnson on Tuesday, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich replacing him as the interim and then Ulbrich demoting offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and replacing him with pass game coordinator Todd Downing on Wednesday.

“Yeah, it was a weird week,” Rodgers said.

Despite all that, a win against the Bills (4-2) would have put the Jets (2-4) in first place in the AFC East by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Instead, Ulbrich and the Jets are dealing with a three-game losing streak.

“We are by no means out of this thing,” Ulbrich insisted.

But Rodgers and the Jets know the margin for error gets smaller with each aggravating loss.

“I think there's concern, but that's important,” Rodgers said. “We need to maybe get going. This was a golden opportunity. Some games you win in the NFL and some games you give away. This was a giveaway.”

It appeared the Jets might have been on the verge of a special night when Rodgers completed a 52-yard Hail Mary throw for a touchdown to Allen Lazard just before halftime to cut their deficit to 20-17.

“When you catch those waves of momentum, you’ve got to ride it,” Ulbrich said. "And you’ve got to finish a team, which we didn’t do.”

Instead, the Jets got only three more points on Zuerlein’s game-tying 22-yard field goal.

“I thought we were going to have a big night on offense,” Rodgers said. “It should’ve been a 30-plus point game on offense and this shouldn’t even be a conversation.”

Rodgers finished 23 of 35 for 294 yards with two touchdowns and the INT. Breece Hall ran for 113 yards and had 56 receiving. Garrett Wilson had eight catches for 107 yards and Lazard had six receptions – including the Hail Mary grab – for 114 yards.

But getting just one touchdown out of four trips inside the Bills 20 was a major issue.

“We were terrible in the red zone,” Rodgers said. “We missed two field goals. We didn't convert on a 2-minute drive. We had plenty of chances.”

The run defense also had a rough night, allowing the Bills to gain 149 yards on the ground — including 97 by rookie Ray Davis, who stepped in for an injured James Cook and Buffalo didn't miss a beat.

“That’s not winning football from a defensive perspective,” Ulbrich said. “That’s on me. That’s on every player. That’s on every coach. That’s on all of us.”

When Tyler Bass pushed a 47-yarder wide right on Buffalo’s opening drive of the second half, the Jets appeared to still have the momentum.

Zuerlein tied it at 20 with a 22-yarder midway through the third quarter.

The Jets appeared to take the lead late on their next possession when Braelon Allen ran up the middle from 4 yards out, but left tackle Tyron Smith was called for holding — which Rodgers later said was “a phantom holding call.”

Rodgers connected with Wilson in the back of the end zone on the next play, but the wide receiver took a big hit and couldn’t hold onto the ball.

Zuerlein then hit the left upright on a 32-yard attempt to keep the game tied. He also missed a potential go-ahead 43-yarder with 9:44 left in the fourth quarter, hitting the upright again.

“I’m just not kicking the ball well,” said Zuerlein, who has three missed field goals in his last three games. “These guys deserve better and I can do better. I just need to do it.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Buffalo Bills cornerback Taron Johnson (7) intercepts a pass intended for New York Jets wide receiver Mike Williams, right, during the second half of an NFL football game in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Buffalo Bills cornerback Taron Johnson, right, intercepts a pass intended for New York Jets wide receiver Mike Williams (18) during the second half of an NFL football game in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich speaks at a news conference after an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers speaks at a news conference after an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) reacts during the second half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers walks on the field during the second half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

BEIRUT (AP) — More than 400,000 children in Lebanon have been displaced in the past three weeks, a top official with the U.N. children’s agency said Monday, warning of a “lost generation” in the small country grappling with multiple crises and now in the middle of war.

Israel has escalated its campaign against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group, including launching a ground invasion, after a year of exchanges of fire during its war with Hamas in Gaza.

The fighting in Lebanon has driven 1.2 million people from their homes, most of them fleeing to Beirut and elsewhere in the north over the past three weeks since the escalation.

Ted Chaiban, UNICEF's deputy executive director for humanitarian actions, has visited schools that have been turned into shelters to host displaced families.

“What struck me is that this war is three weeks old and so many children have been affected,” Chaiban told The Associated Press in Beirut.

“As we sit here today, 1.2 million children are deprived of education. Their public schools have either been rendered inaccessible, have been damaged by the war or are being used as shelters. The last thing this country needs, in addition to everything else it has gone through, is the risk of a lost generation.”

While some Lebanese private schools are still operating, the public school system has been badly affected by the war, along with the country's most vulnerable people such as Palestinian and Syrian refugees.

″What I’m worried about is that we have hundreds of thousands of Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian children that are at risk of losing their learning," Chaiban said.

More than 2,300 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes, nearly 75% of them over the last month, according to the Health Ministry. In the last three weeks, more than 100 children were killed and over 800 were wounded, Chaiban said.

He said displaced children are crammed into overcrowded shelters where three or four families can live in a classroom separated by a plastic sheet, and where 1,000 people can share 12 toilets. Not all of them work.

Many displaced families found have set up tents along roads or on public beaches.

Most displaced children have experienced so much violence, including the sounds of shelling or gunshots, that they cower at any loud noise, Chaiban said.

Then there is “evacuation orders upon evacuation orders. We’re at the beginning, and already there’s been a profound impact," he said.

The escalation has also put over 100 primary health care facilities out of service, while 12 hospitals are either no longer working or partially functional.

Water infrastructure has also come under attack. In the last three weeks, 26 water stations providing water to almost 350,000 people have been damaged, Chaiban said. UNICEF is working with local authorities to repair them.

He called for civilian infrastructure to be protected. And he appealed for a cease-fire in Lebanon and in Gaza, saying there needs to be political will and a realization that the conflict cannot be resolved through military means.

“What we must do is make sure that this stops, that this madness stops, that there’s a cease-fire before we get to the kind of destruction and pain and suffering and death that we’ve seen in Gaza,” Chaiban said.

With so many needs, he said, the emergency response appeal for $108 million in Lebanon has only been 8% funded three weeks into the escalation.

A displaced man sets up a tent as temporary shelter after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Families fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south, sit in front of the Mohammad al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Families fleeing Israeli airstrikes in the south, sit in Martyrs' square, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Children play next to their family's tent after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

People walk past tents set up as temporary shelters by displaced families fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south and Dahiyeh, on Beirut's corniche, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)WLD

Children play as their father, left, set up a tent as temporary shelter after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A displaced family fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south, sits next to their tent on Beirut's corniche, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)