Jeff Ulbrich painfully loses his coaching debut with the Jets

New coach. Same result.

Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich's debut had some promising signs, but ended in the usual way.

The Jets lost their third straight game, a 23-20 loss to the division rival Bills. The loss drops the Jets to 2-4 and two games behind the 4-2 Bills in the AFC East.

The Jets' offense showed more signs of life than it has recently, rolling for 393 yards. Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for 294 yards and two touchdowns, including one on a Hail Mary before halftime.

In the end, however, Rodgers couldn't win the game as he threw an interception in the final two minutes, and it didn't help matters when kicker Greg Zuerlein missed two field goal attempts in the second half.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns and made some spectacular throws. The Bills also ran for 149 yards.

The game capped a tumultuous week for the Jets that began with owner Woody Johnson firing coach Robert Saleh on Tuesday, two days after the Jets lost to the Vikings in London. Ulbrich, the team's defensive coordinator, was named interim coach and his first move was to strip offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett of play-calling duties and give them to passing game coordinator Todd Downing.

It was an ugly game that saw a total of 22 penalties, 11 per team.

The Jets had a chance for a game-winning drive but were held back by penalties, and then Rodgers' third throw to Mike Williams was intercepted by Taron Johnson with 1:52 left.

The Bills took a 23-20 lead on a 22-yard field goal by Tyler Bass with 3:43 to play. The field goal was set up by a roughing passer penalty on Jets defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, who moved the ball to the Buffalo 9-yard line. Kinlaw was tagged three times in the series. After roughly tackling the passer, he once jumped into the neutral zone and received a personal foul for saying something to the referees after the field goal.

The Bills sealed the game with a six-yard first down run by Allen that ended the game.

The Jets opened the game with one of their best drives in weeks, but were unable to convert it into a touchdown. They gained 54 yards in eight plays, but Breece Hall dropped a third down pass from Rodgers and they had to settle for a 34-yard field goal from Zuerlein.

The Bills broke through the Jets' defense with ease on their first possession. Allen didn't have to do much on the drive as the Jets struggled to stop the run despite top running back James Cook being inactive with Buffalo due to a toe injury.

They covered 70 yards on nine plays, including eight runs. The Bills didn't even have a third down on the drive. Allen rushed from the 1-yard line for a touchdown, giving the team an early 7-3 lead.

The Jets then responded with a beautiful nine-play, 70-yard drive of their own. Hall had a 24-yard run as the Jets' running game finally showed signs of life. The touchdown was a nice game-extending 5-yard pass from Rodgers to Garrett Wilson in the back of the end zone. Wilson barely got into the game and the Jets were up 10-7, which felt like an offensive explosion after the last few weeks.

The Bills took a 13-10 lead with 6:54 left in the second quarter when Allen hit Mack Hollins for an eight-yard touchdown. The 10-play drive started with a ridiculous 42-yard completion to running back Ray Davis. Allen was flushed to his right and launched the ball down the field to Davis, who caught it over Quincy Williams.

Buffalo extended its lead to 20-10 just before halftime when Allen hit Dawson Knox for a 12-yard touchdown.

The drive was aided by two pass interference penalties from the Jets. One to DJ Reed gave the Bills 23 yards and one from Tony Adams moved the ball to the Jets' 11-yard line.

It looked like the Bills would go into halftime with a 10-point lead, but the Jets got the ball back at their own 30 with 21 seconds left. After short completions to Tyler Conklin and Wilson, Rodgers showed off his arm strength on a Hail Mary that Allen made. Lazard somehow managed to score the touchdown as time expired to cut the score to 20-17 at halftime.

The Jets tied the game at 20-20 with 6:17 left in the third quarter on a 22-yard field goal by Zuerlien. While the Jets scored points, it was disappointing for them to fail to reach the end zone after a 42-yard rush by Breece Hall placed them at the Bills' three-yard line. But Rodgers threw an incompletion on first down, Hall was stuffed on second down and Rodgers and Wilson couldn't make contact on third down.

That wasn't the last missed opportunity in the red zone. The next one was worse. The Jets again drove to the Bills' 4-yard line and Braelon Allen appeared to score a touchdown, but it was rejected by a holding call against left tackle Tyron Smith.

That set up a third-and-12 in the 14th minute. Rodgers tried to hit Wilson again in the back of the end zone, but safeties Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin pushed him in as the ball reached him and he landed free.

The Jets still had a chance to take the lead with a 32-yard field goal from Zuerlein, but it hit the left post.

Zuerlein missed another field goal with 9:44 to play. This was a 43-yard attempt that also failed at the left post.