EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - As you might imagine, the Buffalo Bills were not a cheery bunch when they trudged off the field at halftime Monday night at MetLife Stadium.

They were cruising with a 20-10 lead against the New York Jets, and all that stood between them and that two-score halftime lead were 21 skinny seconds. And then Aaron Rodgers completed an otherworldly Hail Mary touchdown pass to Allen Lazard, and suddenly the Jets were alive and kicking.

“Yeah, obviously kind of a gut punch, going in thinking you're gonna have a two-score lead there and they catch a Hail Mary,” Josh Allen said.

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Of course, Allen wasn’t exactly surprised because, after all, the guy throwing that pass has pulled a few miracles during his two-decade NFL career.

“When you're on the opposing side, you're like ‘this freaking guy,’ you know?” Allen said. “But fighting through adversity, getting in at halftime, regrouping and saying ‘let's just control one play at a time.’ We didn't score as many points in that second half as I'd like, but we found a way.”

And interestingly, they found a way because one of the defensive backs who was victimized on the Hail Mary, Taron Johnson, redeemed himself in the final two minutes when he picked off a Rodgers deep shot that enabled Allen and the offense to run out the rest of the game and secure a hard-fought 23-20 victory.

“I mean, it was something that needed to happen in order to win the game,” Johnson said of his interception. “I just was reading the quarterback, saw the ball was floating in the air a little bit, so I was able to make a play.”

As for the Hail Mary, all Johnson could do was tip his cap, though Bills fans surely aren’t ready to leave it at that. Johnson’s right in that it was a heck of a play by Lazard, but it was also an egregious fail by the Bills defense - something we’ve seen before - and they were lucky it didn’t cost them the game.

Here’s how I graded the Bills:

PASS OFFENSE: B-

Allen was efficient as he completed 19 of 25 passes for 215 yards with two touchdowns and most importantly, he did not throw an interception for the sixth straight game. He did almost lose a fumble, but offensive guard O’Cyrus Torrence bailed him out with a recovery deep in Jets territory and on the next play, Allen threw a 12-yard TD pass to Dawson Knox to make it 20-10.

Dalton Kincaid led the Bills with six catches for 51 yards, but the two biggest gains came from two unlikely sources. Ray Davis caught a 42-yard scramble drill ball that got the Bills started on their second TD drive. And Curtis Samuel made a 38-yard reception on the first play of the third quarter, but that drive died when Tyler Bass missed a field goal.

Still, Samuel had his best game as a Bill with three catches for 44 yards, and Keon Coleman chipped in with three for 26. Khalil Shakir gave it his best, but he was clearly slowed by his ankle injury and caught just two for 19.

Up front, the offensive line struggled at times to protect Allen, but he was sacked only twice.

RUN OFFENSE: A

James Cook did not play due to a toe injury, but Davis stepped up in a big way as he rushed 20 times for 97 yards and also caught three passes for 55 yards. The Bills began the night with a 12-yard Ty Johnson run, but very quickly he passed the baton to Davis and Johnson ended up with just four carries, though they went for 34 yards.

Allen chipped in only 18 yards and a touchdown as the Jets did a great job spying him to prevent his big scrambles. Of course, Allen did produce one of the biggest runs of the game when he kept for six yards to convert a third-and-4 with 1:45 left, and the Bills were able to kneel out the rest of the game.

The key to the rushing success was an excellent performance by the offensive line as they opened big holes in the stout Jets defense. However, there were also way too many penalties in this game, especially RT Spencer Brown who was flagged four times.

PASS DEFENSE: D

What happened at the end of the first half was so unbelievably ridiculous, it defies explanation. How the Bills could allow Lazard to make the Hail Mary catch for the TD is beyond description. The Jets took over with 21 seconds left in the half at their own 30 and needed three plays to get into the end zone. Inexcusable.

Rodgers finished 23 of 35 for 294 yards with TDs to Lazard and Garrett Wilson, but he did throw the critical interception to Johnson. Still, he made some big throws and Wilson finished with eight catches for 107 yards and Lazard six for 114 yards.

Buffalo’s safety play is an issue as Damar Hamlin and Taylor Rapp were not sharp. Even Johnson had a few rough plays in his return to action. On the outside, Christian Benford and Rasul Douglas played well, but some of that Wilson/Lazard yardage came against them.

As for the pass rush, AJ Epenesa had two sacks, though one of those was offset offset by a terrible roughing the passer call against him, even though all he did was make a good tackle. Part of an awful night for the guys in stripes. DaQuan Jones had the other sack.

RUN DEFENSE: C-

Breece Hall loves playing against the Bills. He ran through them for 113 yards on 18 carries including a 42-yarder, and he caught six passes for 55 yards. There were too many times when the Bills seemed to overrun plays as he cut back through a gap, and he also ran through a few tackles.

The only other Jet to carry the ball was rookie Braelon Allen, but he was curiously underused and had just three attempts for eight yards including one in the third quarter where he was stuffed inside the 5 and the Jets wound up settling for a tying field goal.

Rapp and Johnson led the Bills with eight tackles while Damar Hamlin and Dorian Williams had seven and Terrel Bernard six.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D

Tyler Bass will be credited with kicking the game-winning field goal with 3:43 left to play, but it was from just 22 yards. Earlier in the game, he was wide right from 47 yards, and he shanked an extra point wide left, a kick that was so ugly, even the ESPN broadcast made fun of it. There are now some serious concerns about Bass, if there wasn’t already.

Kaiir Elam committed a holding penalty on a punt where Brandon Codrington made a fair catch which forced the Bills to start a second-quarter possession at their own 10.

Sam Martin punted three times and finished with a solid 43.7 net average as only one was returned, an eight-yarder by Xavier Gipson, the man who won last year’s game at MetLife Stadium with a walk-off return touchdown.

Former Jet Codrington had only one return opportunity, a 24-yarder on a kickoff.

COACHING: C

Had the Bills lost this game, the fail on the Hail Mary would have resulted in an F, but the Bills staff has to be given some credit for the way the Bills bounced back in the second half and pulled out the victory. That play would have sunk many teams, but the Bills sucked it up.

Defensively, Bobby Babich has to get the safety situation figured out, though it’s pretty tough to see a path forward given that disappointing Mike Edwards - who was a healthy scratch - and Cole Bishop are the backups right now, along with Cam Lewis.

On offense, Joe Brady did a nice job in the first half, recognizing the Bills’ line was dominating in the run game and he schemed up some nice plays for Davis. The passing game sputtered at times, but at least there was a little more action taking place down the field.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills report card: Buffalo redeems itself after Hail Mary to beat Jets