New coach. Same result.

The debut of Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich had promising signs, but ended in familiar fashion. The Jets dropped their third straight game, a 23-20 flag loss to the division rival Bills on Monday night at MetLife Stadium. 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, racking up 393 yards. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for 294 yards and two touchdowns, one on a Hail Mary before halftime.

Ultimately, though, Rodgers couldn’t pull the game away, with an interception in the final two minutes, and he wasn’t helped by kicker Greg Zuerlein’s two missed 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 had 149 yards rushing.

The game capped a tumultuous week that began when owner Woody Johnson fired 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 take the play-calling duties away from offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and hand them to passing game coordinator Todd Downing.

It was an ugly match with a total of 22 penalties, 11 for each team.

The Jets had a chance for a game-winning drive, but penalties pushed them back and then Rodgers’ third-down heave for Mike Williams was intercepted by Taron Johnson with 1:52 to go.

The Bills took a 23-20 lead on a 22-yard field goal by Tyler Bass with 3:43 left in the game. The field goal was set up by a passing penalty on Jets defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, who placed the ball on the Buffalo 9-yard line. Kinlaw was flagged three times in the series: roughing the passer, he jumped into the neutral zone once and was assessed a personal foul for saying something to the officials after the field goal.

The Bills closed the game with a 6-yard run by Allen to close it out.

The Jets opened the game with one of their best drives in weeks, but couldn’t turn it into a touchdown. They went 54 yards on 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 easily breached the Jets’ defense on their first possession. Allen didn’t have to do much on the drive as the Jets struggled to stop the run even though top running back James Cook was inactive for Buffalo with a toe injury. They went 70 yards on nine plays, eight of which were runs. The Bills didn’t even get a third down. Allen jumped in from the 1-yard line for the touchdown and the early 7-3 lead.

The Jets then answered 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 five-yard pass from Rodgers, who stepped up to extend the play, to Garrett Wilson in the back of the end zone. Wilson barely got in and the Jets led 10-7 in what felt like an offensive explosion after the past few weeks.

The Bills took a 13-10 lead with 6:54 left in the second quarter when Allen hit Mack Hollins for an 8-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 shot the ball across the field to Davis, who caught it over Quincy Williams.

Buffalo extended the lead to 20-10 just before halftime when Allen Dawson found Knox for a 12-yard touchdown. The drive was aided by two pass interference penalties from the Jets. One from DJ Reed gave the Bills 23 yards and one from Tony Adams put the ball on 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 with 21 seconds left at their own 30. After short completions to Tyler Conklin and Wilson, Rodgers showed off his arm strength on a Hail Mary that Allen Lazard somehow ran in for the touchdown as time expired, cutting the score to 20-17 at the break.

The Jets were able to tie the game at 20-20 with 6:17 left in the third quarter on a 22-yard Zuerlein field goal. Although the Jets scored points, it was disappointing for them not to reach the end zone after a 42-yard rush by Hall put them at the Bills’ 3-yard line. But Rodgers threw an incompletion on first, Hall was loaded on second and Rodgers and Wilson couldn’t connect on third.

That wasn’t the last chance in the red zone. The next one was even worse. The Jets again drove to the Bills’ 4-yard line and Braelon Allen appeared to score a touchdown, but it was called back on a holding call against left tackle Tyron Smith. That set up a third-and-12 from the 14. Rodgers tried to hit Wilson in the back of the end zone again, but safeties Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin held him down as the ball reached him and popped loose.

The Jets still had a chance to take the lead on a 32-yard field goal by Zuerlein, but he hit the left upright.

Zuerlein missed another field goal with 9:44 left in the game. This was a 43-yard attempt that also rattled off the left upright.