Jets playoff hopes thwarted in 22-17 loss at Buffalo

The defense – which was supposed to be the strong suit of this Bills team – rose to the occasion in the fourth quarter, picking off red-hot Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick three times in the final 11 minutes of the game to preserve a 22-17 victory and give Buffalo back-to-back non-losing seasons for the first time in this millennium.

Peyton Manning replaced Brock Osweiler in the third quarter Sunday and led the Broncos to a win that clinched the top seed in the AFC playoffs. The Miami Dolphins weren’t exactly sad when they beat the s*** out of the New England Patriots. He played well. He won us games, many games. Those AFC North rivals split their series this season, with the road team winning each time.

Leave it to Rex Ryan to continue the New York Jets’ playoff drought. Gailey was Buffalo’s head coach from 2010-12.

“I’m better right now than I have been at any point in my career, physically, mentally, all that stuff”, Fitzpatrick said after the Jets held their final team meeting of the 2015 season. “I want to be able to show my kids that I made the Pro Bowl as a Jet”, he said.

I fully expect Ryan to return to the Jets while we look for a longer term replacement, that may be Petty, that may be a drafted QB, it may be Geno Smith but I highly doubt it. Despite Bowles saying he was proud of what Geno did, which was largely sit on the bench and not complain. But, no. Life is lame sometimes and being a Jets fan is lame most of the time. I got a lot of friends over there, there’s no question about it, and I want them to be successful. Some years, all of this does feel like a charming byproduct of Rozelle’s vision, but this season was different, in part because so many teams (including the Jets, and Bills, at times) wound up relying on backup quarterbacks of varying pedigrees to carry them through. “When you have a fast guy like him who can make plays, your eyes are going to go straight to him”.

The teams traded field goals until Fitzpatrick floated a 21-yard touchdown pass to Decker late in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 19-17. The NFL’s cap max will be increasing this off-season, but that still doesn’t give the Jets a whole lot of room, so free agency won’t be a huge factor in improving the team.

The Bills (8-8) were already eliminated from playoff contention for a 16th straight season. Cornerback Joe Haden (injured reserve) and cornerback Tramon Williams both missed the game with concussions.

The Bills scored two touchdowns in eight minutes to take a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter.

“Important to bring him back because he’s the starting quarterback”.

There is a fine line between parity and mediocrity, and watching that Jets-Bills contest, I’m not sure which side of the line I come down on anymore. You certainly had to feel for Fitzpatrick, whose popularity here when he was the Bills quarterback was referenced by Eagle during the game. “You have to put the work in, you have to do what the quarterback, what he wants and that’s what I do”. The Jets finished their season at 10-6, and lost out on a tiebreaker to the surging Pittsburgh Steelers; for much of the year, the Jets were not particularly interesting or enjoyable to watch, and they teetered between being “pretty good” and “not good enough”.

The next week, the Bills lost 35-25 to the Washington Redskins. “Then as it got really tight down the stretch, I thought Steeler Nation in the stands did a great job of giving the indication of how it was going”.

Cleveland’s season is over, but the Johnny Manziel saga rages on.

Cincinnati will host Pittsburgh next weekend in a wild-card game.

“I’m a little numb, a little disappointed”, said wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who was looking to reach the postseason for the first time in his 10-year National Football League career. Gillislee had a rough go in his place, gaining only 28 yards on 24 carries….