Bills QB Manuel unexpected scratch for Jets tilt

Ten months ago, the NY Jets dumped coach Rex Ryan after a six-year relationship.

“A tad breezy out there”, Ryan said, referring to the blustery conditions outside the Bills headquarters. Ones that don’t – I don’t look at them as mistakes. And you guys can equate.

“Every guy in this room has been dumped by a girl”. That’s really what it feels like. Every now and then they call you back.

After the game, Fitzpatrick reflected on the chances the Jets got and the ones that they blew.

The game was the first of four on Thursday night this season in which teams will wear the alternate uniforms. The Jets ran a scissor route with Kellen Davis and Erik Decker where Decker set up a pick for Davis leaving him wide open in the end-zone. Here are your daily NY Jets links for this Saturday…

The Jets overcame a bunch of mistakes to almost complete a rally from a 19-point deficit against the Bills. It is up to Bowles to figure out what is going wrong so that upcoming opponents such as the Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys – all of whom have bell-cow backs – don’t exploit the Jets on the ground. He looked like a rookie out there, feeling his way and mismanaging the second half. To be fair, he was done no favors by WR Brandon Marshall (three catches for 23 yards, one touchdown), who failed to corral a pass that was picked off by safety Corey Graham and later dropped a potential big gainer down the right sideline.

He won it just the way he likes, with big defense and a bold strut.

Outlook: Looking ahead to Week 11, the Jets will be back in action on Sunday, November 22 when they head to Houston to visit the Texans (1:00 PM ET on CBS).

On Thursday, Fitzpatrick finished 15 of 34 for 193 with two touchdown passes and two interceptions. “We’ve got to give ourselves a chance”. After the pass from Taylor to McCoy that almost produced a touchdown, the Bills went five consecutive series without a first down.

-SPECIAL TEAMS: B. Colton Schmidt’s muffed snap in the fourth quarter at his own 13 nearly cost the Bills the game, and he also had an unusually inconsistent night punting.

Despite all of this, the Jets had numerous opportunities late in the game and almost pulled off an improbable comeback. It was the first time to my knowledge that has been brought up, but coaches tend to share more things like that on national broadcasts.

EJ Manuel was not the Bills’ backup quarterback in their win over the Jets, but Rex Ryan assured reporters after the win that Manuel will be the backup quarterback for the remainder of the season.

“The coaches came up with a tremendous scheme”. That’s as talented of a team as we’ve played all year – them and the Patriots.

“I’m just saying that to put that out there”. He went 15-for-34 passing and threw a pair of interceptions in the loss.

Fitzpatrick suffered the thumb injury on the opening drive of New York’s Week 8 loss to the Oakland Raiders, but returned the following week with padding on his left thumb to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Those first three turnovers led to the Bills scoring 12 points. Instead, New England went into Buffalo and dismantled the Bills.

The last of those was the fumble by Ivory, which seemed to seal New York’s fate. For the most part, he’s done a great job with the NY Jets.

The points left on the field would loom larger later.

Asked about the play after the Jets’ 22-17 loss, Davis said he got jammed on his release and then he and teammate Eric Decker bumped into each other. He was then hired by the Bills to awaken that franchise, which has been dormant for going on two decades. But the limitations of the NY offense once again left them just short of what would’ve been a game-winning score.

Darryl Slater: The Jets’ defense needed a better effort than the previous two games. That’s not on the Jets’ defense, which allowed 280 yards, and saw cornerback Darrelle Revis hold star receiver Sammy Watkins to three catches for 14 yards on seven targets.

As the Jets learned on Thursday night, there’s only so much they can overcome.

The Indianapolis Colts are desperate for depth at the quarterback position. So desperate in fact that they’ve turned to a castoff from a division rival. The Jets probably don’t want you back, Rex, but who can blame him for thumping his chest after an emotional win? Or maybe this team is starting to click at the right time.

“I think I would still be able to play with a brace if I did have it”, he added in his Monday media session.

We spent the past week talking about the Jets’ former coach. In a world where coaches are clamming up more and more and offering non-cooperative non-answers to questions, Rex never met a microphone or a television camera or a story about him that he didn’t like. It’s just hard – we have no idea what it is. And I told him I appreciate the interest and everything …

League spokesman Brian McCarthy said the NFL intends to incorporate a colorblindness test when designing its “Color Rush” alternate jerseys for next season.

As an ode to Christmas, and something that reminded a lot of people of the new red Starbucks cup which has been driving people insane, there was a few weird sense of feeling to watching the battle for the second spot in the AFC East, now occupied by the Bills thanks to their head to head with the Jets.