Weak schedule no help to Jets
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Jets' playoff hopes are based, in part, on what is perceived as a weak schedule.
By the start of the fourth quarter Sunday, many of the fans who held those hopes were on the way to the Giants Stadium parking lots, aware that in an NFL where most everyone is very average, the Bills fill that same middle ground as the Jets.
All it took Sunday were three big plays in the first half, another in the second, and the Bills were 31-13 winners. They are now 6-7, tied with Miami a game behind the second-place Jets in the AFC East.
Hey Jets fans, your team could still finish last in their division. They finish at Minnesota, at Miami and at home to Oakland and are likely to be favored in just one of their final three — the last one.
"We didn't think of ourselves as spoilers," Buffalo linebacker London Fletcher said. "We still think we have a chance ourselves. Just keep winning and who knows."
Exactly.
There are currently 12 teams — more than a third of the NFL — that are either 7-6 or 6-7. If Buffalo wins its final three games, it might have a chance, although both on form and on Sunday's results, Cincinnati and Jacksonville have the inside track on the AFC wild-card playoff spots.
But the Bills are 4-2 in their last six games. The Jets are 3-3 over that period. So who's the "bad team" between them?
The Jets were supposed to be one, a 4-12 team a year ago that wasn't going to be much better this season, especially with questions at quarterback and running back.
In truth, they have overachieved under 35-year-old rookie coach Eric Mangini, helped by the recovery of Chad Pennington from two shoulder operations in two years. But the raised expectations from victories over teams like Houston, Detroit, Green Bay and the early-season versions of Tennessee and Miami don't make them a good team. The only quality win is one in New England and there was a dismal loss in Cleveland.
So yes, an optimistic fan could project wins at Minnesota next week and at home over the Raiders the final week. But not in Miami. That would be a 9-7 finish that probably wouldn't get them into the playoffs, but would be enough to build on.
But there are too many holes right now for much more, as was demonstrated by the big plays they allowed on Sunday.
The Bills made three of them for their first three scores: a 57-yard touchdown run by Willis McGahee, who promptly got sick on the sideline; a 77-yard TD pass from J.P. Losman to Lee Evans, who on Nov. 19 in Houston caught two 83-yard touchdown passes less than six minutes apart; and a 58-yard interception return by Nate Clements that made it 21-10 late in the first half and forced the Jets into catch-up mode.
The fourth big play demonstrated why New York isn't really a "good" team: a sack by Aaron Schobel on Pennington that forced a fumble at the Jets 18 late in the third period. Four plays later, Losman's 4-yard touchdown pass to Robert Royal ended any hope that the Jets would come back.
On the play, Schobel beat D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the Jets' rookie left tackle and the fourth overall pick in April's draft.
