Why Defeat to the Buffalo Bills Could Define the New York Jets' Season

At the start of the season many were predicting that the New York Jets would be lucky to scrap a play-off place. The Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots were predicted to take the AFC East and a possibly a Wildcard berth between them. With a rookie head-coach and a rookie quarterback, pundits believed the Jets would take time to establish themselves as a dominant force.

Three games in and those opinions were quickly squashed as Gang Green shot to 3-0. Now, three weeks later, reality has kicked in and the Jets are fighting to get their season back on track.

Perhaps part of the problem was that the perennial off-season optimism which greets all Jets teams was transformed into belief after the impressive start. Quarterback Mark Sanchez and head-coach Rex Ryan were making life in the NFL look easy and the players were backing up their trash talking off the field with big performances on it.

But as we enter week seven, that swagger has disappeared and the optimism has quickly vanished.

The Jets were beaten by the high-flying New Orleans Saints and they then lost two games at the death by small margins. However small margins can have a massive impact on the season, particularly when you consider that those two narrow defeats came against fellow AFC East rivals.

The impact of the Buffalo game could be huge. They were a side that the Jets should have easily beaten especially with Thomas Jones rushing for 210 yards to break the franchise record. Instead this only made the loss even more frustrating as a Buffalo field goal decided it in over-time.

The game may well be remembered as the game which saw Mark Sanchez hit the proverbial rookie wall. He threw five interceptions and fumbled once in his worst outing to date. The most worrying thing for fans had to be Sanchez’s general demeanour. He looked cold, uptight and tetchy and cut a forlorn figure when he sat on the bench.

The conditions were nothing like the California sunshine he would have enjoyed last year but the weather’s only going to get worse as we head into November and December. It is ludicrous to suggest that Sanchez be benched in favor of back-up QB Kellen Clemens mainly because it may destroy the former USC man’s confidence.

The depth at wide receiver must also be a concern. Sanchez only targeted Braylon Edwards and Dustin Keller outside of his running backs on Sunday. It seems clear that with Jerricho Cotchery injured and Keller out of form the newly acquired Edwards is the only trusted recipient of Sanchez’s throws.

It is therefore no surprise that the Bills were so pick-happy when it was quite obvious the ball would most probably be heading in Edwards’ direction. Cotchery has been sorely missed and his return will certainly be a boost for Sanchez.

The schedule is kind to New York but after falling to the Bills, will the Jets now toil against the likes of Oakland, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay? Furthermore, the injury sustained by nose-tackle Kris Jenkins in Sunday’s game is almost as big as the man himself. Jenkins is the fulcrum of the 3-4 defense and without him, the much hyped aggressive defense doesn’t look anywhere near as threatening.

The Jets are already tied last for number of sacks this season despite their blitz happy style. This defense was supposed to strike fear into the hearts of opposing offenses but even with Halloween just around the corner, there’s nothing particularly scary about this defense right now.

Ryan may well have pencilled in a win for the game at Oakland this Sunday but after their shock victory against the Philadelphia Eagles he may need to think again. Oakland will be a hostile environment and their confidence will have rocketed after taking down such a strong team. In contrast, the Jets are a rabbit caught in the headlights, desperately searching for answers.

At the start of the season, a 3-3 start would have been viewed as about par for the course and it’s easy to forget that. It is however also easy to remember the results of the last three games rather than the first three. For Ryan the task is now to get his team back to the form they showed in those opening three matches and he had better do it fast.