Two Bills Drive

'Whaley took Washington in the third round, rather than get more needed help at wide receiver. Washington regressed as the season went on and sat for Deandre Coleman on Sunday. In the fourth round, Whaley drafted quarterback Cardale Jones, knowing that Jones wouldn't be a factor this season – and so he wouldn't threaten EJ Manuel as backup. Interim head coach Anthony Lynn said he played Jones on Sunday only because Manuel was ineffective.'

'The Bills even left us with their signature 2016 play Sunday. On a kickoff return in the fourth quarter, Mike Gillislee watched the ball roll into the end zone, where the Jets jumped on it for a free touchdown.'

'“Obviously it wasn’t a smart decision. He was thinking that the ball rolled in the end zone, that it was dead ball,” interim coach Anthony Lynn said. “You know, it just wasn’t a smart decision by him. You would think he’d know that, but he didn’t. You never expect that to happen in the National Football League from anyone, at any time.”'

'The last player to finish in negative yardage on at least 10 rushes, excluding quarterbacks, was Chicago fullback John Adams in 1961, per Pro Football Reference data.'

'A win in the season finale would've dropped the Bills back to 13th. Cleveland (1-15) and San Francisco (2-14) have the first two picks. The first tiebreaker is strength of schedule.'

'The interim head coach even admitted after one of the more embarrassing performances in franchise history that his expected interview for the full-time job might not happen based on the way the game went. Presumably, he was half-kidding, because it's hard to imagine team owners Terry and Kim Pegula would base their assessment on a single game.'

'The Bills’ offensive philosophy was a bit hard to understand Sunday. They opted to smash into the teeth of the Jets’ defense. On 18 first-down plays with EJ Manuel at quarterback, the Bills ran 15 times for just 38 total yards. Why not use more play-action passes? Maybe the coaches didn’t trust putting the game on Manuel’s shoulders.'

'Could there be a more perfect coda to the Bills’ 17th straight non-playoff season? Mike Gillislee failed to pick up a fourth-quarter kickoff that rolled into the end zone, and Doug Middleton scooped it up for a touchdown.'

'Jets running back Bilal Powell. He became another in a line of opposing running backs to rumble through the Bills' defense with 122 yards on 22 carries.'

'Never in my life have I seen a worse play than the one Mike Gillislee made in the fourth quarter, when he failed to jump on a kickoff and allowed the Jets to recover for a touchdown. That play alone ruined any chance of a passing grade. Brandon Tate had another strong game, averaging 12 yards on two punt returns and 33.5 yards on a pair of kickoff returns. None of Colton Schmidt’s six punts were downed inside the 20-yard line.'

'But at least the announcing trio made the game about as entertaining as could be expected considering it was between two teams going nowhere in 2016 and facing uncertain futures in 2017.'

'For the record, the only shows to air longer than the not-ready-to-postseason Bills are "The Simpsons," "Law & Order," "Gunsmoke" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."'

'Bills fans finally got their wish and saw Jones play in a regular-season game for the first time. Jones, who has admitted he's not ready for NFL action, showed it against the Jets, looking uncertain and inaccurate on a lot of throws — looking like Manuel, in other words.'

'I’m sure many Bills supporters wanted to ring in the New Year while bidding good riddance to the last one. The Bills teased their fans yet again during a four-game winning streak and again with back-to-back victories after the bye only to crumble down the stretch as they had many times in the past.'

'But keeping Taylor for the 2017 and 2018 under his current contract is not an exorbitant price. His cap hit for 2017 would be 20th among NFL QBs. Granted, the Bills would be stuck with him for 2018, too. His cap hit would be too great ($17.6 million) if they wanted to bail on him after 2017. But they could easily move on from Taylor after 2018. (At that point, they could spread a $10 million cap hit over two years.)'