Two Bills Drive

‘”I think we had this game in the bag and let it slip away,” he said. “We did not stay focused. We didn’t do what we needed to do to win.”‘

‘But with defensive end John Abraham injured, Buffalo, which had the 23rd-ranked rushing offense, ripped large swatches out of the Jets’ defense, rushing for 192 yards. Ted Cottrell, the Jets’ first-year defensive coordinator, shook his head and muttered as he left the locker room. “This was not good,” he said.’

‘In the second quarter, the Jets went into the wind, which prevented them from trying a field goal from Buffalo’s 29-yard line as time expired. Edwards asked Hall if he thought he could make the kick — it would have been about a 47-yard attempt — and Hall said no.’

‘The Jets, once thought to be a playoff shoo-in, imperiled their postseason hopes yesterday with a dreadful 14-9 loss to the lowly Bills — a performance eerily reminiscent of … well, last year’s late-season collapse.’

‘He said he thought the Jets had time to run two plays after they had spiked the ball at the Buffalo 24.’

‘Vinny Testaverde threw a pair of interceptions and had no touchdown passes, but he seemed unwilling to accept at least some of the blame for either one of them in the Jets’ 14-9 loss to the Bills yesterday.’

‘Good teams can make mistakes and win. Not the Same Olds. They began the day with the best turnover record in the NFL. They take it away and they don’t cough it up. Yesterday, they coughed it away three times and every one of them was painful.’

‘The Bills confused the Jets with a “bunch” formation, resulting in a 22-yard TD pass to WR Peerless Price. CB Ray Mickens, responsible for Price in man-to-man coverage, got picked on the play, according to Edwards.’

‘Herman Edwards made several tactical errors. Clearly, the Jets underestimated the Bills.’

‘”We had an opportunity to do something special today, but we just didn’t get it done . . . I still don’t believe we lost,” linebacker Marvin Jones said.’

‘”We just didn’t have enough time,” Hackett said. “We had 13 seconds and we thought we had two plays [left]. Everybody knows that, but it turned out we only had one.”‘

‘”It would have been easy for us just to give up and go home,” said Van Pelt. “Ever since I’ve been here, that’s not the way we’ve done things, no matter what the odds are.”‘

‘Given the way the Jets played yesterday and their recent history in critical games, a win over Oakland is hardly a given – but the Raiders’ recent performance doesn’t make them world-beaters, either.’

‘All the Jets needed, after showing no absolutely killer instinct and letting the Bills hang around all day and making Alex Van Pelt throw like Jim Kelly and Shawn Bryson run like Thurman Thomas, was the kind of grace under pressure that champions show you with a game, and, quite possibly, a season, on the line. In other words, the moment seized them instead of them seizing the moment.’

‘The Jets didn’t need a good solider yesterday. They needed a renegade. All they had was Testaverde.’