2009 Week 6 - Jets vs Bills Photos
The Jets' postgame locker room was dismal after their 16-13 overtime loss to Buffalo on Sunday at the Meadowlands.
"I am very upset. We are upset over this game," said cornerback Darrelle Revis, who broke up three passes and held Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens to three catches for 13 yards. "We had a lot of situations out there where we could have won the game but it just didn't fall for us. It was a scrappy, rough game but we couldn't get it done."
"It's just frustrating we didn't win the game, whether I win it or we had a big play win it," said kicker Jay Feely, whose two field goals gave him a franchise-record 24 straight but didn't get the chance to try a game-winning 50-yarder when holder Steve Weatherford mishandled the snap. "I didn't care how we won the game as long as we found a way to win and we didn't do that."
As a team they tallied six penalties in the overtime period on offense, defense and special teams, including a hold from LB Calvin Pace that converted a third-and-2 at the Jets 38 to a first down at the 33 on the final drive.
"We just have to be smarter," said Pace. "The holdings, the personal fouls, in that situation you just have to be clean. Go down the field, kick a field goal. We just have to be smarter in all those situations."
Altogether the Jets committed 14 penalties for 96 yards, totaled six turnovers, went 3-for-15 on third downs and gave up 142 rushing yards. Unforced errors kept pushing them back and they didn't take advantage of opportunities to put the Bills away.
"We have to do a better job across the board," said Bart Scott who had eight tackles on the night. "When you lose, it is a team loss. This is not the offense's loss, the defense's loss, the special teams' loss. This is a team loss and we all contributed."
Veteran tackle Damien Woody, who went out after being injured in the third quarter, had the same sentiments.
"You win as a team, you lose as a team," he said. "When you lose, everybody could have played better. That's the way everybody in this locker room has to look at it."
Jim Leonhard, who had four punt returns for 1 yard and made two fair catches, felt he could have done a better job to make an impact on the game even on special teams.
"We didn't create a spark. I don't believe I had a return yard," Leonhard said. "We need to do something. We need to find a way to get the momentum back."
As tough as it was there were some positives to take away from the defeat.
"We fought back. We kept fighting back," said Scott. "You can take a lot from the running game really showing up and being explosive."
The Jets ran for 318 yards, including a career-high and franchise-record 210 yards on 22 carries for Thomas Jones, whose 71-yard burst in the second quarter was the second-longest touchdown run in Jets history.
"Usually if you run for that many yards, you win," said Jones. "When you have a lot of penalties and a lot of turnovers and plays that get called back, just a lot of misfortunes in the game, you're not going to win. It's the NFL. If you turn the ball over and you get penalties, you're not going to win. That's the bottom line."
One of the biggest concerns in the loss is the status of tackle Kris Jenkins who went out in the second quarter after falling awkwardly making a tackle of Bills RB Fred Jackson. The extent of the injury to the player Scott called the defense's "anchor" and DE Shaun Ellis called "our guy" may be known today.
"Everyone across the board will have to fill those shoes. Those are big shoes to fill," said Ellis. "Really, right now, we can't let the little things beat us. We have to hone in. When you lose a big guy like that in the middle, it's going to hurt. We all have to sacrifice and come together as a defensive unit to get the job done."