ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The final seconds were mercifully bleeding off the clock in yet another game in which the Jets were so woefully noncompetitive it looked like they were miscast as a UFL team playing an NFL game.
Jets edge rusher Jermaine Johnson II was on the other side of the line of scrimmage as the Buffalo offense was kneeling three times to put an end to Bills 35, Jets 8 Sunday at Highmark Stadium.
The Bills players were in high spirits because they’re going to the playoffs yet again, and their fans were giddy because they were celebrating the likely final game after 53 seasons at the antiquated stadium as the team moves across the street next to their shiny new venue in 2026.
The mood was festive everywhere but on the sideline of the sad-sack Jets.
Johnson was asked after the game, which left the Jets with a 3-14 record to end the season and having been outscored by 134 points in their final five games: “How do you grow from this?”
“Remember the feeling,” he said. “That’s all I was thinking as the fans for Buffalo and the players were enjoying that time. I was just sitting out there as they were kneeling [to end the game] and I was just saying, ‘Remember this feeling.’ It’s been an ugly season. That’s something I never want to be a part of again.”
Jets rookie head coach Aaron Glenn stood defiantly before reporters in a cramped interview room after his team was embarrassed by 23 or more points for the fifth consecutive week and fell on the sword for the mess that took place on his watch.
“This season is on me,” Glenn said. “I let the players down, I let the organization down. And that burns me. But here’s what I do know: I know the reason why I came here, and I am not going to waver from my beliefs on what I think wins games in this league.
“I am very confident in myself, I’m very confident in this organization, very confident in our owner. I’m very confident in ‘Moug’ [general manager Darren Mougey] and we’re gonna work our ass off to get this s–t exactly where it needs to be.”
The words Glenn delivered to reporters was exactly what his message was to his players inside the locker room in the immediate aftermath of the game.
The Jets players, most notably Johnson, would have no part of Glenn leaning into all the blame.
“It’s definitely been the worst season I’ve been a part of as a team … and the key word is ‘a part of,’ ” he said. “I’ve got my hands in it. My hands are bloody. Everybody’s hands are bloody in this. So, for him to say that’s on him, I don’t fully agree. Everyone’s hands are dirty.”
Glenn has made his share of mistakes, but this mess wasn’t all on him. Because of a roster that’s simply not good enough to win in the NFL — beginning at quarterback — the Jets were fielding a JV team.
Undrafted free agent rookie quarterback Brady Cook, who started his fourth consecutive game, is a nice young man, but he’s not an NFL-ready quarterback.
He finished with 60 yards passing in the game and, in his four starts, plus a long relief appearance, he produced only one touchdown pass to go with seven interceptions.
The Jets pop-gun offense, despite playing against a Bills defense that was comprised of mostly backups, produced 122 yards and nine first downs in the game.
Their defense, which was playing against backups on the Buffalo offensive line, allowed 470 yards of offense and 30 first downs to backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who threw four touchdown passes.
Trubisky wasn’t touched by the pass rush, which failed to produce a single quarterback hit.
Bills star quarterback Josh Allen played one snap from scrimmage to continue his cheapened streak of 122 consecutive starts and then trotted off to the sideline for the rest of the game.
Starting running back James Cook III ran the ball twice for 15 yards on the first series and took the rest of the game off. His backup, Ray Davis, ran for 151 yards.
Backups filled most of the rest of the spots on both sides of the ball for Buffalo. And still the Jets could not compete.
This was bad. Really bad.
Except that this loss resulted in something good.
The loss for the Jets, coupled with the Giants win over the Cowboys earlier in the day, assured the Jets with the No. 2 pick in April’s draft.
Picking second assures the Jets of landing at least the second-best quarterback available in the draft, very possibly Oregon’s Dante Moore should he choose to declare for the draft after he’s done with the College Football Playoff.
The Raiders, who’ve been in overt tank mode for weeks, secured the No. 1 pick, so they’ll almost certainly draft Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
This season had long ago devolved into a race for the highest draft pick. This really is all Jets fans have had any interest in for weeks. Now they have their answer.
So, they’ve got that going for them.
