New York Jets escape with a victory over the Buffalo Bills to end season

The New York Jets somehow managed to escape with a 13-6 victory over the Buffalo Bills to end the season with a 7-9 record after a woeful 1-7 start.

The New York Jets finished their season off with an uneventful, dry victory over the Buffalo Bills defeating their divisional foes 13-6. And somehow, the Jets managed to finish the year with a 7-9 record.

Given where the Jets were at midseason, that feels like it should be an accomplishment. Right?

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After all, this is a Jets team that at one point was 1-7 coming off a disastrous loss to the then-winless Miami Dolphins. To finish 7-9 is encouraging, but it does feel somewhat hollow.

Still, the Jets went into New Era Field and beat the Bills on the road in a defensive showdown. And while the offense still struggled to get anything going even against the Bills backups, the defense once again shined.

Gregg Williams’ unit dominated Matt Barkley and the Bills offense all game long finishing with two interceptions and holding their opponents to under 310 yards of offense.

Williams capped off what had been an excellent season with an impressive outing in Week17. Sure, it was against the Bills’ backups, but it’s still encouraging to see a Jets defense filled with misfits and castoffs play so well.

On offense, however, the Jets struggled to do much of anything. Sam Darnold didn’t enjoy the most fruitful game playing through rainy conditions as the second-year signal-caller finished just 23-of-36 for 199 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

Once again, the Jets offense looked pretty solid on the opening drive but failed to find a rhythm for the majority of the game past that point. Jamison Crowder led the team in the air finishing with eight catches for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Meanwhile, Le’Veon Bell seemed to get going early on in the game but was held to just a handful of touches in the second half. He finished with just 77 total yards on 21 touches but failed to make much of an impact in the second half.

The Jets will now regroup ahead of an offseason expected to feature plenty of roster turnover. The silver lining is that the team has at least gained some momentum ahead of next season.

Still, the win definitely feels hollow. Be it because of the lost draft position or the offense’s struggles, it absolutely feels hollow.

But a win is a win, and Jets fans can at least hold their heads high now going into the offseason.