An inside look at Sunday’s Jets-Bills NFL Week 18 matchup at Highmark Stadium:
Marquee matchup
Jets vs. themselves
Look, it’s hard to find any compelling matchups in this game when the Bills might be resting all of their starters.
But the Jets have been blown out in their past four games — having been outscored 153-46. That minus-107 point differential is the worst in any December in NFL history.
They are the fifth team to lose four games in a row by 23 or more points. If they lose by that margin again this week, they’d be the first team in NFL history to lose five straight by that many points.
It’s time to see if the Jets will show some pride in this one and, even if they lose, not get embarrassed, especially if the Bills play Mitch Trubisky and other backups.
“The main goal is I want to see guys finish,” linebacker Jamien Sherwood said. “I want guys to play for pride, play for the New York Jets. Nobody’s going to give us a chance, but none of that stuff matters. It’s all about you and these moments. You never know. This could be your last opportunity or it could set you up with an opportunity with another team or this team. Just finish because you never know what tomorrow might bring.”
Four downs
Hold the line: The Jets have not had much to feel good about this season, but they are about to complete a season with the same starting five players on the offensive line in every game.
The combination of Olu Fashanu, John Simpson, Josh Myers, Joe Tippmann and Armand Membou has started every game this year.
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It’s the first time since 2012 that the team had the same starting five for every game. The Jets are the only team in the NFL to do it this year. They did lose a starter before Week 1 when Alijah Vera-Tucker tore a triceps, but they have been healthy since then.
“You just don’t see that too often where you have five guys have that continuity game after game, improving, getting better week after week, and not one of them goes down,” coach Aaron Glenn said. “So, that’s a credit to those guys too, about taking care of their bodies and understanding what they need to go out there and compete every week. That was good, that was good for us to be able to see that.”
Feeling the draft: The only thing that matters now for the Jets is where they end up drafting.
They could finish anywhere from 2 to 7 depending on this week’s results.
They have been moving up as the losses have piled up in the past month. There’s no reason to expect a win in this one.
They’ll be paying close attention to the Giants-Cowboys game. If the Giants win, the Jets move into the No. 2 spot with a loss.
They can’t get the No. 1 pick even if the Raiders beat the Chiefs.
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Cooked: This will be Brady Cook’s last chance to show he should be part of the Jets future. It has not gone well in three starts and one relief appearance.
He has one touchdown and seven interceptions.
The Jets are about to make a lot of quarterback decisions. Will they keep him around as the third quarterback next year?
“It’s really good for him to go through these experiences,” offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand said. “Coming in, he was going to be in the role that he was in, and then he’s kind of been thrust into this starter role the last month of the season and how valuable those reps are for him, just to get in there and be in the moment and be live in those games and gather that experience that he may not have expected to get this year.”
Take Your Pick: It comes down to this.
The Jets have one last chance to get an interception this season or they will be remembered as the only team in NFL history to go an entire season without one.
Opponents have attempted 486 passes against them this year without one getting picked off.
The Jets are going to have a secondary full of backups, but can one of them end the streak?
Will Mitch Trubisky serve one up?
Costello’s call
Four quarters left. That’s all we have left to watch of this dismal season.
It would be very Jets-like to end the season with a win and wreck their draft position, but I can’t see it happening.
The Bills backups are better than the team the Jets are fielding right now. I don’t think it will be as ugly as the past few weeks but the Jets fall to 3-14.
Bills 24, Jets 12
