- Jets finally game at home in the regular season would see them host Tom Brady’s Buccaneers in the snow, with Tampa Bay currently ranked #1 in the NFC with a record of 13-2 for the season so far. The first half would be a low scoring encounter, with both teams scoring a TD each with Larry Fitzgerald receiving his 10th of the season with the difference making being a FG from Tampa to take the half 9-7.
- The Buccaneers would show everyone in the New Meadowlands why they are one of the best team in the NFL this season, and would push ahead with a square second short passing TD from Brady, before Brady would thr0w his third of the game and cap it off with a 2-point PAT to extend their lead to 24-7. The Buccs would push even further ahead at the start of Q4 to find themselves 30-7 ahead, and seemed to have shut off the game.
- The Jets would give it a good go in the final ten minutes of the game with Wilson finding Cole and Herndon with a passing TD, but with no more time on the clock the Jets would lose 30-20 to Tampa Bay.
TEAM | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | FINAL |
BUCCS | 0 | 9 | 15 | 6 | 30 |
JETS | 7 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 20 |
- The Jets would drop to 7-9 to the season, with one game to go. This would mean that they could no longer finish the season with a positive win percentage.
- The Patriots claimed a 35-14 win over the Jaguars to also reach 7-9 for the season. This means that if the Jets lose to the Bills and the Patriots beat the Dolphins next week - that the Pats would win the division and the Jets would drop out of playoff contention with neither team having a high enough record to claim a wildcard spot.
- A win for the Jets would give the franchise their most wins since 2015’s 10-6 season, as well as giving New York their first AFC East Division title since 2002.
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- The last game of the season would be a pivotal contest between the Jets and the Bills at Orchard Park. The first quarter would see Michael Carter remind everyone why he has proven himself as one of the breakout rookie stars this season and would break through the Bills’ D-Line to score a 67 yard rushing touchdown.
- The rest of the half would see both teams convert an FG each, before the Bills would score a rushing TD of their own. Larry Fitzgerald would catch his 11th receiving TD of the season, with the Bills ending the half with a second field goal closing their gap with the Jets leading 17-13.
- The third quarter would start with the Buffalo scoring a passing TD, before scoring a rushing TD at the start of fourth quarter to hold a lead of 17-27 - with the Jets needing to score twice or potentially miss out on the playoffs in the last game of the season.
- Zach Wilson would have the best quarter of his professional career by finding Cole with a medium distance pass to reduce the gap to just three points with the Jets trailing 24-27. Wilson and his O-Line wouldn’t stop driving forward and with just nine seconds left on the clock and no timeouts left Wilson would manage to find Herndon with a short pass to Herndon to win the game 31-27 - and claim an overall divisional record of 4-6 for the year.
TEAM | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | FINAL |
JETS | 7 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 31 |
BILLS | 0 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 27 |
- The Jets would finish the regular season 8-9 and would be joined by the Pats with the same record with New England claiming a 49-45 win over Miami, with the Jets winning the AFC East due to have beaten the Pats twice during the regular season.
- The Jets would join the 2010 Seattle Seahawks (7-9), 2014 Carolina Panthers (7-8-1) and 2020 Washington Football team as only the fourth team to qualify for the playoffs with a losing record.