Selected quotes from the Jets' and Bills' locker rooms at Ralph Wilson Stadium following the Jets' 22-17 loss to the Bills this afternoon:
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick on having probably the best season of his career end with this tough loss...
"It's the hardest and most difficult end to a season I've ever had in terms of how I feel right now and how painful of a loss that was. At this point it doesn't feel like a very great season."
Fitzpatrick on if the loss is even harder on him given his four seasons as the Bills QB...
"I don't know if that adds to it, honestly. I think there's so much to it but it wasn't because of where it was or anything like that. I think it was because of what was at stake."
Buffalo C Eric Wood on hugging Fitzpatrick after the game...
"It's such a mixture of emotions at that moment. He's one of my best friends. ... There's no ill feelings towards Fitz from this community, I know that. People appreciated him, he's so easy to root for. He's not the biggest, strongest, tallest guy, he doesn't have the biggest arm, but he puts it on the line. He blocks more than any quarterback in the league, he scrambles, he doesn't slide. He's fun to root for."
WR Brandon Marshall on how distraught Fitzpatrick was in the locker room after the game...
"If it wasn't for Ryan Fitzpatrick, we wouldn't be in this position. Ryan needs to stop that and needs to keep his head up. He played an awesome game, and not only that, he led us all season. He was the guy when we were on that decline a little bit midseason that spoke up and brought the team together. There were other vets, but he led the way and I thought he played great."
CB Antonio Cromartie on how hard it can be to get into the postseason and chase the NFL's biggest prize...
"It's rare. I think we had the opportunity, and you have to seize the opportunity that you have. I don't want young guys to think, 'Oh, well, I have next year," because next year you may have a whole different team and it's not the same. The biggest thing is, I think Coach Todd and his staff are doing a heck of a job bringing the right guys in and making sure everyone is on the same page and they trust and believe in what he has and what he's trying to do for this organization."
RB Chris Ivory on if this loss hurts even more because it came against the Jets' former head coach, Rex Ryan...
"No, not at all. It's just another game. It's a game where he read us real good."
WR Eric Decker on Bills CB Leodis McKelvin jumping his route for the end zone interception early in the fourth quarter...
"He made a really good play. That was something we put in and we saw a previous team ran and scored a touchdown, and whether he picked it up from formation or just got a good jump, he got inside on a post route and made a big play."
McKelvin on Fitzpatrick's throw and a similar play that Washington TE Jordan Reed scored against him two weeks earlier...
"He knew two weeks ago what I did. I widened out, Reed got up underneath me, and they scored a touchdown that day. And just like I say, it is a complicated league. I mean, they did it again and they paid for it."
McKelvin on how satisfying it is to keep the Jets and Fitzpatrick, his former Bills teammate, from winning and going to the playoffs...
"I got another one of my old teammates coming in trying to beat me to get to the playoffs, so that feels great. You know, he feels just like I feel. He's going to be watching at home."
Bills coach Rex Ryan on if it was satisfying to knock the Jets from the playoffs after being let go at the end of last season...
"It has nothing to do with that, I mean, it really doesn't. I know it sounds crazy but they had no choice but to let me go and I've said it before. But that's not it. I wish that team was going in somebody's place. Now I like [Steelers coach] Mike Tomlin a great deal, too, so I'm happy he goes. But hell, I want to go myself and I want to take my team the next year."
Ryan on the Sammy Watkins/Darrelle Revis matchup...
"I thought it was a great matchup, one of those classic ones. In my opinion, this young man is one of the best receivers in football and the league will recognize it next year when he's healthy for a full 16 games and you'll see the numbers and you'll see everything else. The guy is a great football player. We knew it was going to be a battle. I think Revis knows this kid's got elite speed, there is no question about it, and Revis wasn't going to get beat on top. So I think we thought we had a chance to throw the ball underneath a few times and we did."
LB Calvin Pace on if he'll try to return with the Jets to play his 14th NFL season...
"I would love to. I really would, I would love to be here in green and white. ... It's kind of a whirlwind day but to answer your question, if they would have me back, yeah, I would come back. Again, I don't make those decisions so who knows."
Marshall on seeing the Jets' season as a failure because despite 10 wins, they missed the playoffs...
"Yeah, any team that's going home right now is a failure. We play for one reason and that's to win it all. There are no moral victories, no one is going to feel sorry for you. So we just have to be men and deal with it."
Head coach Todd Bowles on any positive vibes from this Jets season...
"We were building something. We're a work in progress and we're growing. We've got a lot more growing to do, but we made some strides. We've just got to make more."
