After starting the season with a 4-1 record, the Jets have lost three of four. Despite a gritty second half effort Thursday, the Green & White were left with a bad taste in their mouths after a frustrating 22-17 loss to the Bills at MetLife Stadium.
"There's a greater sense of urgency after each loss," head coach Todd Bowles said Friday during a conference call with reporters. "It's a matter of correcting mistakes and situational football, and that's what we're going to do."
The Jets overcame a bunch of mistakes to nearly complete a rally from a 19-point deficit against the Bills. And they appeared poised to take the lead after a mishandled snap by Bills P Colton Schmidt gave the Jets a 1st down at the Buffalo 13 with 5:12 remaining. But the Jets only moved six yards in three plays and Bowles opted for the lead instead of a chip shot field goal that could have left his team down two points with all three timeouts remaining and approximately three minutes remaining.
"We had momentum, we were going for it," he said today. "We weren't exactly moving the ball offensively with a great amount of success to go a whole field to try to get a field goal or touchdown to win the ball game. My thought was the best opportunity to try and get it was there."
After a pair of Chris Ivory runs totaled seven yards on the possession, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw short a short pass to Eric Decker that was snuffed out by the Bills.
"It was a scheme thing. It was a couple people that messed that up and we addressed that in the meeting this morning," Bowles said. "It was a lot of mix-ups and a bunch of routes at the end of game and execution."
Then on 4th down, the Jets motioned Decker to the slot as he lined up outside TE Kellen Davis. Decker crossed in front of Davis, but then changed directions back where he and Davis shared the same space. Fitzpatrick lofted a ball in the end zone that went over the head of Davis and the Bills took over on downs.
"It just wasn't a play for Kellen Davis," Bowels said. "Again we addressed it in our meeting and it was a mix-up there."
While Bowles addressed the miscues with his players, he refused to call out any individuals publicly.
"We know what went wrong," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and put anybody under the bus, but we understand what exactly went wrong and we addressed it."
After any loss in the NFL, every head coach is second-guessed and Bowles knows that is just the nature of the business.
"They're mistakes if they don't work. You're a genius if they do work," he said. "Ones that worked were good. Ones that don't – I don't look at them as mistakes. You look at them as either learning experiences or it just didn't work out that time. Sometimes it's not in the cards."
Fitzpatrick, who has completed 59.7% of his passes this season with 15 TD and 9 INT, underwent surgery today to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb. While the veteran signal caller is expected to start next week vs. the Texans, RB Zac Stacy underwent season-ending ankle surgery Friday. All players are scheduled to have the weekend off before returning to work on Monday.
"I don't know if we regressed," Bowles said. "I mean, we had a lot more success early on and the stats looked good and everything, but I'm not a stat guy. We have to get better every week, and I don't think we've gotten better in certain areas, and different areas let us down each week."
