The Best of One Bills Drive: Jan. 3, 2016

(Greg D. Tranter and Budd Bailey have written a book about the history of the football stadium in Orchard Park called "One Bills Drive." It has been published by Reedy Press (https://reedypress.com/shop/one-bills-drive-the-buffalo-bills-greatest-home-games/). The books covers the top 50 games played in the stadium's history from 1973 until January 2025. However, there are several other games that qualified as thrilling - but they couldn't crack the top 50. Those contests deserve to be remembered too, so we'll offer them in this space a couple of times per week during the season.)

Score by Quarters:

                                   1      2      3       4       Final

N.Y. Jets (L, 10-6)          0       7     10      0        17

Buffalo (W, 8-8)             7       9      3        3        22

Scoring Summary:

Quarter – Team – Play

1 – Bills – Taylor 18-yard run (Carpenter kick)

2 – Bills – Williams 2-yard run (kick failed)

2 – Jets – Fitzpatrick 17-yard pass to Marshall (Bullock kick)

2 – Bills – Carpenter 20-yard field goal

3 – Jets – Bullock 39-yard field goal

3 – Bills – Carpenter 37-yard field goal

3 – Jets – Fitzpatrick 21-yard pass to Decker (Bullock kick)

4 – Bills – Carpenter 42-yard field goal

Recap: It would be almost funny if it weren’t so sad for all concerned.

The New York Jets came into Ralph Wilson Stadium for the final weekend of the 2015-16 season with one fact weighing on their minds. If they won this game, they’d qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2010 – not coincidentally, the last time the Jets were above .500.

That drought seemed like a blink to the Buffalo Bills, who hadn’t reached the playoffs since 1999. What’s more, they weren’t going to reach the postseason this time either. They had lost four of five in one stretch late in the season to ruin the year. What’s the (admittedly small) consolation prize for all that losing? The chance to keep another team from reaching the playoffs.

Certainly, that was on the mind of Bills’ coach Rex Ryan, who had been fired by the Jets after the 2014 season. Both streaks also were connected to Jets’ quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was part of the Bills’ drought for four seasons (2007 to 2010). He had been one of the most popular players in Buffalo during those years, but now he was having his best pro season with another team. Fans carried mixed emotions into the stadium with them that day.

“It’s crazy,” Fitzpatrick said before the game. “A great story line for you guys, I guess.”

To their credit, the Bills showed in the early going that this was not going to be a day that the team would run for the bus. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor set the tone in the first period, scoring on a good-sized run. Early in the second quarter, Buffalo added to its lead on a short run by Karlos Williams. Fitzpatrick’s TD pass got about half of those points back, but Dan Carpenter’s late first-half field goal sent the Bills into the locker room as 16-7 leaders.

Both teams added field goals in the third quarter, but the Jets moved closer at the end of that period. Fitzpatrick threw his second touchdown pass, and New York was down 19-17 with a little more than a period to go. Considering the Jets were playing a team with nothing at stake, it was easy to like their chances.

Yet the Bills’ defense rose to the occasion. The unit blanked New York during the fourth quarter. All three of the Jets’ final drives ended in interceptions, as Fitzpatrick struggled against an inspired Bills defense and a strong wind in his face. One key play came with Fitzpatrtrick tried to connect with Decker, but saw it intercepted in the end zone by Leotis McKelvin.  The last straw was a long pass to Kenbrell Thompsonwho was open down the sideline in the final seconds. However, Buffalo’s Mario Butler arrived just in time to knock the ball away. Had Butler not done that, Thompson probably would have run all the way to the postseason.

“The past two weeks, what Rex has been doing is asking us what we feel comfortable playing,” Bills’ defensive tackle Corbin Bryant said. “And that has helped us execute at a higher level. Saturday nights before the game, he’s like, ‘Do you guys feel uncomfortable with anything? If you feel uncomfortable with anything, we’ll take it out.’”

Buffalo’s offense wasn’t much more productive, but it did get close enough for Dan Carpenter to kick a field goal with 3:49 left. It was enough. The final result of 22-17 in favor of Buffalo was stunning. The Jets’ last hope for the playoffs was extinguished when Pittsburgh defeated Cleveland to grab a wild-card spot. The Jets were headed home for the season, just like the Bills.

“It’s tough,” Fitzpatrick said. “All you can ask for in this game is just an opportunity. As poorly as we played in the first quarter, as slow as we were going there, we picked it up and had an opportunity at the end of the game. We weren’t able to pull it off. My heart hurts so bad right now for all those guys in the locker room.”

Some of Fitzpatrick’s ex-teammates still played for the Bills, and even they couldn’t celebrate the outcome completely.

“It’s such a mixture of emotions at that moment,” center Eric Wood said about the end of the game. “He’s one of my best friends. I want success for Fitz; I don’t want it at the expense of the Buffalo Bills in our stadium. But that’s one of my favorite people in the world. It was a tough moment.”

As of the end of the 2024 season, the Jets still hadn’t made the playoffs since 2010. To make matters worse, they never even won more than seven games in any of those nine seasons that follow the near miss of 2015. They only won 10 games in a season that one time between 2011 and 2024.

The Jets had the longest playoff drought in pro sports at the end of the 2024 campaign. The second-longest, ironically, belonged to … the Buffalo Sabres. The reason the Sabres didn’t have the longest active streak without making the postseason was because their “football cousins” in Orchard Park (both teams were owned by Terry and Kim Pegula) won this game.

While the Bills deserved credit for their play when they had nothing to gain by winning, it didn’t help to change the taste of yet another disappointing season.

“Obviously our goals were set a lot higher than this, to be 8-8 or whatever,” Ryan said. “That’s what our fans expect and all that. I know we all expected more wins this year, but we got the effort and the attitude right. We just gotta find a way to get the wins, which is the most important thing. We understand.”

Noteworthy: The team statistics couldn’t have been much more even. The Jets had a 122-113 advantage in running yards, while the Bills were up in passing yards by 182 to 178. … Even so, the Bills had a 39:13 to 20:47 edge in time of possession. … Fitzpatrick finished 16 of 37, while Taylor was 18 of 28. Taylor also led the Bills in rushing yards with 51 yards in 10 carries. … Sammy Watkins caught 11 passes (a season high) for 136 yards. … Fitzpatrick broke the Jets’ record for touchdown passes in a season with 31. … It was Mario Williams’ last game as a member of the Bills. He was released by the team after the season.

Legacy: Ryan returned to coach the Bills in 2016, but again failed to put the Bills in the postseason. He was fired before the end of the season, and not even allowed to stay on the job through the final game.  

The gamebook says his last interception was intended for Eric Decker and was intercepted by A. J. Tarpley. Also his earlier 4^th quarter interception was probably a bigger play. A pass from the Bills 14 yard line intended for Decker was intercepted by McKelvin in the end zone