A win is a win.
The Jets proved that with Sunday’s ugly 13-6 takedown of the Bills in Buffalo. With the Bills already locked into the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs, they held out mutiple starters and only played starting quarterback Josh Allen for two series.
From there it was the Matt Barkley show. In the pouring rain, the Bills backup quarterback was erratic, throwing two interceptions and fumbling once. Gregg Williams’ defensive unit held the Bills without a touchdown, while Adam Gase’s offense did just enough to win, despite two missed field goals from Sam Ficken.
Let’s take a look at some interesting stats from New York’s conclusion to the 2019 season.
NFL History
With Sunday’s 13-6 win over the Bills, the Jets became the eighth team in NFL history to start 1-7 and finish 7-9 or better, according to the team’s website.
Since the start of 16-game schedules in 1978 (not including the strike-shortened 1982 campaign), 111 teams had started 1-7 or worse and only six teams finished 7-9 or better (5.4%).
The second half of the 2019 season marked the Jets’ best second-half finish since 2006.
Career accolades for Jamison Crowder
Starting slot wide receiver Jamison Crowder finished his first season in green and white on a high note.
In Sunday’s win, Crowder hauled in eight passes for 66 yards and a score. His one-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter proved to be the game-winner, ending a 46-plus minute touchdown drought for both teams.
Crowder finished his 2019 campaign with a career-high 78 catches for 833 yards. He was one of a few members of the Jets’ initial 53-man roster that avoided the injury plague, playing in all 16 games and leading the team with six touchdowns on the season.
Winning ugly on the road
Sunday’s win wasn’t pretty, but the Jets got it done to improve to 7-9 overall on the season.
The 13-6 win became the first time that the Jets held a road opponent without a touchdown since they held the Titans to 11 points in a 16-11 win in Tennessee back in 2014, according to team reporter Randy Lange.
In addition, it was the first time the Jets have held the Bills without a touchdown in Buffalo since the 1994 season opener, when the Jets won 23-3.
Making his mark
Second-year quarterback Sam Darnold, who missed three games with mono, had 198 yards passing in the Jets’ season finale.
With Sunday’s performance, Darnold was able to eclipse 3,000 yards passing for the first time in his career. He finished his second season with 3,024 yards passing, completing 61.9 percent of his passes while throwing 19 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
