New York Jets Grind One Out In Canada

NFL News - December 4th, 2009 - Written by John

Prior to the Thursday Night Football game on NFL Network there was controversy swirling about the Buffalo Bills' peculiar team photo passed out last week, which seemed to have airbrushed former head coach Dick Jauron right out of it.

By now, there are probably several other team members who wish they were eliminated from the miserable 2009 NFL Season.

Buffalo certainly hasn't endeared itself to the Canadian population, and in their second appearance north of the border, Ryan Fitzpatrick had his worst game of the year, and the Bills became 0-2 in Canada with a 19-13 defeat at the hands of the New York Jets. It was enough to cover the one-point spread heading into the game.

"They had our number today," Fitzpatrick said. "Very disappointing. We had opportunities all day. Just real disappointed with what happened out there."

Fitzpatrick only completed nine of 23 passes for 98 yards, his lowest total in a game he started since 2005, and Terrell Owens was limited to just three catches for 31 yards.

It appears New York's Mark Sanchez apparently could use a few more sliding lessens, however. He was injured early in the third quarter after diving forward to reach a first down. It was described as a mild sprain of his PCL, his second knee injury in two weeks, and his status for next week will likely depend on his tolerance of pain.

He hurt his other knee a week ago against the Carolina Panthers, prompting the team to have New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi give Sanchez sliding lessons.

"He's got to understand that it's in the organization's best interests to slide, and that was disappointing," said Jets head coach Rex Ryan. "I love the kid, but he's got to grow up and understand that he represents our entire organization."

The last time the Jets beat Buffalo with a ground game that ran up 318 yards and scored the team's only touchdown. It was more of the same on Thursday, when Thomas Jones led a unit that ate up 249 yards of real estate and occupied the ball for more than 35 minutes.

Jones ran for a game-high 109 yards, and Shonn Greene backed him up with another 59.

But there were only two touchdowns scored in a game dominated by suffocating defenses and conservative play-calling that led to six field goals. New York punched through four of those, thus being the difference.

Buffalo had five sacks in the game and the Jets had three sacks and eight pressures.

Through the first 20 minutes of the game, New York clung to a 6-3 lead when the Bills finally broke it open with a 15-yard run by Marshawn Lynch for the game's first touchdown.

Sanchez answered later in the quarter, rolling around in the pocket until he found Braylon Edwards just in front of the end zone. Edwards caught the ball, and leaped over a defender to get into the end zone, giving his team a lead they wouldn't surrender