The Jets don’t have anything to play for against the Buffalo Bills in Week 17. But as New York showed in their Week 16 upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers, they’re trying to go out with a bang.
Safety Jamal Adams had an interesting word to describe the mindset his team will have going into their season finale.
During a Tuesday conference call via SportsNet New York, Adams said his team will be gunning for Week 1 revenge against the Bills. Buffalo came back in that one, winning that outing, 17-16.
And the Jets are really, really going for it, says Adams.
“Yeah, we’re coming after them. We hunting, man,” Adams said. “It’s a playoff game for us. We hear they’re going to start their starters, that’s good. We’re looking forward to the matchup, I can tell you that.”
For a few reasons, some alarm bells go off for the Bills. While no one wants to see quarterback Matt Barkley injured, no one wants to see Josh Allen hurt even more. Sorry, Matt, just the nature of the beast. Allen is the Bills’ starting quarterback and has guided the team to the postseason.
With that factored in, despite Week 17 being a meaningless game for the Bills in the standings (they’ve locked up the No. 5 seed in the AFC) Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott announced on Tuesday that Allen and a “majority” of the team’s starters will play in the game. How much? That hasn’t been determined, but per Adams, the Jets aren’t going to let up at all in this one.
In addition, there’s the Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to consider. The former Bills head coach was involved in the infamous “bounty scandal” while with the Saints. Williams’ defenses have been known to try and lay the lumber against opposing QBs, regardless of bounties, during his various stops around NFL clubs.
McDermott even acknowledged Williams was taken into consideration when deciding that Allen will play for an undisclosed amount of time in the game.
“That has been factored in,” McDermott said. “That’s been discussed. I don’t want to go any further than that.”
“It’s got to be played the right way and that’s where the officials have to do their job. We respect their job and we expect them to their job,” McDermott added.
The Bills will be crossing their fingers for the “hunting” to begin when their starters exit the game and for the entire team to avoid any costly injuries in their season finale.
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