Bills Extend Jets' Skid as Michael Vick Replaces Geno Smith Again

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Jets wore all green on Sunday, perhaps believing that they could blend in with the turf at MetLife Stadium - that no one would notice if Geno Smith happened to throw three interceptions in the first quarter.

Or if his backup came in and happened to commit three more turnovers. Or if their defense happened to allow five touchdowns. Or if their receivers happened to drop passes that struck their hands or chests.

Every week, it gets a little worse for the Jets: a little sadder, a little more absurd and a lot more embarrassing. In their latest foray into the tragicomic, the Buffalo Bills dealt the Jets their seventh consecutive loss, by 43-23.

The Jets had 10 days to prepare for this game, which did not exactly seem like a certain victory - none are, these days - but at least did not look like a certain defeat. Then the ball was kicked, and the Jets went three-and-out, and that was that.

In good times and bad, Coach Rex Ryan often says that opponents do not look forward to facing the Jets, no matter what. He might believe it, but how can it be true? The Jets are an outfit with instability at quarterback that cannot force a turnover (only three all season, the fewest in the N.F.L., with none, again, on Sunday) and cannot hold on to the ball.

And then there is the whole 1-7 thing.

That stark reality will no doubt come up Monday, when General Manager John Idzik is scheduled to meet with the news media for what the team is calling his normal midyear availability. So will other subjects, chief among them his assessment of Ryan, who has less job security than a substitute teacher, and Idzik's confidence in Smith, who was replaced by Michael Vick for the second time in four games. This benching, unlike the last, at San Diego, may not be temporary.

Idzik will also have to answer for his mismanagement of the cornerback position. Facing the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady prepared the Jets for the aerial assault administered by ... Kyle Orton, who threw four touchdown passes and set up another score with an 84-yard toss to Sammy Watkins. His fourth scoring throw, to Watkins with 9 minutes 46 seconds left, sent loads of fans streaming for the exits. Those who stayed presumably just wanted to rubberneck.

It was as unrealistic to presume that the Jets could duplicate their performance from their narrow loss to New England in their last game, when they rushed for 218 yards, possessed the ball for nearly 41 minutes and did not commit a turnover, as it was to expect such a steep correction.

Before the first quarter was over, Smith had thrown three interceptions. The first two of those passes were underthrown - to his receivers, at least - and his third sailed well high of Eric Decker and into the arms of Aaron Williams. What rumbled through the crowd then was a sound known to generations of dejected Jets fans: the I-can't-believe-the-quarterback-did-it-again groan.

The best play Smith made all afternoon was pushing Williams out of bounds at the 1-yard line, dislodging the ball and preventing a touchdown. As the play was being reviewed - did the ball tumble through the end zone, which would have returned possession to the Jets? - Percy Harvin, their new acquisition, ambled onto the field from the locker room.

He arrived just in time to see Orton flip his second touchdown pass, a 1-yarder to Lee Smith that extended Buffalo's lead to 14-0.

Even in the first quarter, the deficit seemed so insurmountable with Smith, who finished 2-of-8 passing for 5 yards, at quarterback that Ryan inserted Vick.

He energized the crowd, and the offense, by scrambling for first downs, by moving the Jets downfield, by not throwing the ball to the other team. Their 13-play scoring drive, capped by Chris Ivory's 2-yard touchdown run, drew cheers louder even than the roar when T-shirts were launched into the stands.

Smith's recklessness thrust the Jets' defense into bad situations, but here it had its chance, with Buffalo taking over at its own 8. Then Orton, on a third down, saw that Watkins had slipped past Darrin Walls and whipped a pass downfield. For the Jets, the joy of watching Saalim Hakim race clear from the other side of the field to haul down Watkins, who had started to celebrate prematurely, was soon negated by their disgust at failing to stop fullback Frank Summers, who bulled into the end zone from 2 yards out.

Although the Jets closed the gap to 24-17 just before halftime and possessed the ball in the third quarter with a chance to tie the score, Vick could not complete the comeback. He fumbled at his own 10, leading to a Buffalo field goal, and threw an interception that gave the Bills the ball at the Jets' 14. Three plays later, Orton fired a 12-yard touchdown pass to Scott Chandler.