NEW YORK JETS DAILY CLIPS. December 21, 2015 Table of Contents

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1 NEW YORK JETS DAILY CLIPS December 21, 2015 Table of Contents ASSOCIATED PRESS... 1 Jets win ugly, stay in thick of AFC playoff hunt (Dennis Waszak)... 1 NEWSDAY... 3 Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brandon Marshall help foster new attitude (Neil Best)... 3 Jets on outside looking in for playoffs after Chiefs, Steelers win (Kimberley A. Martin)... 4 THE RECORD... 5 Jets: Discover wide-receiver reinforcement (J.P. Pelzman)... 5 NFL: Jets report card vs. Cowboys (J.P. Pelzman)... 7 ESPN NEW YORK... 8 Jets display Patriots-like traits, albeit for only one quarter (Rich Cimini)... 8 Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker set Jets' TD record for receiving duos (Rich Cimini)... 9 Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has a (bloody) nose for fourth-quarter wins (Rich Cimini) NEW YORK POST Jets playoff breakdown: Steelers thriller a huge blow (Brian Costello) Jets can t ignore alarming truths that Cowboys exposed (Mark Cannizzaro) NJ ADVANCE MEDIA How Jets' Ryan Fitzpatrick changed Brandon Marshall's 'looked like crap' first impression (Darryl Slater) How Jets' huge catches by Kenbrell Thompkins, Quincy Enunwa helped beat Dallas Cowboys (Darryl Slater) Why these surging Jets remind Calvin Pace of 2009 team that made AFC Championship Game (Darryl Slater) Ryan Fitzpatrick comes through in clutch again as Jets beat Dallas Cowboys (Darryl Slater) NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Jets don't get any help from Broncos, who lose to Steelers (Manish Mehta) Jets looking - and playing - like actual winners when it matters most (Manish Mehta) WALL STREET JOURNAL Jets Marcus Williams is Top Pick for Interceptions (Michael Salfino) SUNDAY S SPORTS TRANSACTIONS ASSOCIATED PRESS Jets win ugly, stay in thick of AFC playoff hunt (Dennis Waszak) Associated Press December 20, P a g e

2 NEW YORK (AP) The bloody gash on the bridge of Ryan Fitzpatrick's nose summed up the New York Jets' win in Dallas. It was downright ugly. But most importantly, the Jets were resilient. And they remained in the thick of the AFC playoff hunt with two games left in the regular season. "We're developing a way to win games," Fitzpatrick said after the Jets' win Saturday night. "We're developing a strength, a confidence." Fitzpatrick bounced back from a subpar first three quarters and rallied the Jets with a touchdown pass to Eric Decker in the fourth quarter and leading the winning drive that was capped by Randy Bullock's 40- yard field goal with 36 seconds left. The quarterback did most of his work with a flap of skin on his nose glued shut after it was torn at the end of a scramble. "I'm done with photo shoots with Decker, I guess," Fitzpatrick joked. "That's out the window. I didn't see it until the game was over when everybody kept telling me I looked ugly. That usually happens during the game anyway." Looks, fortunately for Fitzpatrick and the Jets, don't matter much. After appearing headed to a disappointing defeat in Big D, New York had a solid finish and its first four-game winning streak since After Sunday's games, New York was tied with Kansas City and Pittsburgh all at 9-5 but the Jets were on the outside looking in in the race for the AFC's two wild-card spots because of tiebreakers. "Right now, we just focus on stacking these wins up," linebacker Calvin Pace said. "We have to win out. There are some scenarios where if some other people win out, they will go. You just have to focus on what we can control. We got this win on the road, a tough one. We have to get two more." Next up for the Jets is a home game against New England, which edged New York in October. They'll close out the regular season at Buffalo, where Rex Ryan will certainly be licking his chops at the possibility of dealing his former team's playoff hopes a key blow. "We've got a big game coming up," wide receiver Brandon Marshall said. "We can't hang from the rafters right now because of a little win streak. We've just got to focus on our job." They'll also need to be a lot better against the Patriots than they were in what was a mostly shaky performance against the Cowboys. Fitzpatrick was inconsistent for much of three quarters, and it didn't help that both Decker and Marshall left briefly with injuries. The running game never really got going with the Jets held to 73 yards overall and Chris Ivory, the AFC's leading rusher coming in, had just 37 on 13 carries. There were also drive-killing penalties, and Randy Bullock missed a field goal and an extra point. The defense, which has been so stingy against the run all season, allowed Darren McFadden to rush for 100 yards as the Cowboys finished with 133 yards on the ground. "The biggest thing, we cut down on the penalties in the second half," coach Todd Bowles said. "We got seven in the first half, one in the second half. It was the kind of game we were losing in the first half of the year or the middle of the season that we're starting to win now, so I'm happy about that." The Jets had four interceptions, including a victory-sealing grab by Marcus Williams in the closing seconds. 2 P a g e

3 Fitzpatrick also got the offense in gear in the final quarter with the help of some of New York's lesserknown players, including running back Bilal Powell (who has scored in three straight games) and wide receivers Quincy Enunwa (who had a 24-yard catch on third-and-14 on the Decker touchdown drive) and Kenbrell Thompkins (who caught a 43-yard pass to set up the winning field goal). "You win football games all kinds of different ways," Fitzpatrick said. Entering the fourth quarter, the Jets quarterback was 16 of 29 for 167 yards and an interception. But everything turned around for him and New York in the final 15 minutes, when Fitzpatrick was 10 of 10 for 132 yards and the TD. Fitzpatrick has driven the Jets to a win or tie in the final minutes of regulation in two of the Jets' past three games. That's winning football. No matter how it looks. "It's mental toughness," Bowles said. "You don't nearly blow games when you win them. You blow them when you lose them. You win is how you win. All of them aren't going to be 15-, 16-, 20-point wins. You've got to win the tough, gritty ones and we've won two of those now, so we're building some character." NEWSDAY Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brandon Marshall help foster new attitude (Neil Best) Newsday December 21, They are the Sunshine Boys of the Jets, in more ways than one. First, because they are on the wrong side of 30, old in NFL terms. Second, because they are having the time of their football lives, helping brighten the mood in what might be among the most cheerful locker rooms in the league. So there were no two bigger smiles in the visiting dressing room at AT&T Stadium on Saturday night than those of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brandon Marshall, two guys with at least a decade in the league and not a playoff berth between them. This was after an unsightly win over the Cowboys that gave the Jets four straight victories, a streak that has made them one of the league s feel-good stories. The more Marshall talked, and talked, and talked filling notebooks and recorders and cameras with reams of quotable material, as usual one of the reasons for the Jets success became evident. For a team with a history of being regarded as a circus the implication being that there are clowns on the marquee it was important to start fresh with guys who mostly didn t know and didn t care about the past. It starts with general manager Mike Maccagnan and coach Todd Bowles, but it includes two guys who arrived via trades in March, not sure what their roles would be. And about that circus thing... Well, the New York media, you guys do a great job of talking about all kinds of stuff, I guess, but really, man, it s a first-class organization, Marshall said. 3 P a g e

4 So he had heard about that? Everything, yeah, just like that, he said. There s so much coverage, so you think that it would be a circus, but the Bears, first-class organization, I put them right up there with that, top to bottom. I mean everything from our janitors. Jose does a great job. I mean, I m being honest. You go to the bathroom, then two seconds later, he s right in there. Wait... so Marshall knows the janitor by name? Oh, yeah, I mean, it s because it s a trickle down, he said. Everyone knows everyone s name in the building and you have no choice but to step in line. It s that type of place. I m being serious. I really think they do too much. It s amazing. None of that would matter if the Jets were losing, but for now, there is no more likable team in the New York area, starting with a quarterback who showed up for his postgame news conference in full uniform as he always does this time with a gash over his nose for added effect. Soon Marshall was recalling his first impressions of Fitzpatrick. When I first saw him? Oh, man, he came out and he couldn t complete a 5-yard hitch route, couldn t complete an out-cut, because he had just come off his broken leg [last December as a Texan], Marshall said. So I was like, oh, my gosh, this guy is bad, just hang it up. I m being honest, man, it didn t look good. And then he got in shape. He was like 240. He got in shape and got healthier, our trainers got him right and he s just been getting better every single week, and it s not really about how talented he is with his arm and mentally, it s really about chemistry. There was more where that came from before Marshall moved on to Bowles His hands stay steady and the training staff and Jose and pretty much everyone else who works at the Atlantic Health Training Center. The circus gets a bad rap when it comes to sports reputations, but it is more the clown part that is the problem. These Jets have moved beyond that and are performing high-wire acts, taming Jaguars and juggling on-field responsibilities. Young players and young fans might not fully appreciate how special that is around here. Fitzpatrick and Marshall do. I had some pre-perceptions when I first came in, Marshall said, but I have to tell you, this is a first-class organization and everyone does a great job and it s just easy for us to just focus on football. Jets on outside looking in for playoffs after Chiefs, Steelers win (Kimberley A. Martin) Newsday December 21, Winning out no longer is good enough. Now the Jets need help. Saturday night s win over the Cowboys kept the Jets playoff hopes alive for one more week. But within 24 hours, they found themselves on the periphery of the postseason race, thanks to victories by the Chiefs and Steelers. Hours after the Chiefs defeated the Ravens, 34-14, the Steelers came back from a 17-point deficit to defeat the Broncos, 34-27, on Sunday night. 4 P a g e

5 That left the Jets, Chiefs and Steelers at 9-5 but the Steelers moved ahead of the Jets to claim the sixth and final spot in the AFC playoff race because of a common-opponents tiebreaker. That means the Jets not only have to win out but need the Chiefs, Steelers and Broncos (10-5) to lose. Here s the silver lining: The Broncos are in first place in the AFC West, but if the Chiefs overtake them and win the division title, the Jets will get in as a wild-card team because they own the tiebreaker over Denver. The Jets have a much tougher schedule (at least, on paper) compared with the Chiefs and Steelers. Kansas City is at home against the Browns (3-11) and Raiders (6-8) the next two weeks. Pittsburgh will close out the year at Baltimore (4-10) and at Cleveland. Denver will finish up at home against the Bengals (11-3) and the Chargers (4-10). As for the Jets, they host the Patriots (12-2) on Sunday before traveling to Buffalo to face Rex Ryan s Bills in Week 17. But if they don t handle their business next week against the Patriots, it won t matter what else happens around the league. We can t hang from the rafters right now because of a little win streak, Brandon Marshall said after the Jets eked out a win over the Cowboys. We ve just got to focus on our job. The Jets who have won four straight for the first time since 2010 lost to the Patriots, 30-23, in Foxborough in Week 7. If they expect to keep the momentum going, they ll need to execute a nearly flawless game against future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady. It s a good time to start playing good football. Wasn t pretty today, coach Todd Bowles said Saturday night in reference to the Jets sloppy performance against the Cowboys. We re on our way to becoming one of those type of teams if we can keep it up. So how much better will the Jets have to play against the Patriots? They re a division rival, Bowles said. We know how good they are and they re the Super Bowl champs, so we ve got to clean up a lot of mistakes before we get to them. The Jets are jelling at just the right time, but they still have to prove they re up to the task of taking down the AFC East powerhouse. The Patriots also have something to play for Sunday: A win would guarantee them home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. With each passing week, the vision of reaching the playoffs becomes more clear. And New England is the next roadblock in the Jets path to the postseason. That is the ultimate goal, linebacker Calvin Pace said of making the playoffs, something the Jets haven t done since But right now, we just focus on stacking these wins up. We have to win out. There are some scenarios where if some other people win out, they will go. You just have to focus on what we can control. We got this win on the road, a tough one. We have to get two more. THE RECORD Jets: Discover wide-receiver reinforcement (J.P. Pelzman) The Record December 21, P a g e

6 The Jets have struggled for most of the season in trying to find a third option at wide receiver beyond stars Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. On Saturday night, they had two who stepped to the forefront in the crucial fourth quarter. Quincy Enunwa had his best game since returning last month from an NFL-imposed suspension, and New England castoff Kenbrell Thompkins made his biggest catch as a Jet. They were major contributors to the team s comeback victory over lowly Dallas in Arlington, Texas. But the Jets (9-5) didn t get any help from outside forces Sunday in their playoff quest. Their two main competitors for the two AFC wild-card berths, Kansas City and Pittsburgh, both won and also are 9-5. The Chiefs blew out Baltimore and the Steelers rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat Denver. If the Jets, Chiefs and Steelers win out and are tied for the two spots, the Jets would miss the playoffs because of tiebreakers. With the Jets trailing, 13-9, in the fourth quarter Saturday, Enunwa had a 24-yard reception from Ryan Fitzpatrick on third-and-14 from the Dallas 27. Two plays later, Fitzpatrick connected with Decker for a 3- yard touchdown that put the Jets ahead for the first time in the second half. "He had a big catch on a similar route which was called back earlier," Fitzpatrick said after the game. The Jets had no media availability Sunday. Coach Todd Bowles is scheduled to speak to reporters on a conference call today. "It was a little bit of a broken-down play when I started moving up in the pocket," Fitzpatrick said. "He did a great job getting in between the linebackers. It was a horrible pass. That was the play of the game, I thought." Enunwa, who served a four-game suspension this season for a domestic-violence incident last year, had four receptions for 49 yards, his best game since having five catches for 50 yards in a loss to Philadelphia in Week 3. Dallas tied the score at 16 on Dan Bailey s 50-yard field goal. On the Jets next possession, after Fitzpatrick barely sneaked for a first down on third-and-1 from the 29, he hit a streaking Thompkins down the right sideline for a 43-yard gain to the Dallas 26. That put the Jets in position for Randy Bullock s 40-yard field goal, which was the game-winner. Fitzpatrick called Thompkins "a smart football player," noting, "He came up to me and said against this particular coverage I can get down the sideline. We called the play [and] we got the [right] coverage. I had to get rid of it and he made a great play." "That ball to KT down the sideline," Marshall said, "was something KT was talking about in the first half. Those guys [Fitzpatrick and Thompkins] were on the same page. That s big for us. People are going to key on Deck and I. "Quincy made a huge play on third down. I m so proud of him. Those guys [Thompkins and Enunwa] did a great job." Veteran Jeremy Kerley had been the Jets third receiver in recent years, but the 5-foot-9, 188-pounder fell out of favor with the new coaching regime and has been relegated mostly to punt returns. The Jets tried to force-feed second-round pick Devin Smith, but he was plagued by injuries and had trouble getting on the same page with Fitzpatrick. He was lost for the season with a knee injury suffered on punt coverage during the win over Tennessee last week. 6 P a g e

7 "A lot of different guys got involved" in the offense in the fourth quarter, Fitzpatrick said. "I think that s when we re tough." Decker was relieved that he didn t suffer a serious left knee injury when his leg landed awkwardly while he was being tackled after a first-quarter catch. Decker winced in pain on the play and left the game, but returned shortly thereafter. "Just the way I fell and the position of the knee," he said, "it just scared me more than anything because of the past injury I had this year, and what I ve been dealing with all year." Decker injured the posterior cruciate ligament in that knee in Week 2 at Indianapolis. He sat out the next game, but hasn t missed one since. "Living right or whatever it is," Decker said, "it came out fine and it was not as bad as I first thought." NFL: Jets report card vs. Cowboys (J.P. Pelzman) The Record December 21, Run offense: C- The Jets one shining moment was a perfectly blocked 12-yard first-quarter touchdown run by Bilal Powell, who took advantage of a gaping hole in the Dallas defense. Otherwise, there was very little room to be had. Chris Ivory, a native of Longview, Texas, averaged only 2.8 yards on 13 carries, and the Jets as a team managed only 2.8 per attempt. Ivory was stuffed for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-inches from the Dallas 3 in the first period. Pass offense: B+ Let s call it a C-minus for the first three quarters and an A-plus for the final one, which is the one that really counted. Ryan Fitzpatrick s third-quarter pick set up a Dallas field goal. But after going 16-for-27 for 167 yards until the last quarter, he then went 10-for-12 for 132 yards and a key TD to Eric Decker in the fourth period. WR Kenbrell Thompkins, picked up off the trash heap earlier this year, set up Randy Bullock s eventual game-winning FG with a 43-yard catch. Run defense: C- The Jets allowed 6.3 yards per carry and were burned by two 33-yard plays. WR Lucky Whitehead s firstquarter reverse led to a FG, but the Jets got lucky when RB Darren McFadden s 33-yard third-quarter jaunt was rendered useless by a Kellen Moore interception. DE Sheldon Richardson failed to set the edge on the latter run. Pass defense: B+ The Jets garnered four interceptions against starter Matt Cassel (one) and inaccurate sub Kellen Moore (three). But CB Darrelle Revis gave up too much cushion on a 10-yard TD throw from Moore to star WR Dez Bryant. Revis also was fortunate when he apparently was beaten to the inside by Cole Beasley in the third period and Beasley dropped the pass, which would have converted a critical third down. 7 P a g e

8 Special teams: B- Give Bullock credit for rebounding from a missed PAT and a 45-yard FG attempt that was wide right to hit the clutch 40-yarder with 36 seconds to go. His 45-yard second-quarter miss wouldn t have happened if DE Leger Douzable hadn t committed an illegal shift on a made 40-yarder. P Ryan Quigley had a pedestrian night, as did the Jets return units. Coaching: B+ Todd Bowles calm demeanor once again was reflected in his team, which didn t panic despite trailing lowly Dallas in the fourth quarter. Offensive coordinator Chan Gailey called a decent game, especially in the final period. One of Gailey s best attributes is that he ll force a defense to stop a particular play before he stops calling it. ESPN NEW YORK Jets display Patriots-like traits, albeit for only one quarter (Rich Cimini) ESPN New York December 20, A few takeaways from the New York Jets' win over the Dallas Cowboys Saturday night: 1. When it came to winning time, the Jets made clutch plays, overcoming three quarters of sloppy football. They were resilient and resourceful. They made smart adjustments on the fly. They played good situational football. They received clutch contributions from bench players. Simply put, they finished. The Jets were a micro-version of the New England Patriots in the fourth quarter Saturday. Obviously, they'll have to play that way for more than 15 minutes next Sunday against the actual Patriots, who have a habit of beating the Jets with the formula they created and perfected over the years. After a sloppy first three quarters, the Jets and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick made the plays they needed to Saturday night to beat the Cowboys. Larry W. Smith/EPA Todd Bowles' team hasn't reached that level yet, but the Jets are moving in the right direction, based on how they ve played during this four-game winning streak. They re learning how to win close games, a necessary trait in December and January. We were poised and we learned from our mistakes in the past, Bowles said. We grew as a team. We didn t blow the game like we did (against) Buffalo. We didn t blow it like we did in New England. We continued what we learned from the Giants, and we came out and played a good second half. 2. The biggest oddity of the fourth-quarter comeback: The Jets didn't use a single timeout in the second half. As we've seen in previous games, most notably the first meeting against the Patriots, Bowles doesn't mind holding on to his timeouts. He didn't stop the clock before the two-minute warning, letting the Cowboys run off 40 seconds before the game-tying field goal. Bowles' strategy worked to perfection, but it's still unusual for a coach to leave a game with three unused timeouts. 8 P a g e

9 3. The Jets really struggled to run the ball, averaging only 2.8 yards per carry on 26 attempts. The Cowboys aren't a load-the-box team, but they created problems with their quickness upfront. They had six tackles behind the line and six quarterback hits. The Jets tend to have problems with quick, 4-3 fronts, and they close out the season with a couple of 4-3 teams, the Patriots and Buffalo Bills. 4. The lack of a receiving threat at tight end was glaring against the Cowboys' two-deep zone, which did a good job of limiting big plays to Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. The downside to a two-deep is the vulnerability in the middle of the field, leaving open space for a pass-catching tight end. The Jets don't have that guy. Basically, Quincy Enunwa is the Jets' version of a tight end, and they started going to him in the second half. Keep an eye on Enunwa; he's gaining confidence and could be a factor in the final two games. 5. Interestingly, Bilal Powell -- not Chris Ivory -- got the ball on the final three plays as the Jets positioned themselves to set up the game-winning field goal. Ivory has fumbled three times this season, losing two. Was that a factor? Perhaps. A back injury to tight end Kellen Davis also may have forced them to go with a different personnel package. 6. Rontez Miles was a beast on special teams; he had three solo tackles. 7. The Jets were outgained on the ground. Not good at all. 8. Backup middle linebacker Erin Henderson was a terrific free-agent addition. How many teams could lose their starting "Mike" linebacker (David Harris) and insert a seven-year veteran with 33 games of starting experience? "It's not easy to step in for a player like Dave, the leader of our defense, somebody who calls the signals and calls the plays, week in, week out," Henderson said after the game. "You never know how the other guys are going to respond when they see a guy like that go down. My job is to make everybody feel comfortable. They know I'm more than capable of getting the job done." Harris missed the final three quarters with a lower-back contusion, according to the Jets. Bowles didn't give a prognosis. 9. Judging from his body language, Antonio Cromartie doesn't seem particularly thrilled returning kickoffs. He runs like he's afraid to get hurt. 10. Dee Milliner, relegated to a special-teams-only role, left with a hamstring injury. In other news, Donald Trump has a big mouth. Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker set Jets' TD record for receiving duos (Rich Cimini) ESPN New York December 20, They ve had some prolific receiving tandems in their history, most notably Al Toon-Wesley Walker and Keyshawn Johnson-Wayne Chrebet over the past three decades. But the New York Jets never had a duo that scored as many touchdowns in the same season as Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall. Decker scored his 10th touchdown in Saturday night s win over the Dallas Cowboys, making it 21 between him and Marshall -- a new team mark. They passed Toon-Walker (1986) and Don Maynard-Art Powell (1960). Marshall was held out of the end zone for only the fourth game, but he managed to grab a piece of an individual record. With four catches for 74 yards, he tied Toon s team record for most receptions in a season Marshall increased his yardage total to 1,261, third on the Jets all-time list in a single season. 9 P a g e

10 It has come together quickly for Marshall, Decker and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. This is their first season together, but they ve developed chemistry in a short amount of time. Fitzpatrick missed much of the offseason as he recovered from a broken leg, so it s not like they had a lot of reps in the spring. But you can t tell, can you? After the win, the Jets fourth straight, Marshall and Decker seemed more excited about their backups, Quincy Enunwa and Kenbrell Thompkins, than their own accomplishments. Enunwa made a third-and-14 conversion to set up Decker s touchdown in the fourth quarter and Thompkins put them in range for the game-winning field goal with a 43-yard reception with less than a minute to play. The more Fitz gets comfortable with them, the more we can spread defenses out and they can t take away certain things, Decker said. Talk about an unlikely pair. Enunwa and Thompkins entered the game with only 26 catches between them. The only reason Thompkins was in uniform was because rookie Devin Smith was placed on injured reserve. Thompkins probably deserved to play ahead of Smith in recent weeks, but he got caught in a situation where the coaches wanted to force-feed Smith, a second-round draft pick. Thompkins has a history. Two years ago, he scored a last-second, game-winning touchdown to lift the New England Patriots over the New Orleans Saints. On Saturday, he told Fitzpatrick early in the game the Dallas cornerbacks were sloppy in their Cover 2 technique. Keep an eye on me, Thompkins kept telling him. Fitzpatrick didn t forget, looking for him on a first down from their 31 with a minute to play. He beat cornerback Byron Jones down the sideline and the safety was late with deep help. Thompkins made it more dramatic than it needed to be, bobbling the ball at full speed. It says something that he and Fitzpatrick were able to communicate and connect despite minimal practice time together. A lot of guys aren t household names, but they re stepping up and making plays, linebacker Calvin Pace said. That s what you have to have to make a run, to get in the tournament. Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has a (bloody) nose for fourth-quarter wins (Rich Cimini) ESPN New York December 20, ARLINGTON, Texas -- Ryan Fitzpatrick emerged from the New York Jets fourth straight victory with a bloody gash on the bridge of his nose. It looked as if IK Enemkpali s fist had made a return appearance, but it was actually a helmet-inflicted wound that occurred on a first-half scramble. He found humor in it. "I'm done with photo shoots with [Eric] Decker, I guess -- that's out the window," Fitzpatrick said, laughing. "I didn't see it until the game was over, when everybody kept telling me I looked ugly." There was a lot of ugly on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium, where the Jets played down to the Dallas Cowboys level, but the Jets prevailed because of Fitzpatrick's bloody, clutch performance as the quarterback chalked up another fourth-quarter comeback. That makes two in the last three games. He had only nine in the first 10 years of his career. This time, Fitzpatrick rescued the Jets by leading the offense to 10 points on its final two possessions, winding up with a win on Randy Bullock s 40-yard field goal with 36 seconds left. The Harvard- 10 P a g e

11 educated quarterback is enjoying a storybook season that includes two dramatic comebacks, a surgically repaired thumb, a trimmed beard and a messy nose. "Fitz is an awesome player," linebacker Calvin Pace said. "I'm glad we got him. He's steady. Making plays with his legs, making throws. Big time. He's a big-time player. I'm hoping he has enough votes for our team MVP, because he deserves it." The Jets could've lost this game, and it would've gone down as one of the world's biggest choke jobs. Losing to a four-win opponent and a fourth-string quarterback (Kellen Moore) would've been a debacle of epic proportions. Indeed, no one in the Jets' locker room was gushing about the aesthetic quality of the performance. They trailed at the start of the fourth quarter, This was an escape more than anything. "Truth be told, we shouldn't have been in that situation," defensive end Sheldon Richardson said. "It was a big stadium, but it wasn't a big team. We should've beaten them a lot more than what we did." Fitzpatrick earned the save, completing 10 of 12 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown on the final two drives. He made three brilliant throws, including a sidearm pass for 20 yards to Brandon Marshall on a skinny post. Marshall said, "That ball literally went by the safety's ear in the only place I could catch it." A few plays later, on a third-and-14 from the Dallas 27, Fitzpatrick stepped up under heavy pressure and found Quincy Enunwa for 24 yards. "That was the play of the game right there," Fitzpatrick said. It was one of the plays of the year, frankly. One play later, he hit Decker for a 3-yard score to give the Jets a lead. The defense gave it away (Kellen Moore? Really, guys?!), but Fitzpatrick came back again with a 43-yard laser to seldom-used Kenbrell Thompkins on a sideline route. The Cowboys bungled a Cover 2, and the Jets made them pay. That set up Bullock's game-winner. Early in the game, Thompkins was in Fitzpatrick's ear, telling him he could beat the corner in a Cover 2 look. "I told Fitz, 'If that look comes again, don't fall asleep on it,'" Thompkins said. "I guess on that play, he was wide awake." Fitzpatrick is living the dream. So are the Jets, who will go into a Week 16 showdown against the New England Patriots with a real shot at a wild-card berth. Fitzpatrick has never played this well for this long, so you wonder: Is this simply a charmed run, or is he a late-blooming quarterback who has finally found his happy place? For now, it doesn't matter. Enjoy the moment. The Jets didn't play well, but they still won on the road, and there's something to be said for that. "Wasn't pretty," coach Todd Bowles said. "All of them aren't going to be pretty, but the good teams win the ugly games." On this night, the Jets won by an ugly nose. NEW YORK POST Jets playoff breakdown: Steelers thriller a huge blow (Brian Costello) New York Post December 20, P a g e

12 The Jets do not control their playoff lives thanks to a comeback win by the Steelers on Sunday. Pittsburgh rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat the Broncos 34-27, putting the Steelers in control of the final AFC wild-card spot ahead of the Jets. The Steelers, Jets and Chiefs are all tied at 9-5, but the Jets lose tiebreakers to the Chiefs (conference record) and Steelers (record vs. common opponents). So even if the Jets win out and go 11-5, they could miss the playoffs if all three teams are tied. The Broncos were the toughest challenge left for the Steelers, who play the Ravens and Browns in the next two weeks while the Jets get the Patriots and Bills. The Chiefs play the Browns and Raiders. The loss by the Broncos does create one other possible way in for the Jets. If the Broncos (10-4) lose another game and the Chiefs win out, Kansas City would win the AFC West. If the Jets and Broncos finished tied, the Jets hold the tiebreaker for the sixth seed based on conference record. The Broncos face the Bengals and Chargers in the final two weeks. The scenario dulls some of the good feelings the Jets had on Saturday night in Dallas. For the second time in three weeks, the Jets failed to play a great game, but still found a way to win at the end. Add the last-minute win over the Cowboys to the overtime win over the Giants, and the Jets have shown they can win even when they are not at their best. That is the sign of a playoff team, something the Jets are closing in on being. When you find a way to win like that, it kind of rallies the guys and gives you confidence in one another every week, wide receiver Eric Decker said. The Jets are 9-5 with the rival Patriots coming to MetLife Stadium next week. The Jets were positioned as the No. 6 seed Sunday afternoon after the Chiefs beat the Ravens. The Jets have had a mindset that they need to win out to make the playoffs for weeks now, and they have done it. They are riding their first four-game win streak in five years and clinched their first winning season since 2010 with the win over the Cowboys. The players said they sensed a special season was coming in training camp. But now they are seeing it. We ve got more than enough talent. We ve got great chemistry, linebacker Calvin Pace said. We ve got a good mix of young and old players let s not say old, let s say seasoned. It s working. I think, finally, everyone bought all the way in. It s tough, the ebbs and flows of the season. You re up. You re down. Things going great. Things going bad. One thing I can say is we stayed the course. We executed. We listened to Coach [Todd] Bowles with the things he s preaching week in and week out and it s coming together for us. On paper, the Jets looked talented, particularly defensively, entering the season. The big question mark was at quarterback, a Jets tradition. Ryan Fitzpatrick took over midway through camp after IK Enemkpali punched Geno Smith. Fitzpatrick is on his fourth team in four years and was viewed as a guy who could manage games for the Jets, but not win them. Now? Fitzpatrick is winning games. He did not play his best Saturday night in the first three quarters, but was on fire in the fourth quarter, going 10-of-12 for 132 yards and a touchdown. Fitzpatrick has clicked with Decker and Brandon Marshall, transforming the Jets offense this season from one that relied on Chris Ivory early in the season to one counting on the passing game now. Fitzpatrick said you can see the Jets learning how to win. I think we re maybe developing [a will to win], Fitzpatrick said. We re developing a way to win games. We re developing that strength, that confidence. I think we ve got a tough one coming up next week 12 P a g e

13 where we ve got to celebrate and enjoy. It will be a long plane ride. We ll get in late, but those are better when you win, and then get to work on New England. The stretch of the season when the Jets lost four of five games is just a memory now. The Jets were close in a few of those games, but could not find a way to win in the fourth quarter. Now they have done it twice in three weeks. We grew as a team, Bowles said. We didn t blow the game like we did in Buffalo. We didn t blow it like we did in New England. We continued on what we learned from the Giants and we played a good second half. Decker went to the playoffs in three straight seasons with the Broncos, making the Super Bowl in his final year in Denver. He sees traits in this team that remind him of those playoff teams. Winning creates that sort of fun and camaraderie, Decker said. You could really tell with the way we started and the struggles we had midway through were just some hard games we played. Now, coming out and having a streak in December, our mission is one week at a time, take care of our business and we re having fun doing it. If we can stay healthy, this team is very capable. We have some tough opponents coming up. We have to execute and keep playing good football. Jets can t ignore alarming truths that Cowboys exposed (Mark Cannizzaro) New York Post December 20, The celebration coming from inside the visitors locker room in the bowels of AT&T Stadium was audible from outside the closed doors. The Jets were jubilant following their victory over the Cowboys, a win that took a 40-yard Randy Bullock field goal with 36 seconds remaining to secure against a now-4-10 team that was on its fourth quarterback in a season that has been spiraling to oblivion for two months. The Jets deserve whatever spoils they choose to derive from their fourth consecutive victory, but it would serve them well to sprinkle the result with a good dose of reality. If the Jets are being honest with themselves, they know they got away with one Saturday night in Jerry Jones 90,000-seat amusement park. If they re being honest with themselves, they know they did not behave like a playoff team until to their credit the fourth quarter. If they re being honest with themselves, they re disgusted that their fifth-ranked defense nearly allowed Kellen Moore, a fourth-year, fourth-string quarterback who d never played an NFL snap, to beat them. If they re being honest with themselves, they re kicking themselves for failing to take advantage of two interceptions gifted to them first by Matt Cassel (before he was benched) to Darrelle Revis and then by Moore to Marcus Gilchrist that gave them the ball deep in Dallas territory. The Jets managed to score only three points from those two turnovers. If they re being honest with themselves, they know they cannot commit seven penalties, miss an extra point and a field goal and have no rushing attack in the first half and not be trailing by at least a couple of touchdowns by the intermission. Because the Cowboys are so bad on offense, the Jets trailed only 10-9 at the half. 13 P a g e

14 The Cowboys are not inept across the board. Their defense, with a dynamic front and speed on the edges, was something Jets coaches knew was going to present problems for them. So Dallas dominating the Jets offensive line was not a complete surprise. A year removed from the 4-12 Rex Ryan-John Idzik mess, the Jets are 9-5, have won four in a row for the first time since 2010 and are in position to make the playoffs for the first time in years. They should be praised for that. The Jets are arguably the Comeback Team of the Year, though the NFL does not dish out any hardware for that. But the fact is this: Their nine wins have come against teams with a combined record of No team the Jets have defeated this season currently has a winning record. You can only beat the teams in front of you, the teams on your schedule, and style points do not determine who gets to go to the playoffs. The postgame public spin from Jets coach Todd Bowles was supportive of his team despite how poorly it played in spots. Clearly, Bowles was taking the stroke-the-players approach rather than a more sobering, this-is-not-going-to-be-good-enough tact, not wanting to do anything to curb the confidence they re building with each win. All of them are not going to be pretty, but the good teams win the ugly games, Bowles said. We re on our way to becoming one of those type of teams if we can keep it up. Bowles preferred to praise his players mental toughness for turning a potential bad loss to a struggling team into a win, adding, We grew as a team. When it was suggested to Bowles it might be of concern that his team nearly blew this game, he said: You don t nearly blow games when you win them. You blow them when you lose them. All of them aren t going to be 15-, 16-, 20-point wins. You ve got to win the tough, gritty ones and we ve won two of those now (the other in OT against the Giants), so we re building some character. The 12-2 Patriots, easy winners over the Titans on Sunday, await next week at MetLife Stadium. The Jets will need all the character they can muster for that one. We can t hang from the rafters right now because of a little winning streak, receiver Brandon Marshall said. We ve still got a lot of football left. We ve got a big game coming up. A big game the Jets are guaranteed to lose if they don t play better than they did in Dallas. NJ ADVANCE MEDIA How Jets' Ryan Fitzpatrick changed Brandon Marshall's 'looked like crap' first impression (Darryl Slater) NJ Advance Media December 20, cart_river_index ARLINGTON, Texas What were wide receiver Brandon Marshall's first impressions of quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick after they both arrived at Jets headquarters via trade during the offseason? "My first impressions?" Marshall said Saturday after the Jets beat the Cowboys "Ah, man. He came out and he looked like crap. He did. He couldn't complete a 5-yard hitch route, couldn't complete an out 14 P a g e

15 cut, because he was just coming off his broken leg [which he sustained late last year with Houston]. So I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this guy is bad. He needs to hang it up.' "I'm being honest, man. It didn't look good. And then he got in shape. He was like 240 [pounds]. He got in shape. He got healthier. Our trainers got him right, and he's just been getting better every single week. It's not really about how talented he is, or his arm, and mentally. It's really about chemistry, and all of the guys are gelling together well." Saturday wasn't one of Fitzpatrick's best games. He finished with an 87.4 quarterback rating, and had one touchdown pass and one interception. Just four times this season has Fitzpatrick recorded a lower rating. But he led the Jets to a 70-yard touchdown drive and a 58-yard field goal drive on their final two possessions first taking a lead, and then going up 19-16, right after Dallas tied the game. The Jets had just those two drives during the fourth quarter, and Fitzpatrick's numbers were astounding in the quarter: 10-of-12 passing for 132 yards, one touchdown, no picks, and a rating. And that's how the Jets won their fourth straight game, for the first time since 2010, to improve to 9-5. "It's all about adjustments and he does that well," Marshall said. "He sees the game well, and he communicates with us well." Fitzpatrick, in his 11th season and with his sixth team, is chipping away at the perception of him as a limited journeyman quarterback. Even on a somewhat sluggish night, like Saturday, he is managing to find ways to win, and to inch closer toward his first ever playoff appearance. The Jets acquired him to back up Geno Smith, but Fitzpatrick has already shown, and continues to show, that he's plenty capable of steering a playoff contender. He has led two fourth quarter comeback victories in the Jets' past three games first over the Giants, and then Saturday night in Dallas. "I don't think it matters what people outside of our locker room think," Marshall said. "That's the perception. Sometimes, guys aren't in the right places, having the right guys around them, a defense on the other side. It's a lot that goes into this game. He's had some good receivers, but it may be that this is the perfect timing." How Jets' huge catches by Kenbrell Thompkins, Quincy Enunwa helped beat Dallas Cowboys (Darryl Slater) NJ Advance Media December 20, l#incart_river_index ARLINGTON, Texas Kenbrell Thompkins liked what he saw. The Jets wide receiver, a low-profile part of their offense, noticed a vulnerability in cornerback Byron Jones when the Cowboys went with a Cover 2 zone defense on Saturday night. So Thompkins spoke up. "If this look comes again, just don't fall asleep on it," he told quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Sure enough, in a 16-all game with 1:01 remaining, the Cowboys showed a Cover 2 look as the Jets lined up for first-and-10 on their own 31-yard line. 15 P a g e

16 Thompkins aligned to Fitzpatrick's right, near the sideline. Thompkins beat Jones a free safety playing corner because Morris Claiborne was injured down the sideline and caught a 43-yard deep ball. It set up the game-winning, 40-yard field goal in a victory that kept their playoff hopes alive and well. "I guess on that play, he was wide awake," Thompkins said of Fitzpatrick. "I thought we had that look the whole game. Every time we were in that situation, they were rolling to Cover 2 a lot. In Cover 2, corners actually get a little lazy sometimes. Like I told Fitz earlier in the ball game, I thought we had that look." Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker naturally get most of the attention as the Jets' top two receivers. But it was two complementary receivers, Thompkins and Quincy Enunwa, who made huge catches in Saturday's fourth quarter. On the drive before Thompkins' catch, the Jets scored a touchdown to go up The key play was Enunwa's 24-yard grab on third-and-14 from the Dallas 27. While Enunwa entered the game with 15 catches for 192 yards this season, Thompkins had 11 catches for 88 yards before Saturday. He is now known for making one of the most important catches in the Jets' season. But some Jets fans might not have even known him, period, before Saturday. The Jets signed Thompkins, a third-year pro, to their practice squad in early October, shortly after the Patriots cut him from their squad. Later in October, Thompkins was promoted to the Jets' active roster. (The Jets just so happen to host the Patriots next week, in yet another huge game for their playoff hopes.) Before Saturday, Thompkins had been inactive for four games and played in four others since the Jets bumped him up to the active roster. He had been inactive in three of the previous four games. You can be forgiven for having forgotten him. Here's what Jets coach Todd Bowles saw on Thompkins' play: "Decker went underneath, and it was going to go there. We thought they'd be in Cover 2. The corner kind of squatted a little bit, and Fitz saw it. He's a heady guy." Fitzpatrick praised Thompkins' observational skills for making the play happen. "We talked about it earlier in the game," Fitzpatrick said. "He came up to me again just a smart football player and said, 'Hey, versus this particular coverage, I can get down the sideline.' We called a play, got the coverage. Really, I don't know if I've ever thrown that one to him before, but it was just kind of a trust throw. Had to get rid of it. He made a great play." Even though Thompkins' catch will correctly get a lot of praise, it was the Enunwa grab that Fitzpatrick and Marshall both singled out as "the play of the game." If not for that catch, the Jets maybe would've settled for a field goal and they still would've trailed if they had to do that. Instead, they went up 16-13, on a Decker 3-yard touchdown catch two plays after Enunwa's grab. "[Fitzpatrick] found a way to make a play," Bowles said of Fitzpatrick hitting Enunwa. "He's been doing it all year, and he did it again." But Fitzpatrick sent all the accolades Enunwa's way. "It was kind of a little bit of a broken down play, where I started moving up in the pocket," Fitzpatrick said. "He did a great job of getting in between the linebackers, under the mike [middle linebacker], over the will [weak-side linebacker]. It was a horrible pass. It was like end over end. He made a great catch. The safety and the mike were right there." 16 P a g e

17 After a game in which Marshall and Decker were again the Jets' leading receivers, with 74 and 55 yards, Marshall credited two lesser-known targets for their work. "Those guys came through, man," he said. "Sometimes we may need them. It may just be one play. We talk about that all the time." Why these surging Jets remind Calvin Pace of 2009 team that made AFC Championship Game (Darryl Slater) NJ Advance Media December 20, #incart_river_index ARLINGTON, Texas Calvin Pace is usually not shall we say one of the Jets' bubblier players. It takes a lot to impress the 35-year-old strong-side linebacker, now in his 13th NFL season. So it stood out when Pace cheerfully held court with reporters for about 10 minutes Saturday night after the Jets' comeback victory at Dallas. The Jets trailed 13-9 entering the fourth quarter. They responded with a 70-yard touchdown drive. The game was tied after the Cowboys got a 50-yard field goal with 1:55 remaining. The Jets answered that 58- yard field goal drive to win the game, on Randy Bullock's 40-yard kick with 36 seconds left. That's four straight victories now for the Jets, with two fourth quarterback comebacks. They did it two games ago against the Giants, and they did it again Saturday in Dallas. They have won four in a row for the first time since 2010, when they last made the playoffs. Late Saturday night, Pace said this team reminds him of the 2009 Jets. That was Pace's second year with the organization, and the Jets made their first of two straight AFC Championship Game appearances. "In 2009, we had two three-game losing streaks," Pace said. "People left us for dead." He's right. The Jets were 4-6 after their second three-game losing streak. They had lost six of seven games. They responded by closing the year 5-1. This year, the Jets hit a 1-4 midseason slide, and were 5-5 before the current four-game winning streak. They're 9-5, in the thick of the AFC wild card hunt. "I remember that season, [coach] Rex [Ryan], he didn't have to say a lot," Pace said, spilling his memories of "We got tighter. Sometimes, as players, you can talk and you can give all these rah-rah speeches. But if you get tighter, you start hanging out with one another, you start talking more, you start watching film together, you start eating lunch, just talking things out, to where coaches are only going to give you so much. They're not out there playing. "You talk your way through things, and you just become a tighter band of players, so when you do get in situations like this where somebody has to make a play, it happens." Saturday's two huge late-game catches were made by complementary receivers. On the 70-yard touchdown drive, Quincy Enunwa caught a 24-yard pass on third-and-14 from the Cowboys' 27-yard line. On the game-winning field goal drove, Kenbrell Thompkins caught a 43-yard deep pass that moved the Jets to the 26. Pace said he's long felt something special about this team. 17 P a g e