The Jets achieved a whole new level of humiliation against the Bills

It’s been an ugly week of football in the NFL. From Thursday through the end of the early games on Sunday, only one contest finished within a double-digit margin of victory. But there was one team that went above and beyond, the same team that first made Rex Ryan a head coach, chased away a grown man in a fireman’s hat and gave us the Butt Fumble.

In a week of terrible football, the New York Jets plumbed the depths of sports humiliation with a 41-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Let’s delve into this great moment in competitive degradation from the New York Football Jets.

They made a QB off the street look like Peyton Manning

Matt Barkley wasn’t in the NFL last week, or all of last season. He hasn’t played since Jan. 1, 2017. It took him one — one game! — to claim the top spot on the Bills’ leaderboard with three passing touchdowns. It was the first time in a month since a Bills quarterback threw a touchdown pass, Nathan Peterman in a Week 6 loss to the Texans.

All he needed was a trip to New Jack City. Where is that, you ask? It was supposed to be a shining city on a hill, a place where quarterbacks were every quarterback would magically be transformed into Peterman.

Instead, New Jack City — the fantasy land nickname the Jets secondary gave themselves back in August — looks more like New York City, 1977, a flaming garbage pile marked by disco beats and apathy.

“Each and every game we got to go make a statement,” is how Morris Claiborne described it then, when the Jets secondary looked like it might actually be the team’s strength. They made a statement this week, alright — “we quit.”

Before this week, Jets quarterbacks had a grand total of three touchdowns, 16 picks, a 55 percent completion rate, a 51.5 passer rating and 1,593 yards.

Today, against the Jets, Barkley finished with 232 yards, two touchdowns and a 117.4 passer rating.

But Barkley wasn’t the only one looking like the ‘07 Patriots in this game.

Everyone was an offensive superstar against the Jets

Zay Jones had 93 yards and a touchdown, the best game of his career.

Someone named Robert Foster had two catches for 30 yards this season. He had three catches for 105 yards this week.

LeSean McCoy hadn’t rushed for more than 85 yards since Week 13 last year. He had 113 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Even the big men got in the on the action, with offensive tackle Dion Dawkins catching a touchdown pass to give the Bills their first passing TD since Week 6.

Those Jets turnovers

After Sam Darnold’s four-interception loss to the Dolphins last week, it seemed like the Jets might actually be a little less turnover prone this week with career mentor Josh McCown filling in for the injured rookie. Nope.

But at least he only had two picks. That’s really kind of a win for the Jets. Keep building, Gang Green!

Comedy hijinks, play after play!

What’s worse than getting one holding penalty on a play? Getting two holding penalties on the same play. What’s worse than two holding penalties on the same play? How about THREE? Three holding penalties on the same play.

That happened. At 4:33 in the second quarter.

NYJ-1-10-BUF 37: E.McGuire right end pushed ob at BUF 19 for 18 yards (L.Wallace). PENALTY on NYJ-J.Leggett, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at BUF 37 - No Play. Penalty on NYJ-K.Beachum, Offensive Holding, declined. Penalty on NYJ-J.Kearse, Offensive Holding, declined.

And just to put the chef kiss on the whole thing, the Jets threw an interception the play after that.

The Bills scored on the ensuing drive to take a 31-0 lead.

Thirty-one points. In the first half. The Bills scored a total of 33 points in their last four games.

But wait, it gets better.

Gutsy decisions

There’s just no quit in these Jets. No, siree. I’m not sure what head coach Todd Bowles said to his team at half time, but I think it probably went something like this:

“Please clap.”

They scored a touchdown halfway through the third quarter to pull within (counting) ... 21 points!

Then, after another Bills touchdown, the Jets had the ball on their own 40 on a fourth-and-9 when they punted. You hate to see a team punt on fourth down trailing like that, but it was either that or another easy score for the Bills.

Sometimes knowing when to just slap a tourniquet on there instead of reattaching the missing limb is really the best decision.

A new low for a team with lots of lows

That was the Jets’ worst loss under head coach Todd Bowles, who’s now 23-25 since taking the job in 2015. But it wasn’t just the worst loss of Bowles’ tenure, it was the worst loss in the team’s history. And this is a team with a real knack for humiliation.

Is Todd Bowles going to get fired now?

Maybe! The team’s owner, Chris Johnson, wouldn’t talk to reporters after the game, and they were eager to ask if this was it for the embattled head coach. That’s probably not a great sign.

The players weren’t blaming their coach.

And fans have PLENTY to say, none of it good. They are done with Bowles over at Gang Green Nation, SB Nation’s Jets site.

The Jets have a bye next week, so if they’re going to do it during the season, this is probably the time.

Damn, what a tough week for Todd Bowles. It wasn’t even his only loss this week:

You can’t just blame it all on Bowles either. After all, the Jets spent $90 million on contracts for new players this season, and, well, you’ve seen the results.

More from GGN:

For whatever reason, there seems to be less clarity on the status of general manager Mike Maccagnan. This game started off with their highest paid player getting toasted in coverage by a practice squad guy. Throughout the game, we watched the team he assembled fail time after team, as it has for most of his tenure. The offensive line was an autobahn to the backfield. The secondary was shredded by the aforementioned poor quarterback.

Oh, he ought to get das boot too, the general manager, once the season ends.

The downside is that it puts everything back to square one for the team, and leaves the Jets winless at rebuilding too.

Even with a new coach next week or next season, this chapter in the long-running story of Jets humiliation will have passed, but I have a sneaky feeling we’re not that far away from another one.