#Jets can use Bills rematch to spark future ambitions

Sunday marks the end for the Jets, who hope it’s just the beginning. 

When the Jets play the Bills in Orchard Park, it will be their 17th and final game of the 2021 season. A game like this for a team with no playoffs for which to compete often means players meekly playing out the string with their bags already packed for offseason destinations. 

But, for a 4-12 team playing a season finale in frigid Western New York and no postseason hopes, there’s more than a touch of added spice to this game for the Jets. 

They’re not the Dead Team Walking they were a year ago, when they closed the season knowing head coach Adam Gase was about to be fired and quarterback Sam Darnold was about to be jettisoned. 

The Jets believe they’re a team on the rise, and they’d like nothing more than to alter the playoff path of the Bills, who on Nov. 14 waxed them 45-17 at MetLife Stadium while amassing 489 yards of offense and forcing five turnovers on defense. 

A Buffalo win would clinch the AFC East title and guarantee the Bills at least one home playoff game. A loss could send them into the playoffs as a wild-card team playing on the road. 

“Redemption is definitely in our hearts,’’ Jets defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins said. “It’s definitely a good test for us to go out there and show the growth we’ve made.’’ 

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, whose unit was embarrassed by the Bills in the teams’ first meeting, recalled of that humiliating day: “When a team has a comfortable lead on you and they keep throwing the ball deep on you, that leaves a mark, that leaves an impression.’’ 

Head coach Robert Saleh has talked for the past month about the importance of December football, how different it is and how critical it can be for young players to get a feel for it. 

Saleh’s hope is that, after this season is complete, the next time his team is playing in December it will be in games with postseason implications. Knowing that wasn’t possible this season, Saleh made it a mini-goal for his players to soak in the added pressure and intensity that December brings. 

Sunday at Highmark Stadium will represent the closest thing Saleh’s Jets can get — in atmosphere at least — to the kind of games they hope to be playing a year from now. 

“We’ve talked about December football … and this is the first stadium we’re actually going into that’s going to feel that way,’’ Saleh said. “Buffalo is playing for a division Jets can use Bills rematch to spark future ambitions, it’s going to be sold out, it’s going to be loud, it’s going to be cold. It’s going to be everything you dream of as a kid in terms of going into a stadium and it just being as live and as juiced up as it’s going to be, and we’re going to get their absolute best shot. 

“We got to give it right back to them, we got to make them earn it. It’s just a really cool opportunity for us to go in there and feel the energy, feel the juice, feel the urgency at which they’re going to play. It’s a tremendous opportunity to grow a lot in this moment, and it’s something that I’m really looking forward to our guys answering the bell on.’’ 

The Jets are coming off a game in which they squandered an opportunity to knock off the defending Super Bowl champions, letting Tom Brady and the Buccaneers drive down the field for the winning touchdown in the final seconds. 

That game was a pretty good measuring stick for how far this team has come despite its youth, inexperience and long list of injuries to key players. Sunday at Buffalo will present a similar opportunity. 

“To me, it’s like the ultimate measuring stick of where we are, how far we’ve come,’’ Ulbrich said. “We always know to be a playoff contender in this league you have to own your division and you have to create an impression and you got to dominate your division opponents. So, part of [that] is to let this division know it’s not the same old Jets team that they’ve been accustomed to.’’ 

The Jets have a way to go before they’re authorized to remove the “same old’’ before their name. They’re 0-11 against division opponents in the past two seasons. Their last victory against an AFC East foe came in a 13-6 victory at Buffalo in the 2019 season finale. 

Making that number 1-11 would do wonders for this team, even though it won’t result in a playoff berth. And doing it against a Bills team that had its way with the Jets two months ago would add to the juice. 

“I think that’s just going to [accelerate] the growth of this team,’’ special teams coach Brant Boyer said. 

The Jets need as much acceleration as possible. It’s time to start winning.