After upset of Bills, Jets eye revenge against Patriots: ‘I can’t wait to go against them again’

D.J. Reed just finished helping the Jets pull off one of the biggest upsets of the NFL season. And the locker room was still buzzing after the 20-17 win over the Bills. And Reed could have been savoring the moment, or looking forward to the upcoming weekend off with the Jets’ bye finally at hand.

Instead, Reed’s face lit up when he was asked about the Jets’ next opponent: they travel to Foxborough to face the Patriots in two weeks.

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“Yeah,” Reed said, when asked if he was excited about the chance to play the Patriots, grinning for emphasis and then doing it again as he repeated his answer. “Yeah. Exciting. I’m very happy about that. I think everybody is.”

The Jets win over the Bills might have turned a lot of doubters into believers outside the building. But inside of it was no surprise. They thought they were going to win, and they did. What they were more surprised about and upset about, is the way they played against the Patriots when they had a chance to snap a 12-game losing streak to their most hated divisional rival, and let it slip away with mistakes in all three phases of the ball.

The end result was a 22-17 loss and the Patriots’ 13th straight win over the Jets, who don’t have a win over the Patriots since December 2015.

Jets fans are obviously desperate to break the streak. But even guys who haven’t been here for long have it at the top of their minds moving forward.

When asked what he works on during the week, star rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner brought up the loss to the Patriots on his own.

“I always feel like I got a lot of stuff to work on, that’s why I’ve been able to play well, ” Gardner said. “But it took me a little minute to bounce back from that game last [week]. Because I’m like, ‘Ain’t no way we lost that game.’ It took me until Wednesday, when we had a practice, to be like, ‘Alright, last week’s behind us, we’ve got a great group of receivers that I’ve got to go against.’”

Gardner was able to dial in just fine. He got burned by Bills star Stefon Diggs early in the game, but rebounded to make several key plays, including a game-changing interception in the third quarter and the game-sealing pass breakup, securing the Jets’ fifth win in their last six games.

But Gardner, much like Reed, says he’s thinking a lot more about the Jets’ next challenge than the off-weekend ahead.

“Man, it defintely is [something I’m looking forward to],” Gardner said. “I was telling myself, ‘I can’t wait to go against them again.’ But I can’t wait for the bye week as well. I need that.”

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And when Gardner and the Jets return, the stakes will be quite high: A win over the Patriots (4-4) would give the Jets wins over all three teams in the division – after going three two straight seasons without a single win against a divisional opponent – and put them in position to potentially win the division for the first time since 2002.

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Andy Vasquez may be reached at avasquez@njadvancemedia.com.

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