EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Paul Posluszny stood in front of his locker in the bowels of Giants Stadium, a weary, exhilarated warrior. When someone mentioned the Jets' running statistics, he was incredulous, like just about everyone who watched that bizarre game Sunday.

"Was it 300?" Poz exclaimed. "Wow. That might be a first. Yeah, that has to be a first for

me."

Actually, the Jets had 318 yards on the ground. They averaged 8 yards a carry. Thomas Jones

rushed for 210 yards. Jones had a career-high run of 64 yards. Then he topped it on his next rush, when he dashed for a 71-yard touchdown against a staggering and wounded Buffalo

defense midway through the second quarter.

At that point, it was 13-3, Jets, and you figured the Bills were about ready to pack it in.

They were playing poorly, and playing hurt, and it would have been perfectly understandable if

they had given in to circumstances and mailed this one in.

But something odd happened. The Bills' defense kept coming. They didn't allow the Jets to

score again. They intercepted six passes, five against bewildered rookie quarterback Mark

Sanchez. The Jets left the game for the taking, and the Bills finally won it, 16-13, on an

overtime field goal by Rian Lindell.

It was not pretty, by any means. This win was as unsightly as Posluszny's left arm, which

was a mosaic of scratches, welts and scars from the two broken bones he has suffered since

coming to Buffalo — the last one in the opener at New England.

But a win is a win. When you haven't won an AFC East game in well over a year, when you're

on a three-game losing streak and fans are putting billboards on the side of the road asking

for your coach's job, any win is a thing of beauty.

"I can't say enough about that group of guys," said coach Dick Jauron. "They won't quit no matter what happens. They keep coming, and they kept coming. Our defense was certainly

terrific, in every area except the run."

That's no small consideration, of course. If you can't stop the run, you're not going to

win many games in the NFL. The Bills have allowed 961 yards rushing in their last four games.

It's a very big problem, one they need to address in a hurry if they expect to make a serious

run at .500 this year.

But they're 2-4, only a game back of the reeling Jets, and they can enjoy this one for a

day or so. This win proves very little. Jauron is fortunate that they pulled it out, because

he did a shoddy job of getting them into field goal range at the end of regulation, playing it

conservatively and leaving Lindell a difficult 46-yarder into the wind.

In some ways, it was reminiscent of their last road win, last December in Denver, when the

Bills were soundly outgained and managed to steal a win from a sloppy Broncos team that was

falling apart at the seams.

This one says more about the Jets than the Bills. After a 3-0 start, they have lost three

in a row. It's becoming clear that while Sanchez is being paid like a franchise quarterback,

he is a long way from justifying it. He was awful Sunday. As improbable as it sounds, he was

even worse than Cleveland's Derek Anderson the week before.

After three weeks, Rex Ryan looked like the Coach of the Year. Now he's a coach with a

dilemma. Does he stick with Sanchez, who is in full crisis? The Jets are not a playoff team

with this kid at quarterback, not this year.

Ryan Fitzpatrick didn't exactly bring back memories of Frank Reich when he came in for

Trent Edwards. But he was better than Sanchez. At least he completed one big throw,

finding Lee Evans on a slant for a 37-yard touchdown that tied the game late in the third

quarter.

Fitzpatrick hit Evans on the move, in full stride. It was a play we haven't seen in quite

some time. It had been at least a year since Evans caught a pass of 35 yards or more that

wasn't a bomb. I'm not looking to create any quarterback controversies, but once his head

clears, Edwards might want to review the throw.

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This one, though, was about the defense. The jury is still out on Posluszny. He seems too

slow at times to be a top-flight linebacker. But the defense functions more efficiently when

he's in the middle, calling signals. It surely had to lift his teammates when he returned

early from his broken arm in a time of crisis.

"I don't know how well you know him, but Paul loves football," Jauron said. "He's a

great, great teammate. So it's always about the team. His return was about the team. He's very

much in control of what we do, getting guys lined up. It gives everybody confidence when he's

on the field."

Knowing what a team player Poz is, you wondered if he might be rushing back too soon. Early

in the game, he was seen wincing and holding his left arm after a play. It looked as if he'd

hurt the arm again.

"No, it's good," he said. "The arm felt great. I took a good shot on it early in the game

and there were no effects. It was a huge confidence-booster for me. I was worried mentally

more than anything else. No effects. It was huge. I'm glad that happened early on."

It was a painful first half for the entire defense. But Poz and the guys shook it off. It

had to be reassuring to see the Jets throwing with a lead, as if they figured the game was in

the bag and were trying to boost Sanchez's flagging confidence. Once the Bills got back in the

game, you could sense the Jets pressing in front of their unhappy home fans.

Sanchez's last mistake was the fatal one. On third-and-10 from the Jets' 46, he threw a

pass for Braylon Edwards and it went right at Posluszny, who picked if off at his 42. Finally,

the Bills decided someone might as well win this game. They drove down and won on Lindell's

kick.

"I caught that one with my chest," Poz said with a laugh. "I have to work on my hands.

[Sanchez] was under stress all day long. I read his eyes and made a break on the ball. Our

D-line made him move around the pocket a lot. He was in a lot of uncomfortable situations.

"We felt coming in that we had to get after Sanchez to win the game. He's not a veteran

quarterback, and we felt we could take advantage of the situation. We felt we had to get him

rattled and get some hits on him, just make him uncomfortable in the pocket."

They got six interceptions. Posluszny held out his two hands, palms up, and moved them up

and down, as if to suggest the picks offset all the rushing yards. Still, he seemed distressed

about the 318 yards rushing. He's a middle linebacker, and that's simply unacceptable. But it

was a win, and he'll take it. They'll all take it.