ORCHARD PARK, New York (Ticker) -- The Buffalo Bills and New York Jets both had their seasons on the line but only one team played like it.
Travis Henry ran for a career-high 169 yards and the Bills defense put forth a dominant effort in a 17-6 victory over the Jets.
Buffalo (6-7) moved one game ahead of New York for third place in the AFC East. Both teams are still mathematically alive in the playoff hunt, but the Jets (5-8) were dealt a major setback against the Bills, who won for just the fourth time in the last 12 games between the teams.
"You have to be hungry," said Buffalo defensive tackle Sam Adams, who had seven tackles, including two sacks. "We have three ball games left, we have to win all three to get into the playoffs."
Henry exploited the third-worst rushing defense in the league, eclipsing his previous career high of 167 set against Washington on October 19. He ran 32 times, including a four-yard touchdown run, that gave Buffalo a 14-3 lead early in the third quarter.
"We came out and played great," he said. "The offensive line was unbelievable today. We ran the ball up the middle, there were lots of lanes to run through. It's December, that's when you're supposed to run the ball and we did great today."
With his fifth 100-yard game of the season, Henry eclipsed 1,000 for the second straight season. He is the fourth player in team history to rush for 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons.
"That was the formula that we talked about in training camp," said Buffalo quarterback Drew Bledsoe. "That is the way we would like to play. We like to have that power running game, play great defense, play good field position with the football and let Travis Henry do the work."
While the Jets' defense struggled, the Bills recorded five sacks and allowed just 188 yards, including only 53 in the second half.
"They were rushing pretty good off the edges," New York coach Herman Edwards said. "They did a good job on defense. We could never slow them down. We didn't function real well on offense."
New York's Chad Pennington completed only 15-of-29 passes for 155 yards - his lowest total as a starter. He did not throw a touchdown for the first time in 18 career starts.
The game was a complete reversal of the first meeting between the teams, when the Jets had seven sacks and limited Henry to only 53 yards on 18 carries.
New York's Curtis Martin ran for 85 yards, moving past O.J. Simpson for 12th place on the all-time list with 11,314.
"I don't care about that right now," he said. "It doesn't have any significance in this season. Right now, our season isn't where we wanted it to be. Today we went there and got our butts kicked, period. I kind of feel like they played the way we intended to play."
