(
)
BUFFALO — Remember September?
Remember Jets 48, Bills 28, in that glorious 2012 season opener at MetLife Stadium with the home crowd alive and buzzing with optimism and hope for a special season?
There seemed to be so much promise sure to follow for the Jets that day. Sixteen weeks later, as it would turn out, not so much.
Today’s finale for the 6-9 Jets against the 5-10 Bills in Buffalo is a painful reminder of how much of a mirage that season-opening victory was. We thought not only that the Jets were quite good but that it was a quality win over a good opponent.
Wrong and wrong.
Mark Sanchez played his best game of the season that day, completing 19 of 27 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns.
Rookie receiver Stephen Hill, who dropped more passes in preseason than AT&T wireless drops cell phone calls in an hour, caught five passes for 89 yards and two touchdowns.
In the weeks to follow, Sanchez would regress to the point where he was benched and Hill would fade to the point where he became virtually invisible.
Sanchez, who starts today because third-stringer Greg McElroy turned up with a concussion after being sacked 11 times last week (go figure) and the coaching staff apparently is afraid of Tim Tebow, has thrown only 10 touchdown passes in his 13 other starts since that opener against the Bills.
He also has been an ATM machine for opposing defenses, doling out turnovers like $100 bills (17 interceptions and seven lost fumbles).
Hill, who was placed on injured reserve last week with a knee injury, caught just 16 passes for 162 yards and one more TD after that opener against the Bills. That’s one game’s work for some of the NFL’s elite receivers.
The funniest thing about that Jets rout of the Bills in September? Tebow rushed just five times on vanilla plays out of the Wildcat and we were all sold on the fact the Jets did not need to unveil any of their complex stuff with him because the game was a blowout (they were up 41-7 in the third quarter).
Entering today’s game, only four teams in the NFL have scored fewer points than the 272 scored by the Jets — the Chiefs, Jaguars, Raiders and Cardinals — and their combined record is 13-47.
You get the point, even if the Jets don’t.
Who possibly could have thought the season would go so wrong for the Jets after that successful season opener — a game in which the Jets scored four offensive touchdowns after not having scored a single one in the preseason?
“That feels like two seasons ago,’’ said tight end Dustin Keller, whose season has been sabotaged by an ankle injury that looks as though it will keep him out of today’s game (possibly his last as a Jet, since he’s a free agent).
“We felt like we were firing on all cylinders that game — especially after all the heat we took over the preseason,’’ left guard Matt Slauson recalled.
“We felt really confident coming out of that game,’’ defensive tackle Mike DeVito said. “Any time you start off the season like that you’re always confident.’’
That confidence has morphed into uncertainty throughout the organization, which has become an embarrassing mess in the three-plus months since the opener.
So, 16 weeks after it looked as if the Jets were on their way to a big season following that rout of the Bills at MetLife Stadium, how do they handle today’s garbage-time game, one with no playoff implications?
“You’ve got to play for pride,’’ Slauson said. “And, I’m interviewing, so it’s pretty easy to get jacked up when you know that you’re not just playing for your brothers on the team but you’re playing for your future. I don’t know what the future holds, so I’m interviewing for this place and I’m interviewing for 31 other teams.’’
That can be said of just about everyone playing and coaching in this game for the Jets, because here is one guarantee not even coach Rex Ryan can get wrong: There will be changes made to this flawed team almost as soon as today’s game ends, and they quite possibly will be rampant.
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com