ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The message to the Jets is a simple one:
DO NOT LOSE THIS GAME.
If they are the team they believe they are, if they are the team they say they are, if they are a playoff team, they will not lose this game.
The Jets are the better team and they are the healthier team, and anything short of walking out of New Era Stadium with a victory over Rex Ryan’s Bills is unacceptable and inexcusable.
What better stage than Thursday Night Football to impose your will on a team that has dominated you and shattered your playoff dream here on the last Sunday of the 2015 season?
Ryan doesn’t have defensive tackle Marcell Dareus or left tackle Cordy Glenn, and he has a diminished Sammy Watkins and a quarterback who looked in over his head against the Ravens.
DO NOT LOSE THIS GAME.
Because 0-2 would mean crisis staring at the murderous schedule that immediately looms.
“From last year we lost against them twice, we should have a chip on our shoulder,” Jets linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin told The Post. “We want to go in and be able to make a statement and say that, ‘Since we lost our last game, forget it and move on.’ It’s a quick turnaround but hey, we should be able to play under pressure.”
This is a bounce-back game for Brandon Marshall, Darrelle Revis and Nick Folk — a trio of old pros — and it is a payback game for Ryan Fitzpatrick, who as the $12 million man cannot afford to be throwing three interceptions in any fourth quarter against Ryan’s Bills, much less anyone else again, and shows up this time with a check-down weapon in Matt Forte.
It is a referendum on Todd Bowles’ ability to weather an unexpected early storm and steer the ship through the choppy waters.
Revis was asked why he thinks this is a playoff team.
“We have a lot of experience, I feel,” Revis said. “This is Todd’s second year. I think we’re a little bit more aware of the mistakes we made last year to try to correct them this year. And I think we’re a little bit smarter as a ballclub.”
Can this be a Super Bowl-contending team?
“The one thing I can say is I’ve been there,” Revis said. “During the year that you do go, you get stronger as a team. You get stronger later on, down the road. Every week is a battle. Every week is a fight. And you get better as a team, and you want to be playing your best ball later in the year.
“So, this is the beginning of what we want our outcome to be, and our outcome can be a lot of great things for us heading down the tunnel, and we just got to continue to fight, to claw, and keep on trying to get better at all areas of the team.”
The one area that gets better immediately is the defensive line, because Sheldon Richardson returns following his one-game suspension. Leonard Williams (2.5 sacks) appears primed to make a monstrous leap in his sophomore season.
“The sky’s the limit … not even that, the sky isn’t the limit. This guy can make himself a Pro Bowler for years to come if he continues to do what he’s been doing,” Mauldin said. “He’s relentless to the ball. He knows how to get to the ball.”
Revis laughed when asked what Williams’ ceiling can be.
“There’s no ceiling, meaning the sky is the limit,” Revis said. “He’s definitely taken the league by storm and he’s gonna continue to do that.”
They call him Leo in the Jets locker room.
“He has the size, he has the speed, he’s very elusive, and I think also he’s a very intelligent football player,” Revis said.
The defensive game plan: Gang up on LeSean McCoy and keep Tyrod Taylor in the pocket and make him beat you.
“We want to make him throw the ball instead of winning with his feet,” Mauldin said.
Mauldin has bulked up nearly 10 pounds at his outside linebacker spot and is poised for his own breakthrough.
“I feel like I’ve grown mentally and physically,” Mauldin said.
The Jets are a Win Now team.
WIN NOW.
DO NOT LOSE THIS GAME.