Bills Nearly Out of Super Bowl Race : AFC: Hopes of returning a fifth time are dim after 22-17 loss to Jets.

In the past, Thurman Thomas did not allow the ball to be knocked loose.

Don Beebe did not get knocked cold.

Jim Kelly did not knock on his helmet and scream into the night.

In the past, when the Buffalo Bills needed a last-second touchdown against a weakling team like the New York Jets, they simply rummaged through pockets bulging with experience and strength.

And somehow, they found it. They always found it.

But not Sunday. Maybe not this season.

In a game that looked and sounded like a concession speech, the four-time defending AFC champion Bills blew an 11-point lead and botched a last-minute drive Sunday in a 22-17 loss to the Jets.

Dropping to 5-4, facing five playoff contenders in their last seven games, the Bills have sent a message to those worried sick about another Bills-infested Super Bowl.

Don’t.

“Right now, you see everybody in this country starting to smile,” said linebacker Darryl Talley. “Everybody is happy because the Bills are out. The Bills are down.”

His words were echoed by others offering sad summaries of a season that is still seven weeks from completion.

In a locker room filled with yells and helmet slams, the only thing in shorter supply than inspiration was hope.

“Our backs aren’t against the wall,” Bills running back Thurman Thomas said. “Our backs are behind it.”

When the Bills looked for that winning touchdown this time, all they found was a handful of memories.

Beginning their final drive on the Jet 44-yard line with 3:12 remaining, the Bills slipped into the no-huddle offense that they had abandoned earlier. For an instant, it was the good old days.

Kelly avoided a sack and hit Thomas on an eight-yard pass. Thomas cut inside on two runs for a first down.

After another pass and a Jet penalty, the Bills had the ball on the Jet 30 with a minute left.

Next came three plays that have defined a season.

Thomas momentarily caught a pass for 15 yards over the middle, but dropped it when he was smacked by James Hasty.

One short run later, Beebe caught another pass over the middle but dropped it when he was whacked by Bobby Houston. Beebe was knocked unconscious for a few seconds before hobbling off the field with a concussion.

Then on fourth down from the 27, Kelly was chased by Jeff Lageman and rushed a pass, bouncing it behind Thomas to end the game.

And with it, the Bills’ incredible championship streak?

“In the past, we would have won that game,” said Bill center Kent Hull. “You are seeing the Buffalo Bills fall down a little bit.”

A little bit? They have already lost more games than they lost in two of their previous four Super Bowl seasons.

Falling into a second-place tie in the AFC East with the Jets, who swept their season series for the first time in eight years, the Bills have almost no chance of regaining the home-field advantage that helped them in previous postseasons.

“I’m sure a lot of people are going to count us out now,” Bill Coach Marv Levy acknowledged.

What happened? The Bills say it was inevitable, that while other teams have gotten younger and stronger through free agency, they have gotten older and thinner.

“Everybody has been spending three years trying to find ways to stop us,” Hull said. “Couple that with the fact that they have been picking people off our roster like Pro Bowl tackles and cornerbacks. . . . We can no longer just give a good effort and win.”

For the Jets and first-year Coach Pete Carroll, Sunday represented their best effort of the season, particularly with at least half their starters playing hurt.

“That was a heroic effort,” Carroll said.

The Bills were held to 95 yards in the second half, only 32 passing.

When the Bills were threatening to score at the end of the first half and regain an 11-point lead, linebacker Mo Lewis intercepted a pass from Kelly at the Jet 11.

When the Bills were threatening to take the lead in the middle of the fourth quarter, Donald Evans tipped a pass that forced them to settle for a field goal.

That left the rest to Boomer Esiason, who threw for 170 yards despite suffering a sprained ankle, and Rob Moore, who caught 87 yards worth of passes and scored the eventual winning touchdown pass on a five-yard toss from Esiason late in the third period.

“We’re like a fox, everybody always in the hunt for us,” said Buffalo’s Bruce Smith. “Bunch of dogs. Bunch of guys on horseback. Year after year after year.”

Is this what it sounds like when the fox gets caught?