With 90 seconds left to play, the ball near midfield, and his team clinging desperately to a 14-12 lead, Vinny Testaverde made the play of the game for the Jets: He fell down. That is, he slid to the turf to avoid being hit by a Tampa Bay linebacker and thus kept the clock running.

If you didn’t see the play, it sure doesn’t sound heroic; in fact, since Testaverde lost a couple of yards, it went down in the books as a sack for Tampa Bay. Nevertheless, it was smart football, and it showed the Jets how important it can sometimes be to simply not do the wrong thing. An inexperienced quarterback eager to “make something happen” might have forced the ball downfield and stopped the clock.

The play came on third-and-nine. Testaverde, who was never Michael Vick even back when he had two good knees, rolled out to pass – or not. In a similar situation earlier in the game, just before the end of the first half, Vinny had thrown deep from near the midfield stripe, and the ball was picked off. It was no disaster. Since the Bucs took possession on their own 13-yard line, the pass was as good as a punt. And the way the Jets offense is performing these days, a punt is just about their best offensive weapon.

But if Testaverde had thrown that deep ball late in the fourth quarter, the Bucs would likely have let the ball hit the turf, giving them, in effect, a free time out and an extra 30-40 seconds for the offense to move into position for a winning field goal. As time ran out for Tampa Bay with Joey Galloway clutching the ball on the Jets 36-yard line, it was clear how close the Jets had come to a loss that, for all intents and purposes, would have ended their season.

As it stands, there isn’t a great deal of reason for fans to be optimistic, but at least the Jets will have a chance to turn the season around when they travel to Buffalo to meet a mediocre Bills squad next Sunday. They’ll have a great deal more than that if offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger can improve the blocking schemes around Testaverde and the Jets can find a pass rusher to take some heat off John Abraham – or at least an official with enough guts to call holding on half the plays on which Abraham has an opposing player hanging from his neck.

Tampa Bay went into this game with the league’s top-ranked defense, but their defensive players didn’t tackle with nearly as much vigor as their offensive linemen tackled Abraham. The Bucs were called for one hold on Abraham yesterday, but I counted at least six other plays when he was blatantly held or whacked from behind when the officials’ backs were turned.

Abraham is fast becoming the Reggie White of the new century, the man opposing blockers have no choice but to hold. The holding combined with merciless double-teaming did leave some blocking holes for the Jets to exploit, and defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson did, sacking Bucs quarterback Brian Griese twice for 13 yards in losses.

That won’t be enough, though, if the Jets are going to play so conservatively on offense – and they probably will, if only for the absolute necessity of keeping Testaverde standing upright. It won’t be enough for the defense to simply contain opposing offenses. They’re going to have to attack, force turnovers, and create more scoring opportunities than they did yesterday.

But the way they played wasn’t bad. The best part of the Jets’ defensive game plan was to leave cornerback Ty Law, the team’s second-best player, one=-n-one with Tampa Bay’s best (and only) deep threat, Joey Galloway. (Galloway caught five passes for 87 yards, but it took at least 12 of Griese’s throws to get the ball to him those five times. He had one catch for 26 yards and no other catch for more than 18.) This left the Jets safeties, Erik Coleman and Oliver Celestin, free to roam, and they very nearly shut down the Bucs passing attack, breaking up 14 throws and nearly intercepting three.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay’s running game went nowhere, netting just 84 yards on 26 tries. The Jets were even worse: For the fifth straight week they couldn’t average even three yards per carry, and it’s looking as if someone is going to have to be found to spell poor Curtis Martin, who is attracting crowds faster than Angelina Jolie. He was hit by at least two Bucs in the backfield five times, and on one of those plays he wasn’t even given the ball. (Whoever the backup is, it won’t be Derrick Blaylock, who broke his foot in the game and is likely out for the season.) With Martin stifled, the Jets had no offense at all in the first half, as Testaverde completed two of five passes for 36 yards.

In the second half, though, the Jets worked both Laveranues Coles and second-team tight end Doug Jolley into the game plan. Together, they caught eight balls during the final two quarters for 124 yards, and between the two of them, constantly seemed ready to break the game open for the Jets. Of course, “breaking open” in this case just means getting one extra touchdown, and the Jets were never quite able to pull that off. But a 10-play, 59-yard drive in the third quarter which ate up nearly six minutes was enough – just enough. New York’s half time adjustments were dramatic: Testaverde hit on 11 of 14 passes for 127 yards. The downside is that on five of those 14 throws he was hit hard.

Next week in Buffalo, with Vinny more comfortable in Heimerdinger’s vertical passing scheme (and with an arm much more suited for it than Chad Pennington’s) look for the Jets to open up early and spend the second half defending a lead instead of scratching to get one.

Mr. Barra is the author of “The Last Coach: A Life of Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant.”