ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Even Chris Ivory was at a loss to explain why he was mostly a bystander in the Jets’ offensive game plan on Sunday.
On a frigid, blustery day at Ralph Wilson Stadium seemingly perfect for Ivory’s power-running style, the Jets mysteriously left their leading rusher chained to the sideline for much of an agonizing, 22-17 loss to the Bills that eliminated Gang Green from playoff contention.
Ivory didn’t leave the bench at all in the first quarter and ended up carrying just six times for 81 yards as Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey decided to ride the little-used Stevan Ridley instead with third-down ace Bilal Powell inactive due to an ankle injury.
Ivory had been limited in practice all week by a knee injury, but he insisted afterward it wasn’t bad enough to keep him on the bench.
“I was still a little shaky, but I’m a strong man,” Ivory told The Post as he stood in the funeral-like Jets locker room. “I know how to play with pain. I was in a little pain, but I could have played more.”
The Jets ended up rushing for 122 yards on 17 carries (a 7.2-yard average), but 58 of those yards came in the second quarter on Ivory’s first rush of the game. That big play to the Buffalo 22-yard line also went for naught when Randy Bullock ended the drive by missing a 40-yard field goal try.
Ivory went over 1,000 rushing yards in a season for the first time in his six-year career on that carry, but quickly disappeared again.
Ridley finished with just 29 yards on nine carries in by far his most extensive action of the season, while Ivory’s six attempts were his fewest all year.
“Curious” doesn’t begin to describe it, and the situation was made no clearer by coach Todd Bowles’ cryptic comments afterward.
“It was game-plan related,” Bowles said. “We tried to give him a break a little bit, too. He wasn’t 100 percent, but he was good enough to play. We could have got him more plays in there, but the game didn’t dictate that way.”
Ivory didn’t ask why he was made such a bit player — “You don’t ask that [during a game],” he said — and tried to remain diplomatic about it in the face of repeated questions.
“It was just the game plan that we had coming in,” Ivory said. “That’s just how it played out. We didn’t have Bilal this game, and I just took over that role.”
Ridley carried six times for 15 yards in the first quarter with Ivory on the sideline as the Jets punted on each of their first four possessions. Yet Ivory said he wasn’t upset about his role because “what Ridley was doing at first was working.”
“As long as we’re making positive plays out of what we’re doing, that’s fine,” Ivory said. “The carries at that point don’t even matter.”
Ivory added he thought Ridley deserved the bigger workload after getting the most practice time during the week.
“Ridley put in a lot of work,” Ivory said. “He had the reps and was able to see it. Being that he had the reps and was healthy, that was one of the reasons for what happened.”