Because his team plays Saturday night, New York Jets coach Todd Bowles will have a rare day off Sunday. Instead of spending it glued to his TV set, keeping track of the Jets' wild-card competitors, he's planning to do his Christmas shopping.

The way Bowles sees it, it's a waste of energy to worry about other teams. His mantra is, "Just win out, baby."

"We definitely have to win out and that still might not be good enough," the coach said.

The Jets (8-5) close out the season with the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills. If they finish in a three-way tie at 11-5 with the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers, both also 8-5, the Jets would be the odd team out, based on the tiebreaking procedure.

Technically, the Jets don't have to run the table to make the playoffs, but a loss -- especially to an AFC team -- would put them in a dire situation. Nevertheless, there's no excuse to lose to the woeful Cowboys (4-9), who have curled up into the fetal position without Tony Romo. On the flip side, a victory would extend the Jets' winning streak to four games (the longest since 2010) and would secure their first winning season since 2010, setting up a monster showdown against the Patriots in Week 16.

It sets up perfectly for the Jets. Too perfectly?

Kickoff is 8:25 p.m. ET at AT&T Stadium. The top storylines:

1. The Jets can't lose to a No. 3 quarterback, can they? Well, yeah, they did it last month in the state of Texas, falling to T.J. Yates and the Houston Texans. The Cowboys' starter is Matt Cassel, who replaced the injured Romo, who replaced Cassel, who replaced Brandon Weeden, who replaced Romo after his first injury. Cassel is 1-5 as the starter, displaying no ability whatsoever to spark the offense. The Cowboys have scored zero or one touchdown in four of his six starts. Things are so bad that coach Jason Garrett actually gave a few practice reps to untested backup Kellen Moore, suddenly the most popular guy in Dallas.

2. Streak vs. streak: Ryan Fitzpatrick has thrown 123 consecutive passes without an interception, nine attempts shy of the longest streak of his career (2013). Now he will face the most benign defense in the league. The Cowboys have only eight takeaways, including six interceptions -- none of them by a cornerback. In fact, they've gone 536 passes without an interception by a corner. As if they didn't have enough problems, the Cowboys might not have starter Morris Claiborne (hamstring). In theory, Fitzpatrick should have his way. He needs five touchdown passes to break Vinny Testaverde's team record, 29 in 1998.

3. Speaking of records: Brandon Marshall, who has a touchdown catch in a league-high 10 games, needs only five receptions to break Al Toon's team record, 93 in 1988. Marshall's sidekick, Eric Decker, needs 125 receiving yards to reach 1,000, which would give the Jets their first pair of 1,000-yard receivers since 1998. If one of them scores, they'll set a team record for most receiving touchdowns in a season (21) by a tandem.

4. Approaching his first grand: Chris Ivory needs 86 rushing yards to reach 1,000 for the first time in his life. Most running backs compile a bunch of them before they get to the NFL, but Ivory didn't get the ball a lot in high school because he played fullback. He was a role player at Washington State and got hurt in his only season at Tiffin University. Ivory grew up a Cowboys fan in Longview, Texas, so it would be fitting if he reached the milestone in his home state.

5. Winning checklist: If the Jets remain patient and exert their physicality, they should be able to break the Cowboys' will. They'll need to be physical to handle the Cowboys' outstanding offensive line. This will be a step up in class for the Jets, who have faced a slew of soft rushing attacks in recent weeks. They'll need to be physical with wide receiver Dez Bryant, who should be motivated after reading Calvin Pryor's comments. They'll need to be patient on offense. The Cowboys employ a vanilla, Tampa 2 system that can frustrate opponents; it'll be up to Fitzpatrick to stay cool and stay within the game plan.