Mark Sanchez turned the jeers into cheers with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes with just over a minute left to play and the New York Jets won a crucial AFC East battle over the visiting Buffalo Bills 28-24 on Sunday.

Sanchez threw four touchdown passes and directed the ninth game-winning drive of his career in the fourth quarter, capped by the pass to Holmes in the corner of the end zone.

He also connected with Plaxico Burress on a critical third-down play on the 82-yard drive, as Burress made a leaping one-handed catch.

Sanchez threw two scoring passes to Dustin Keller and another to Burress as the Jets (6-5) snapped a two-game skid.

Buffalo (5-6) has lost four straight and has not won since losing to the Jets in Week 9.

New York trailed 24-21 in the fourth quarter after David Rayner booted a 53-yard field goal.

The Bills played without running back Fred Jackson who went on injured reserved with a broken leg earlier in the week. Jackson, third in the NFL with 934 rushing yards, had provided the bulk of the offense for the Bills throughout the season.

C.J. Spiller took over for Jackson and had 55 yards on 19 carries, but quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick kept Buffalo in it with three touchdown passes in the game.

Fitzpatrick, who had been mired in a prolonged slump, threw scoring passes to David Nelson, Stevie Johnson and Brad Smith. He nearly connected with Johnson in the final minute, but Johnson dropped the ball on what could have been the go-ahead touchdown.

Then, with eight seconds left, Fitzpatrick nearly hooked up with Johnson in the end zone but the ball was thrown a bit behind the wide receiver.