The Jets have gone 0-3 to end each of the last two seasons. Can they avoid the same fate this year?
“I hope that doesn’t happen again,” Rex Ryan said. “I’m confident it won’t, but you just focus on this particular moment and where you’re at right now and go from there. We’ve got to fix that one.”
The Jets open this year’s three-game final stretch against the 9-4 Panthers on Sunday in Carolina, a tough way to start their last push for the playoffs. If the Jets lose and the Ravens defeat the Lions on Monday night, the Jets are eliminated from the playoff conversation. The team showed some signs of life in Sunday’s 37-27 victory over the Raiders on Sunday, but the players know that it won’t mean anything if they stumble over the final three games.
“This is the playoffs for us,” rookie defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson said. “That’s our mentality right now.”
The playoffs feel like a pipe dream after watching the Jets play over the last month, but the reality is they have an easier schedule than the teams they are fighting with for the final spot. But the Jets have left themselves with little margin for error.
“If we lose, we’re out,” Richardson said.
Well, not technically. The Jets could finish 8-8 and make it, but they would need the Ravens to lose their final three games (at Lions, Patriots, at Bengals) and have the Dolphins go 1-2 (Patriots, at Bills, Jets) with one of those losses coming against the Jets in the final week of the season. The Jets finish at the Panthers, home against the Browns and at the Dolphins.
But the Jets swear they are not worrying about the playoff picture right now. They are simply trying to figure out a way to stop Cam Newton and the Panthers on Sunday.
“My message really [was] just about today [and] learn from this tape going forward,” Ryan said of watching the Raiders game again. “It had nothing to do with playoffs or anything like that.”
Ryan wisely is avoiding the playoff talk with his team at 6-7 and the stench of a three-game losing streak just leaving the building. Under Ryan, the Jets have never coasted in the final month of the season, so this is nothing new for the coach.
In 2009, the Jets lost to the Falcons in Week 15 to fall to 7-7 and Ryan famously pronounced the team’s playoff hopes over. He, of course, was wrong and the Jets beat the Colts and Bengals in the final two games of the season to make the playoffs.
Ryan’s best season came in 2010, but even then the Jets stumbled a bit before clinching a playoff berth in Week 16 after they lost to the Bears, but received help.
In 2011, the Jets were at 8-5 and looked ready for another playoff run when they were blown out 45-19 by the Eagles, then lost to the Giants and the Dolphins to miss the playoffs. Last season, the dream ended in Week 15 with a brutal Monday night loss to the Titans.
Ryan said he has learned on the job about resting his players toward the end of the season to keep them fresh.
“You have to be mindful of getting the best out of your guys,” Ryan said. “If that means cutting down a little bit of practice to achieve that, then that’s what you do.”
The Jets enter this stretch feeling a little better about themselves after getting their first win in a month on Sunday. The focus has been on rookie quarterback Geno Smith, but he was not the only Jet player that needed a confidence boost.
“I think we all needed it,” guard Willie Colon said. “We all lost together. Not one person causes a loss, not one person brings home a win. It was a total team effort. Right now, we’re happy where we’re at but we have a lot of work to do. Every game counts. That’s where we’re at.”