Survive and advance is about the best thing you can say about Jets 28, Jaguars 23 Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
The Jets are what their record says they are, which is 5-3 and in the thick of the AFC playoff race — rather impressive when you consider they were 4-12 last season.
But did you leave the stadium or get up from your couch or recliner after the game thinking what you saw out of the Jets Sunday was totally impressive?
Of course not.
The Jets, if they want to remain a part of the playoff conversation well into December, will need to come with better than they delivered against a Jaguars team that was poised to be put away in the first half — until the Jets were unable to put them away.
Coach Todd Bowles and his players said all the right, if predictable, things after the game. You got the requisite “a win is a win’’ as you went from locker to locker.
Bowles even went with this glass-half-full approach, suggesting the win “builds a lot for mental toughness,’’ and adding, “I think we needed one of these types of wins for character purposes moving on.’’
But, deep down, Bowles and his players know better. They know they have to be better if they’re going to send Rex Ryan and the Bills home a loser when the teams play Thursday night at MetLife Stadium.
“You can go back in history and look at the champions and teams that did really well, and all you see is the record,’’ said receiver Brandon Marshall, whose 20-yard touchdown catch with 2:41 remaining provided the winning points. “You don’t see how it happened. It doesn’t matter how you win. Any team can beat any team. Everyone’s talented. It’s who has the poise to go into the deep water and maintain?’’
To Marshall’s point, which was a fair one, the Jets did dig deep when they had to. They made the pressure-point plays the Jaguars could not make.
Linebacker Calvin Pace made the play of the game when, with the Jaguars trailing 21-16 and on the Jets 20-yard line midway through the fourth quarter, he strip-sacked quarterback Blake Bortles and recovered the ball.
Reserve cornerback Marcus Williams had two interceptions, including one that sealed the game with 43 seconds remaining.
“The only thing that matters after the game,’’ Marshall said, “is do you have a win or do you have a loss?’’
True. But if the deficiencies the Jets displayed against the Jaguars are present again Thursday night against Buffalo, maybe the Jets don’t get away with it like they did against Jacksonville.
The Jets conducted a clinic in how to keep a lesser team in the game.
They were in cruise control, up 14-3 with 43 seconds remaining in the first quarter and, if they were trying to step on the neck of the Jaguars, they were doing it with slippers on.
They let the Jags march down the field in 12 seconds at the end of the first half and cut the lead to 14-10 on a 30-yard Bortles touchdown pass on which cornerback Antonio Cromartie inexplicably bit on what he must have thought was a running play.
After taking a 28-16 lead with 2:41 remaining in the game thanks to a muffed punt return catch by Nick Marshall, recovered by Jets tight end Kellen Davis, it took Bortles all of 25 seconds to go 72 yards and close the score to 28-23 on a 20-yard touchdown pass to Bryan Walters.
If you think that’s championship-type football, have at it. But it is not. It is liable, vulnerable football.
“Could we have played better? Yes, but at the end of the day it’s in the win column and that’s all we worry about,’’ linebacker David Harris said. “We have to turn the page very quickly. Thursday night against Buffalo, I’m pretty sure will be electric here. We’ve got to put this game behind us, because it’s not going to help us Thursday.’’
The only thing that’s going to help the Jets on Thursday, and going against what is a soft schedule for most of their final eight games, is playing better than they did Sunday.