CINCINNATI — If you are the New York Jets, this is how you earn their stripes in the NFL:
You beat the Bengals at their place after you beat the Patriots at your place and win back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Your rookie quarterback beats a team neither Aaron Rodgers nor Tom Brady could beat at Paul Brown Stadium.
You don’t need the zebras to enforce a new rule that gives you a second chance to kick the winning field goal in overtime and listen to the loser coach intimate you didn’t deserve the game.
You recognize you didn’t win the Super Bowl by beating the Patriots, you still are a game behind in the division race, but very much in the playoff picture and wild-card conversation, taking into account either the Broncos or Chiefs will grab one spot.
The field:
Ravens (3-4): The bye will help Ray Rice, who has had a brutal start. John Harbaugh is the defending champion coach.
Chargers (4-3): Philip Rivers has enjoyed a renaissance under Mike McCoy and Ken Whisenhunt.
Dolphins (3-3): The arrow is pointing down, largely because there is no protection for Ryan Tannehill or the semblance of a running game.
Titans (3-4): Jake Locker is back, although his receivers scare no one, but they do own the tiebreaker over the Jets.
Bills (3-4): Mario Williams has returned to Beast Mode, but Thaddeus Lewis at quarterback? Good luck.
Browns (3-4): Josh Campbell? Forget them.
Steelers (2-4): Don’t ever discount a Mike Tomlin team.
Playoff teams earn their stripes by beating teams like this, by winning games in jungles like this.
Even with a rookie quarterback who needs to break the up-and-done cycle.
“He made a believer in me when he first walked in,” Jets receiver Jeremy Kerley said. “He’s a guy that you kinda lean on to make the big throw and to make the right decision. He’s starting to prove that he can do that. And the chemistry me and him is crazy.”
Playoffs? Playoffs? The Geno Smith Jets?
“We can’t go there yet,.” Willie Colon said. “We still gotta play Miami twice, we still gotta play Buffalo one more time, and then we gotta play New Orleans next week, so there’s a lot of games ahead of us that we can’t think we’ve done anything. Obviously, the Patriots was a good win, it was a solid win, we needed it, but we still got a lotta more fights ahead of us.”
All true. But November is when the true contenders begin to position themselves in the hunt. Big difference between 5-3 and 4-4. Critical game in the conference.
“A lot of our swagger, so to speak, is just put your foot in the middle of the ring, and let’s have at it,” Colon said. “That’s the attitude I have, and I think that’s the attitude we gotta have. They’re an AFC North team, the top of their division, we’re trying to be the top of ours, so why not?”
Colon knows enough about the Bengals from his Steelers days to expect a slugfest.
“It always is with these guys,” Colon said. “This is not a team that you can just walk up there and think you’re just gonna blow through. This is a tough outfit, and … it’s gonna be a slugfest.”
How critical is this game?
“Any game that we have going forward is critical for us,” Austin Howard said. “We have goals and aspirations for postseason play. That’s something we missed out the past two years.”
Earn your stripes.