CINCINNATI — The final flourish came in a rush of white-and-green jerseys speeding past orange-and-black ones, converging on Carson Palmer, squeezing the last few ounces of life from Paul Brown Stadium. It was Shaun Ellis who reached Palmer first, who crunched him to the ground, who sent most of the 63,686 on a mad dash for the escalators.
It was over. It was done. Three Mark Sanchez kneel-downs later it was official, a 24-14 victory for the Jets over the Bengals, one of this star-crossed franchise’s most satisfying workdays in years. Later, there would be a solemn moment, Rex Ryan handing a game ball to Woody Johnson, still mourning the death of his daughter but given a momentary boost by his beloved football team.
“The ball was our gift for him,” center Nick Mangold would say, “the same way this game was our gift for him.”
PHOTOS: JETS BEAT BENGALS, 24-14
Those sobering moments were still a few moments away. For now, it was time for the Jets to enjoy the spoils of their success, to bathe in the rapture of a sixth win in their last seven games, a victory that arrived without asterisks or qualifiers. Sanchez hugged his coach, and Shonn Greene and Thomas Jones, the workhorse running backs, hugged each other.
In the mounting quiet of the stadium, you could hear several thousand frozen and ever-boisterous Jets fans singing their battle cry of “J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets!” and you could hear the players lifting their voices to the chilly night sky. It was Ryan who gave them a longer-than-usual itinerary on this trip, one that didn’t include next week’s destination (since it can still be either San Diego or Indianapolis) but did have the final one: a parade.
He never stops, and surely won’t now, and neither do his players. On his way off the field and through the tunnel, spotting a corps of Cincinnati fans spewing anger at the victors, nose tackle Howard Green waved at them and offered up a simple valedictory:
“Same old Bengals!” he crowed.
What, you expected them to start checking their tongues at the door now, after their first playoff win in five years; after rolling over the Bengals; after allowing the kid quarterback, Sanchez, to take the training wheels off and watching him cruise; after seeing the kid running back, Greene, pile up 135 yards and the prettiest 39-yard touchdown run you’ll ever see; after approaching their veteran placekicker, Jay Feely, about two minutes before game time and alerting him he would have to punt, too — then having him stick a couple of darts inside the 20?
“I’m just bad enough,” Feely said, “that I’m a pretty good pooch punter.”
Yeah. Don’t expect any vows of silence anytime soon. Asked how much confidence this could imbibe in his team, Ryan — owner of one more playoff victory now than his old man, Buddy, ever got — the coach laughed and quipped, “I don’t think we can go much higher than I already predicted.”
VIDEO: JETS ADVANCE IN PLAYOFFS
RAW AUDIO:
MARK SANCHEZ ON THE KEYS TO WINNING
JAY FEELY ON PULLING DOUBLE DUTY
DARRELLE REVIS ON SHUTTING DOWN OCHOCINCO
SHONN GREENE ON HIS STELLAR GAME
TONY RICHARDSON ON MARK SANCHEZ
Next week the choice is either the Chargers, who have won 11 in a row, or the Colts, who have won the last 23 of the last 24 games they’ve played in which they actually tried to win, only last year’s playoff loss interrupting that string.
Those may be daunting options; the over/under on the first Jet making the first bold proclamation is Tuesday.
“It would be one thing if we had a team that had no business being in the playoffs and we had our coach saying stupid stuff and had to answer for it,” offensive tackle Damien Woody said. “But all our coach is doing is saying what we all believe. People can say we backed in or whatever, but we know better. We all feel what he’s saying. He’s just the one using the words.”
So they buy themselves another week of season, and the longer they hang around the more they will undoubtedly annoy the staid and the stoic who like to police NFL communiqués, the more there will be teams seeking great delight in shutting them up for good. But there’s something else, too.
The longer they hang around, the more they believe their coach, his declarations, and his itinerary. The Jets haven’t yet been silenced. Some folks are just going to have to deal with that.
michael.vaccaro@nypost.com