NFL

Jets stay in playoff hunt after second straight win

‘POW,’ WOW! Bilal Powell, who ran for 78 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, stretches for extra yardage during the Jets’ 17-10 victory over the Jaguars yesterday in Jacksonville. (AP)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jets are like the star of a horror movie — just when you think they’re dead they show a little more life.

Rex Ryan’s crew defeated the Jaguars 17-10 at EverBank Field, notching its second straight ugly win and its third victory in its last four games.

Unbelievably, the win put the Jets at 6-7, one game behind the Steelers and Bengals for the final AFC playoff spot. A team that has had its obituary written more than once is still breathing.

“At the end of the day, that’s why you play,” linebacker Calvin Pace said of still being in postseason contention. “A lot of people have counted us out and picked against us. That’s why you play the game. Any given Sunday, you never know.”

On this given Sunday it was a first half filled with ugly offense. Both the Jets and Jaguars looked as if they were allergic to the end zone.

Quarterback Mark Sanchez clearly had training wheels on a week after turning the ball over three times and getting benched. Ryan stuck with Sanchez this week, choosing him over Greg McElroy and Tim Tebow. Sanchez did not play great against Jacksonville, but did not commit any killer turnovers either. He finished 12-of-19 for 111 yards with one fumble.

The Jets defense continues to abuse the inept offenses of their opponents. A week after holding the Cardinals to 0-for-15 on third down, the Jets held the Jaguars to 2-for-16 and did not allow a touchdown until the fourth quarter.

Despite their struggles, the Jaguars held a 3-0 lead at halftime as the Jets managed 94 total yards in the first half. At halftime, guard Brandon Moore gathered the Jets offensive linemen and told them they needed to step up and carry the team. That’s just what the unit did. The Jets running game came to life, riding both Shonn Greene and Bilal Powell through gaping holes opened by the line.

“I like the will of our football team,” Ryan said. “It wasn’t going great, obviously, in the first half. We stayed the course, started protecting the football better and I thought the offensive line really took the game over in that third quarter.”

The Jets rushed for 116 yards in the second half after gaining 50 in the first. The formula of controlling the clock with the ground game and lights out defense (no Jaguars first downs in the third quarter) took the pressure off Sanchez.

Sanchez made mostly safe throws. His biggest pass of the day was a 37-yarder to tight end Jeff Cumberland late in the fourth quarter that helped run time off the clock. All week the Jets coaches emphasized to Sanchez the importance of protecting the football.

“You put an extra emphasis on it and you’re real smart with the football,” Sanchez said. “thought for the most part I try to make it our guy our nobody. That was the case.It was a good, efficient day for all of us.”

Greene scored on a 1-yard run with 9:11 left in the third quarter to give the Jets their first lead at 7-3. The nine-play, 57-yard drive featured seven runs. The Jets added a Nick Folk 44-yard field goal later in the quarter and a Powell 4-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to take a commanding 17-3 lead behind their punishing Ground and Pound attack.

“That’s how we’re built,” Pace said. “That’s how Rex and Mike [Pettine] built this team— physical offensive and defensive lines, physical running backs. That’s basically the blueprint of what we do. It’s kind of bad that it took us 12, 13 weeks to finally figure that out, but it happened. Hopefully we can keep riding it, handle our part and win the rest of these games.”

The Jaguars made it interesting late with a Montell Owens 32-yard touchdown with 7:06 to go that cut the lead to 17-10. The Jaguars mounted one final drive with 1:48 left, converting two fourth downs, including a fourth-and-15, to get the ball to the 28 before Chad Henne threw an interception to Ellis Lankster to seal the game.

The Jets now find themselves still in the hunt after winning two straight games for the first time this season. They have games remaining at Tennessee next Monday night, home against the Chargers and at the Bills. They are one game behind the Steelers and Bengals, but both teams would win a tiebreaker over the Jets. They are three games behind the Colts, whom they hold a tiebreaker over.

With three weeks left, the Jets are trying not to look ahead.

“We don’t even deserve or warrant the right to speak about the playoffs,” said linebacker Bart Scott, who had an interception. “All we have earned is the right to talk about the Tennessee Titans next week on a national stage. Hopefully, we can show the entire world what we’re all about and that we’re collectively together and that the locker room is still unified.”