NFL

Beaten Jets still trying to ‘believe’

Even Antonio Cromartie concedes the Jets’ playoff hopes are looking dim.

Coming off a 49-19 loss to the Patriots, sitting at 4-7 with five games left, the cornerback who assured everyone three week ago the Jets would make the playoffs backed off that yesterday when asked if he still believes Gang Green are playoff-bound.

“I don’t even know what I believe right now the way we’ve been playing,” Cromartie said. “We’ve still got five games left. Anything can happen. My biggest focus right now is this one important game. I can’t worry about the playoffs right now.”

The Jets returned to work yesterday trying to shake off the Thanksgiving beatdown from the Patriots and shift their focus to the Cardinals, who come to MetLife Stadium on Sunday for a showdown between 4-7 teams.

With five games remaining in the regular season, the Jets know they have to win out to have an outside shot at a playoff berth. The normally cocky bunch is realistic, though. The Jets know winning five straight games is a hard sell from a team that has not even won two straight this year.

Even coach Rex Ryan sounded cautiously optimistic about running the table.

“Heck yeah, that’s your goal,” Ryan said. “Absolutely that’s what you’re trying to do. Our goal was to beat New England also, but that never worked out. That’s why you play. You try and win every game that you’re in. I’m saying right now I’m not going to make a guarantee that we’re going to make the playoffs or that deal. We have to get better. It has to start right now.”

The Jets struggled in every way imaginable against the Patriots. They gave up touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams in that unbelievable 52 seconds in the second quarter. The Jets watched the film of the game Friday and then tried to put the stinker behind them.

“We know we stunk it up. What can we do about it?” linebacker Bryan Thomas said. “Hats off to the Patriots. They played a fantastic game. Now, we move on to Arizona.”

The Jets defense gave up 475 yards on Thursday, the most that unit has surrendered under Ryan, who said communication breakdowns on defense led to the two long touchdowns the Patriots scored (83 yards and 56 yards).

When the Patriots scored 21 points in 52 seconds, safety LaRon Landry shared the same thought as many Jets fans.

“I looked at it like, ‘Oh, [bleep], we’re in for a long one,’ ” Landry said. “We created all that. It was nothing that they really did. It’s all up to us how we dig our way out.”

The Jets who were in the locker room yesterday seemed to be in good spirits. There was plenty of laughing and joking around.

As far-fetched as the playoffs seem after watching the Jets get trounced by the Patriots, they are only two games behind the Steelers for the last playoff spot. They also can be encouraged by their remaining schedule, which features a slate of teams who are no better than 4-7.

“We still are playing for something,” Joe McKnight said. “We’re playing for our pride and we’ve still got a chance to get in the playoffs. We’ve got five games left. We need some things to happen. [Ryan] just told us to keep playing. The season’s not over. We’ve got five games left and we need to win these five games.”