Sure, it’s been three years since the Jets have made the playoffs. The wait has been painful for the Jets and their fans.
But it’s been seven long years for Calvin Pace, the player on the Jets roster who’s gone the longest without experiencing the euphoria of the playoffs.
That drought will end with a victory Sunday night in the Jets’ win-and-in game against the Bengals at Giants Stadium.
Enough is enough.
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After spending the first five years of his career with the Cardinals, one of the NFL’s perennial losers, Pace came to the Jets as a free agent before the 2008 season. Then he was part of the freefall from 8-3 to 9-7 and out of the playoffs as a Jet and had to watch as his former teammates in Arizona made an improbable ride to the Super Bowl.
“That’s like a smack in the face,” fellow linebacker Bart Scott said yesterday. “It’s like, ‘Oh, now you want to win?’ Then you start wondering, ‘Is it me?’ That’s got to hurt.”
It does, and it shows on the face of Pace. After every Jets loss, there isn’t a player in the Jets’ locker room who looks more devastated than Pace.
“The older you get, the more it wears on you,” Pace said yesterday. “Last year was probably the most depressing offseason I’ve ever had, because you know every day you come out here and put your equipment on time is dwindling down.
“You can make all the money in the world and go to Pro Bowls, but you’re ultimately judged on winning. The reason I came here was to win. I just want to be able to experience the feeling.
“Either way Sunday I might shed a tear,” he said. “Just to be able to say I finally made it to the playoffs after seven years. I’m beyond hungry at this point.”
Pace isn’t the only one.
Receiver Braylon Edwards, whom the Jets acquired in a trade with Cleveland earlier this season, is in his fifth year without having tasted the playoffs.
“It [stinks],” Edwards said. “It’s gotten to the point where it’s become routine for me. I went 10-6 two years ago [with the Browns] and didn’t make it to the playoffs. It’s not a good feeling. You get past all the material things that come with playing football and you want to win, you want to be in the playoffs, and you want to know what it’s like to be in the AFC Championship or the Super Bowl. This is my opportunity.”
As Pace and Edwards have toiled playoff-less in their careers, the Jets do have a number of players who have a good deal of postseason experience, and those players have been talking to their less fortunate teammates about what possibly lies ahead.
Left guard Alan Faneca has the most playoff experience, with 11 games in five trips. Cornerback Lito Sheppard has been four times, playing in nine games. Right tackle Damien Woody has two Super Bowl rings with the Patriots.
Those with playoff experience have been urging those who don’t about seizing the moment against the Bengals.
“It’s dangling out there . . . really dangling,” Faneca said. “It’s right there for the taking. We’ve just got to go take it.”
Faneca talked about having gone to the playoffs five times in 11 years, but still lamented, “That means half my career I’ve been sitting at home. It’s not something to be taken lightly, and I’m very fortunate to have been that much compared to everybody else.”
Cornerback Darrelle Revis, who’s in his third season, hasn’t yet experienced the playoffs.
“I want a taste of that; I want a taste of that playoff pie,” Revis said.
Not as much as Pace does, though, after seven long years.
“Man,” Pace said. “I hope I don’t cry. It’s been a long time coming.”
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com