If the Jets are going to break out of their pattern of maddening mediocrity, now would be a good time — beginning Sunday against the high-powered Saints at MetLife Stadium. If the Jets are going to make anyone believe in them, it starts with the Saints.
“The red light has to come on now,” veteran guard Willie Colon told The Post Friday. “We have to take care of our own business so we’re not sitting here in December mapping out who needs to lose for us to get into the playoffs. We don’t want to be sitting at the table having that conversation.’’
The fact anyone is talking about the Jets and the playoffs right now after widespread preseason expectations from outside of their locker room had them as a long shot to win the four games they already have bagged through half a season is a surprise.
But now what are the Jets going to do with it?
The Jets want so badly for us to believe in them. But how can we? To borrow an oft-used phrase from coach Rex Ryan, where’s the “proof in the pudding?’’
The Jets’ most recent pattern under Ryan is a tedious win-one-lose-one tease, and that does not get you to the playoffs. The Jets have won back-to-back games only once in their last 27 games, dating to 2011.
They seem to get up for the perceived “big” games. Always up for rival New England, they split with the Patriots, winning a scintillating overtime game against them three weeks ago. Earlier in the season, after talk about Atlanta’s skilled offense being a threat to torch their defense, the Jets’ defense mugged the Falcons and the upset was on.
Is it possible Ryan did not have his team’s full attention last week, that the players were still high off the upset of the Patriots and did not think the Bengals could hurt them? He often seems to have their attention piqued for the toughest matchups only to see them falter against other teams.
If you believe in things holding to form, the good news for the Jets is this: Because they are coming off that unsightly 49-9 loss to the Bengals last Sunday in Cincinnati, the pattern calls for them to beat the Saints.
Ryan certainly seems to have the players’ attention this week, shoving it down the defense’s collective throat that if they play as poorly as they did a week ago, Saints quarterback Drew Brees will throw for half a mile against them.
“You won’t see the same team Sunday that you saw last week, I guarantee that,” linebacker Quinton Coples said.
Here’s the problem: The 6-1 Saints are a better team across the board than the 4-4 Jets, beginning with Brees and his 67.5 completion percentage with 19 touchdowns and only five interceptions, and continuing throughout the skill positions on offense.
“We’re a work in progress,’’ Ryan said. “You can’t classify us as a great team right now. We’re not. We’re working to be that kind of team, but we’re not there as a football team yet.’’
Here’s the thing: The Jets better start getting “there’’ soon or it’ll be too late to get there.
“When we come out of the bye week [next week] we’ve got only seven games and this thing is over,’’ Colon said. “We don’t have a lot time to say, ‘Now it’s time to turn it on.’ You take care of your business now so you’re not in panic mode come December, not wishing that a team here and a team there losses a game so we can squeeze in [to the playoffs].’’
Colon is a Bronx native with a good feel for the New York sports fan, and he understands how confused Jets fans are right now.
“If I was on the outside as a fan, I’d be like, ‘Yeah, I like them, but what are they going to do after they win?’ ’’ Colon said. “Good teams win consistently, and we’re not doing that right now. There are times when we look at ourselves on tape and it’s like, ‘Man, we look amazing.’ And then there are times when we look and it’s like, ‘What are we doing?’”
Sunday at MetLife with Brees in the building would not be a good time for one of those, “Man, what are we doing?’’ moments.
“This will be a good measuring stick,’’ Ryan said. “We’re going to have to play a zillion times better than we played in Cincy.”