PURR-FECT FOE: Antonio Cromartie bowls over Kevin Elliott as the Jets encountered little resistance from the woeful Jaguars in winning their second straight game Sunday in Jacksonville. (Reuters)
PURR-FECT FOE: Antonio Cromartie bowls over Kevin Elliott as the Jets encountered little resistance from the woeful Jaguars in winning their second straight game Sunday in Jacksonville. (
)
The Jets cannot win.
Oh, they’ll add a “W’’ to the win-loss column on occasion, but they cannot truly win. Not right now. Not this season.
Take the Jets’ current plight as Exhibit A:
The Jets’ 17-10 victory over the Jaguars on Sunday in Jacksonville was their third win in four games, improving their record to 6-7 and keeping their playoff hopes alive thanks to losses by the Steelers and Bengals.
Yet does anyone get the sense the Jets are a hot team on the come for a playoff berth, a dangerous team no one wants to face should it sneak into the postseason tournament?
Not in the least.
Take their defense as Exhibit B:
In the past two games, the Jets’ defense, which is now ranked eighth in the NFL, has delivered some impressive numbers. They held the Cardinals and Jaguars to a total of 16 points (one TD) and those two teams were a combined 2-for-31 on third-down conversions — generally a telling statistic in the outcome of games.
Yet does anyone believe that, had the Jets faced the Patriots and Giants the last two weeks, those numbers would look as dominant?
Let Jets linebacker Bart Scott answer that question:
“You all will say that we’re not playing nobody, so I guess it don’t matter,’’ Scott said as he peeled tape off of his injured foot in the visitor’s locker room Sunday, spitting the words out like darts when asked about the significance of the Jets’ recent defensive dominance on third downs.
So there you have the essence of the Jets’ plight in one brief conversation: Even in victory, there is no joy in Jetsville.
The Jets were mere minutes removed from winning their second consecutive game for the first time all season, but judging by the muted tones in the locker room, a visitor walking in might not have been able to tell it was the winner’s locker room.
There was Scott speaking in the bitter tones of a man who just had lost another game.
There was Mark Sanchez, who was shackled by a conservative gameplan designed for him not to lose the game, being asked if he thought the coaches had lost faith in him.
There were guards Brandon Moore and Matt Slauson lamenting another sluggish start on offense, wondering aloud if the team can get away with winning this way much longer.
The Jets are not carrying themselves like a team enjoying the ride.
Defensive tackle Sione Pouha, one of the team’s most upbeat players and a deep thinker, was asked how he processes enjoying a victory while listening to the world around him shoot holes in it because it came against a bad team.
“This is how you process it: You’ve got to look through one lens and that’s the team lens,’’ Pouha said. “You might be standing on the cliff of a beautiful mountain looking at the view and other people might have different shots of it, different views.
“You’ve got to make sure you look through your own lens and define your own vision the way you see it. Don’t adjust it to somebody else’s perception, don’t view it from someone else’s lens, or else you’re not going to get the shot you want.’’
This is what the Jets are fighting right now — the perception that these last two wins were more like non-losses given the poor competition. And, the way they have struggled in each, it’s to argue they can beat a good team playing the way they have.
The 4-9 Cardinals team the Jets were life and death with in a 7-6 win last week lost to the Seahawks 58-0 on Sunday. The 2-11 Jaguars team the Jets struggled to defeat Sunday is a front-runner to be awarded the first overall pick in the 2013 draft.
Though the Jets won both of those games, what did they really win? Certainly not their fans, who have little faith in this team.
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com